|
House Bill 2572 |
House Author: Gonzalez Toureilles |
|
Effective: 6-19-09 |
Senate Sponsor: Jackson, Mike |
A gas corporation currently has the right to lay and maintain lines over and across a public road, certain railroads, a canal or stream, or a municipal street or alley. House Bill 2572 amends the Utilities Code to authorize a gas corporation to lay and maintain lines along and under such a road, railroad, canal or stream, or municipal street or alley. The bill makes a gas corporation's authority to use public rights-of-way contingent on compliance with certain federal regulations and state agency rules and on the restoration of the right-of-way to its former condition of usefulness. A gas corporation's authority to lay and maintain lines over, under, and across a municipal street or alley is subject to payment of compensation. The bill sets out the matters a gas corporation must consider in determining the route of a pipeline within a municipality. The bill allows the Texas Department of Transportation to require the owner or operator of a pipeline to relocate the pipeline at the expense of the owner or operator if the pipeline is located on a right-of-way of the state highway system and at the expense of the state if the pipeline is located on property in which the owner or operator has a private interest or if the pipeline is owned or operated by a gas utility as defined by the Utilities Code or a common carrier as defined by the Natural Resources Code.