by flex.202 | Aug 17, 2021 | Press Releases |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 17, 2021
Contact: Desi Burns Porter
desi@TexansAgainstHSR.com
TEXAS AGRICULTURE and FEDERAL/STATE OFFICIALS STAND WITH LANDOWNER TO PROTECT RANCH FROM DANGEROUS EMINENT DOMAIN RULING
Texas Ag Commissioner, Members of Congress, State Legislators, Texas Farm Bureau, Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, and Texas Businesses Ask Texas Supreme Court To Hear Landowner Appeal And Reverse Dangerous Eminent Domain Ruling
Jewett, Texas – Texas’ top agricultural officials and organizations are lining up to support Leon County landowners Jim and Barbara Miles’ legal efforts to protect their ranch from Texas Central Railway’s proposed Dallas to Houston high-speed rail project. In the trial court, Judge Deborah Oakes Evans ruled in favor of the Miles’, finding that Texas Central does not have eminent domain authority as a railroad or an interurban electric railway. Judge Evans also found that ITL, an entity created in the middle of the lawsuit, does not have eminent domain either. The Corpus Christi Court of Appeals reversed that ruling, finding that both Texas Central and ITL are railroads and interurbans with eminent domain authority. The Texas Supreme Court recently denied the Miles’ petition for review of the court of appeals’ opinion earlier this summe; so late last month, the Miles’ filed a motion for rehearing asking the Texas Supreme Court to grant review and affirm Judge Evan’s ruling.
Blake Beckham, the Miles’ attorney and Special Litigation Counsel for Texans Against HSR, said, “If ever there was a ruling that created ‘the Wild, Wild West’ of eminent domain abuse, this is it—the court of appeals’ ruling creates a dangerous precedent that would allow anybody with $300 and a computer to immediately obtain the extraordinary power of eminent domain by filing papers with the Texas Secretary of State falsely claiming to be a railroad or an interurban. This is not and cannot be the law in Texas.”
Texas Farm Bureau said in its amicus brief to the Court, “This is an important case that deserves review. The issues in this case are exceptional in scope and reach, and important to the citizens and landowners of this state. They will affect rural landowners directly and often, for practical reasons.” (Full text here.)
Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association told the Court, “These private development projects not only destroy the meaningful use and character of the land, but they do so without adequate due process. The courts, therefore, are the landowner’s last and best hope for ensuring the continued constitutional protection of private property rights when the next privately-funded project comes knocking at their door.” (Full text here.)
Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller also weighed in: “The project will devastate thousands and thousands of acres of agricultural and special status farmland that is already under constant threat of eminent domain. Landowners who devote their entire lives and all their resources to their farms and ranches, and who rely on the use of their land for income, should not be at the mercy of private actors falsely claiming eminent domain authority, like Texas Central has done here.” (Full text here.)
Members of Congress, Representative Kevin Brady and recently-elected Representative Jake Ellzey, are both staunchly opposed to the proposed HSR. Congressman Brady said of the project, “I am deeply concerned that Texas Central is proposing to seize Texans’ ranches, farms, and homes—against their will—while the project is still in its planning stages. I will always support infrastructure that supports growth and transportation improvements. However, granting eminent domain to Texas Central would not only violate the freedoms of property owners but fail to protect the taxpayer.”
Congressman Ellzey said in his letter to the Court, “Private property rights are sacred, and I do believe that the issues raised in this case are critically important to every Texas landowner. For these reasons, I wanted to write this letter in solidarity with my former [Texas Legislature] colleagues and on behalf of myself and my constituents. I respectfully request that the Court grant Mr. Miles’ petition for review.”
Texas State legislators, including Representatives Ben Leman, Cecil Bell Jr., Cody Harris, Kyle Kacal, Will Metcalf, Trent Ashby, Steve Toth, Tom Oliverson, and James White, and Senators Lois Kolkhorst, Charles Schwertner, and Brian Birdwell, emphasized to the Court its role in protecting private property rights: “This Court has repeatedly, recently, and unanimously recognized that strong judicial protection for individual property rights is essential to freedom itself. Therefore, we not only call upon this Court to once again ensure that the property rights of individual landowners are protected from the attempted abuse of eminent domain by private actors, but especially when on behalf of a foreign government.” (Full text here.)
Texans Against HSR President Trey Duhon noted, “Texas Central is not a railroad or interurban electric railway. Texas Central is merely a promoter of a high-speed rail project that is running on empty. If private entities like Texas Central can so easily obtain eminent domain authority in Texas, the door will be wide open for more landowner abuse, while complicating eminent domain rights for those that legitimately have it.”
The Miles’ motion to rehear was also supported by numerous Texas businesses, including KSA Industries Inc., and private landowners.
Background – Jim Miles originally sued Texas Central in March 2016 to end its harassment and efforts to survey his private property. After Texas Central lost a case against another landowner in Harris County, Texas Central created a shell company, ITL, in an attempt to fix the legal problems it had encountered while trying to prove eminent domain authority in court. ITL then sued Miles despite having never contacted him in any manner whatsoever. Miles didn’t even know ITL existed. Judge Evans saw though Texas Central’s nonsense and signed a final judgment in favor of Miles and against Texas Central and ITL.
When the court of appeals reversed Judge Evans’ ruling, Jim and Barbara were even more resolved to continue the fight to protect their property rights and those of other landowners. “We’re going to take this all the way. Texans take their private property rights seriously and we know the Texas Supreme Court does too. We cannot allow private companies to take our land through self-declared eminent domain authority.”
Miles’ Texas Supreme Court briefs, prepared by Jeff Levinger and Carl Cecere of Levinger PC, Blake Beckham and Patrick McShan of The Beckham Group, Dylan Drummond of Gray Reed, and Jason Sodd and Jody McSpadden of Dawson Sodd, states, “the court of appeals authorized private companies with no railroad experience, no tracks, no trains, and only a fraction of the money needed to build a high-speed railway system, to trample with impunity on the property rights of thousands of Texans.”
Miles argued that only the Texas Supreme Court “can prevent the irreparable harm likely to result if [Texas Central and ITL]’s unlawful exercise of eminent domain power is allowed to play out to its inevitable failure. All are looking to this Court to prevent that result. It is essential that the Court do so, because the court of appeals’ opinion upends the critical legislative and judicial protections against the unrestrained exercise of eminent domain authority by undercapitalized and inexperienced private actors like [Texas Central and ITL].”
The Texas Supreme Court denied Miles’ petition for review in June 2021 with only seven of nine justices participating. Miles’ motion for rehearing can be found here.
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by flex.202 | May 5, 2021 | Press Releases |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2021
Contact: Desi Burns Porter
desi@TexansAgainstHSR.com
***MEDIA ALERT***MEDIA ALERT***MEDIA ALERT***
WALLER COUNTY JUDGE TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS ON HSR
WHAT: The United States House of Representatives’ Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee is holding a hearing on “When Unlimited Potential Meets Limited Resources: The Benefits and Challenges of High-Speed Rail and Emerging Rail Technologies”
WHO: Waller County Judge Trey Duhon, along with executives representing Amtrak, and HSR, hyperloop, and maglev technologies. Full witness list can be found on the committee website here.
WHEN: THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021; 11:00 AM EASTERN
WHERE: 2167 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC; Virtually here
WHY: Given his role as county executive, Judge Duhon was invited to speak at the T&I hearing to offer his perspective of the Texas Central Railway proposed high-speed rail project and the challenges created for local governments and private landowners.
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by flex.202 | Apr 29, 2021 | Press Releases |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 29, 2021
TEXAS LEGISLATURE PROTECTS STATE FUNDS FROM DELAYED, OVER BUDGET HIGH-SPEED RAIL NOW SEEKING PUBLIC FUNDING
Jewett, Texas – As the Texas Legislature finalizes its State budget in the last 30 days of the regular legislative session, the language protecting the State from subsidizing the prolonged high-speed rail proposal remains in the budget.
Both the Texas Senate and House have completed debating their respective versions of the State budget that included commitment to education, fully funding teacher retirement, increasing funding for healthcare initiatives and maintaining their responsibility for border security.
The House budget version included $246.8 Billion in total spending, which marks an $18 Billion decrease in spending from the previous budget.
The budget now heads to a conference debate between select members of the Senate and House budget-writing committees to hash out differences between the two bills passed by each chamber. The final bill delivered by that conference committee will be what members vote on to approve the State’s budget for the next two years.
In addition to a law created in 2017, the high-speed rail budget rider ensures holding the promoter of the proposed Dallas Houston high-speed rail to its word that no State funds or resources will be utilized on the monopolized Japanese high-speed rail plan proposed by Texas Central Railway.
Representative Ben Leman (R-Iola) said of the budget rider, “The action of maintaining a rider in the State budget is both responsible government and a reminder that private HSR projects must find its funding in the market, not the State budget. We, state legislators, are in the business of protecting taxpayers and Texas landowners, and that is exactly what we did with this rider.”
Representative Cody Harris (R-Palestine) offered words of precaution, saying, “If the Biden administration is actually able to get the US Congress to pass infrastructure legislation, they should think twice about spending taxpayer dollars with no State matching funds. The market has made it clear that investing in the Texas Central high-speed rail project isn’t a great idea, and Texas has been abundantly clear…we are not investing in it, either.”
With the proposed HSR mired in financial distress and legal issues, including the question of its right to eminent domain authority being clarified by the Texas Supreme Court, Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) said, “If the federal government wants high-speed rail in Texas, they need to know that Texas taxpayers are not going to subsidize the taking of private land.”
With other critical needs within the State, like an electrical grid overhaul, members of the Texas Legislature have shown true leadership by preserving the budget rider that protects Texas landowners and taxpayers.
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by flex.202 | Apr 14, 2021 | Press Releases |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 14, 2021
TEXAS COUNTIES AND LANDOWNERS SUE BUTTIGIEG, FRA, AND US DOT IN FEDERAL COURT OVER HSR NEPA VIOLATIONS
Texas HSR project in jeopardy as lawsuit seeks to vacate and set aside Federal Railroad Administration’s Final EIS and special regulatory carve-out for Japanese HSR technology.
Jewett, Texas – Today, Texans Against High-Speed Rail (TAHSR), ten landowners, and six Texas Counties filed a federal court lawsuit challenging the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Record of Decision approving its Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Dallas to Houston high-speed rail (HSR). In 2014, FRA said it would be preparing an EIS to study the impacts of constructing and operating the proposed HSR. In 2020, FRA suddenly changed course, claiming it had prepared its EIS to study the impacts of a special set of safety rules that apply only to the proposed Japanese Shinkansen HSR technology. FRA now claims this new “rule of particular applicability” (RPA) would allow the Shinkansen technology to be deployed anywhere in the U.S.
Led by TAHSR Special Litigation Counsel Blake Beckham and Patrick McShan of The Beckham Group, environmental attorneys Jim Blackburn and David Kahne, and eminent domain specialists Glenn Sodd, Jason Sodd, Jody McSpadden, and Clint Schumacher of Dawson & Sodd, Texas landowners and Counties joined forces to challenge FRA’s blatant, yet nuanced, violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Administrative Procedure Act, both of which were designed to promote transparency, informed decision-making, and full and fair opportunity for comment by affected persons. The lawsuit details FRA’s numerous unlawful actions, resulting in a Final EIS that failed to evaluate all reasonable alternatives to the HSR and all potential adverse environmental impacts.
Blackburn, who teaches environmental law at Rice University, said, “My biggest concern is that a federal agency undertook an action to authorize construction and operation of this HSR across private property when it lacked authority to approve construction or operation. That is not only unlawful but simply wrong. Add to that the fact that this is one of the worst environmental analyses I have encountered in my 45 years as an environmental lawyer and you have a real mess that belongs before a federal judge. These private grasslands are among our nation’s greatest natural assets. We must protect them from wrongful actions.”
Kyle Workman, president of TAHSR, said, “The Final EIS is riddled with errors and issues that were never addressed, including adverse environmental impacts and social disparities. The damage began years ago and continued through to the RPA. This was a bait and switch, not only on the people of Texas but all Americans. FRA neglected to properly study the impacts on Texas and now it is attempting to use its deficient study to allow a foreign government to bypass NEPA’s requirements and deploy its incompatible technology anywhere in the U.S. FRA’s actions should concern the entire nation.”
Harris County landowner and plaintiff Calvin House said, “Agents for the promoters of this HSR came to my property six times asking for a survey, and every time I told them no. So, they sued me, but the court ruled in my favor. That didn’t stop FRA from trespassing on my property and including the information illegally collected in its Final EIS. I’m proud to be a part of this lawsuit so we can right these wrongs.”
Waller County Judge Trey Duhon offered, “Waller County has tried to coordinate fully with FRA to ensure our County was studied properly for current and future impacts this HSR project would have in our area. Not only was County property taken illegally for survey use, FRA refused to meet with County officials to safeguard our roads, floodways, and future growth. With these and other NEPA violations of this Project, the only solution for relief is to rescind the EIS and remove the special safety rules created.”
Plaintiffs include the Counties of Grimes, Freestone, Leon, Madison, Navarro, and Waller, and landowners Ronny Caldwell, Calvin House, Donovan Maretick, David and Heather Miseldine, Ronald and Becky Scasta, Gene and Michaelle Whitesides, and Logan Wilson III.
The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division, can be seen here: https://rb.gy/ehmrku
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by flex.202 | Mar 11, 2021 | Press Releases |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 11, 2021
RESPONSIBLE FRAMEWORK FOR HIGH-SPEED RAIL
Jewett, Texas – In the absence of a responsible framework to implement high-speed rail (HSR) in Texas, Representative Ben Leman filed legislation (HB 3633) that will provide the necessary structure to review aspects of any proposed HSR project prior to recommending the establishment of an HSR authority, if needed.
In the late ’80s to early ’90s, a Democrat-controlled legislature created a similar authority charged with oversight of a private entity’s efforts to build and operate HSR in Texas. The former Texas High-Speed Rail Authority (THSRA) was later abolished after it determined that HSR was infeasible and wrong for Texas. After the dust settled, the executive director of the THSRA released a detailed, cautionary report explaining why HSR oversight must be reserved to the State. Given the size and scope of HSR projects, State oversight is critical to ensuring the protection of the State and its taxpayers through appropriate safeguards. Representative Leman’s bill takes this history into account, heeds the wisdom of the THSRA executive director, and provides a remedy to the current lack of regulatory oversight for HSR projects, to protect the State, tax dollars, and property rights.
Kyle Workman, president and chairman of Texans Against HSR (TAHSR), said of Representative Leman’s bill, “Texas has looked at HSR before and the only company able to move toward being granted a franchise was never able to meet the financial milestones. The Legislature rightly repealed the High-Speed Rail Act and Texans were able to move on with their lives.”
“With the hindsight and recommendations of the now-defunct Texas High-Speed Rail Authority and as we’ve recently seen with the winter storm, Texans deserve for major infrastructure projects that impact life and livelihood to have safeguards in place so we don’t invite another disaster to our state.”
“If HSR is viable in Texas, any currently proposed HSR project, and all future proposals, should certainly and willingly be able to meet the parameters of this framework created by Representative Leman’s review process to prove public benefit and protection of private property rights.”
Additionally, six other HSR related bills have been filed this session by Representatives Bell (HB 1034), Ellzey (HB 3310, 3311), Harris (HB 3312), and Toth (HB 114). Workman said of these bills, “In a legislative session that has an important slate of priorities, these members are committed to keeping HSR in the conversation because Texans are being impacted every day by a project that is merely in the conceptual design phase and, with a new administration, HSR may be promoted in the future. We are pleased that these bills aim to protect state funds and private property now and into the future.”
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by flex.202 | Sep 21, 2020 | Press Releases |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 21, 2020
Federal Railway Administration Issues Record of Decision and Regulatory Carve Out for “Conceptual Design” of Dallas Houston HSR
Jewett, TX – The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has released a pre-publication of its final Rule of Particular Applicability (RPA) and Record of Decision (ROD) today, Monday, September 21, 2020. However, the final RPA and ROD have not been published in the Federal Register. The final RPA and ROD, one of many remaining milestones within the overall regulatory process––including the NEPA process––does not “permit construction or operations,” despite Texas Central Railway’s best efforts to describe the proposed HSR as “shovel ready.” Rather, the final RPA and ROD simply enable FRA to reach a decision that is informed by a cursory understanding of the potential environmental impacts and safety requirements Texas Central Railway (TCR) will be mandated to operate by.
“FRA does not grant any kind of construction approval or permit. Neither does this final rule, by itself, grant any permission or authority for TCRR [Texas Central] to operate.”
– excerpt from FRA’s pre-published final RPA and ROD, page 15
When considering the overall impact of the final RPA and ROD to the timeline of the project, it is worth noting that FRA concluded the project was in a “conceptual design” stage and does not grant any kind of construction approval or permit. Rendering this decision less than conclusory, FRA expressly states that “neither does this final rule, by itself, grant any permission or authority for TCR to operate.” It is the Surface Transportation Board (STB) that is the only agency that can grant TCR permits to operate and construct since taking jurisdiction over the project on July 16, 2020. And considering the STB via that decision is requiring TCR to submit a full application to the Board, which includes a detailed look at project financials, design, construction plans, and ridership numbers, TCR is years away from construction and operation. This point is highlighted within FRA’s final RPA and ROD, where FRA denied TCR’s waiver to substitute non-compliant Japanese rolling stock, mandated compliance with crash readiness standards along with full Positive Train Control (PTC) compliance; thus meaning, TCR must do a complete redesign of their rolling stock in order to be compliant with this final RPA before they are even able to submit final designs for an STB application for construction and operational permits, which could potentially cost TCR tens of millions of dollars in additional costs.
Kyle Workman, Chairman and President of Texans Against HSR, said of the FRA ROD, “Texas Central will likely trumpet this decision as major progress for its project, but they are simply arranging deckchairs on the Titanic…Texans and federal taxpayers need to know this Record of Decision doesn’t change the fact that Texas Central has put up Texas land as collateral to the Japanese government when the project fails, while at the same time asking for billions in federal dollars to prop up its so-called ‘private project’ that is already failing in its ‘conceptual design’ stage.”
While Texas Central Railway continues to claim it will begin construction next year, the company has recently laid off the majority of its staff, admitted the cost estimate for the project has ballooned to $30B, expressed its intent to seek federal funds for a project they have called “private” and “not needing any public funds,” and has yet to file the required full application for construction approval to the federal-level Surface Transportation Board.
In short, the final RPA and ROD establish the minimum safety requirements with which TCR must comply while signifying the completion of the NEPA process. The publication of this final RPA and ROD is the beginning, not the end, of TCR’s regulatory journey. In addition, these final agency actions clear the way for legal challenges regarding, among other NEPA violations, the FRA’s failure to take the requisite “hard look” at the project’s environmental impacts, reasonable alternatives, and financial feasibility.
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