Services Midstream Operations & Pipelines

Kean Miller has handled hundreds of pipeline projects from start to finish, including right-of-way negotiations for servitudes/easements, road access and surface sites, purchases, initial and final offers, expropriation and condemnation; environmental regulatory matters, administrative hearings, pipeline rupture claims, injunctive actions for access to rights-of-way, trespass and inverse condemnation claims, pipeline crossing and depth of cover disputes, easement or servitude contract disputes, encroachments, access issues/lockouts, operations, and abandonment. Kean Miller leverages that experience to the benefit of our clients. Kean Miller’s depth of knowledge and expertise in the network of pipelines that provide energy from Gulf Coast refineries to almost every state in the nation is unmatched.

Kean Miller has more than 40 years of experience defending local, national, and international midstream clients in various pipeline incidents, including leaks, ruptures, explosions, fires, and other emergencies. From initial emergency response, through agency investigations and remediation efforts, and ultimately defending any resulting claims for damage to property, natural resources, or wetlands, Kean Miller works closely with our clients and their contractors in developing strategies to reduce risk and liability. Kean Miller has extensive experience with the assessment and remedial work associated with environmental liabilities from soil, corrective actions, sediment, surface water, and groundwater contamination, as well as regulatory reporting and penalties, civil and criminal liability, insurance and indemnity disputes, contractual breaches, personal injury claims, toxic tort claims, and resulting incident litigation. When Kean Miller’s clients are faced with midstream disputes, they rely on Kean Miller for sophisticated representation under federal and state law and extensive pipeline litigation experience.

Kean Miller is at the forefront of the land loss and erosion litigation related to pipeline canals along the coastal zone. Kean Miller defends pipeline companies against allegations of land loss, erosion, altered hydrology, and permit violations brought by private and public landowners, as well as the state, parishes, and regulatory agencies. These claims require extensive expertise in land loss processes, surface hydrology, saltwater intrusion, geological subsidence, geotechnical engineering, ecology, permitting, and coastal restoration. Kean Miller is an industry leader in the legal and technical issues that are critical to the successful defense of these claims.

Representative Experience

• Representation of intrastate pipeline clients in proceedings before state agencies involving construction and operation permits, interconnection permits and agreements, transportation and agreements, and abandonment of facilities.
• Representation of natural gas and LNG pipeline clients in expropriation.
• Representation of pipeline client in defense of class action lawsuit arising from a pipeline rupture and resulting fire.
• Representation of pipeline client in the acquisition of hundreds of miles of interstate and intrastate pipelines through private agreements and expropriation.
• Representation of pipeline client in expropriation of sub-surface gas storage rights.
• Representation of pipeline client in class action lawsuit resulting from release of natural gas from underground storage facility.
• Representation of pipeline client in class actions alleging breach of servitude agreement and violation of state law resulting in marsh destruction.
• Representation of pipeline client in the acquisition of right of way through condemnation in connection with right to take issues involving the construction and scope of Sec. 2.105 of the Texas Business Organizations Code and the proper methodology for calculation of damages for land traversed by multiple pipeline easements.
• Representation of pipeline client for damages caused by pipeline company clearing an allegedly expired easement and right of way on agricultural land.
• Representation of pipeline client seeking injunctive relief against landowner encroaching on pipeline right of way in violation of 756.123 of the Texas Health & Safety Code.
• Representation of pipeline client seeking injunctive relief to access easement and perform integrity dig and pipeline maintenance.
• Representation of pipeline client seeking injunctive relief against sod farmer for removal of pipeline cover, enforcement of easement cover provisions and violation of 756.123 of the Texas Health & Safety Code.
• Representation of pipeline client wherein landowner claimed location of the pipeline violated the easement and encroachments on pipeline right of way did not obstruct or interfere with the use of the right of way by the pipeline company.
• Representation of pipeline client in a mass tort suit involving alleged exposure to asbestos-containing materials resulting in the dismissal of the plaintiff’s claims.