In Texas, Oil Companies Have Eminent Domain Authority

Even when they're Canadian, one landowner discovers.

The Canadian energy company TransCanada can take over land owned by a Texas farmer to build its Keystone XL pipeline, a county judge ruled on Wednesday night. In a 15-word ruling sent from his iPhone, Judge Bill Harris of Lamar County Court at Law upheld TransCanada's condemnation of a 50-foot strip of land across Julia Trigg Crawford's pasture here. The pipeline is being built to carry oil to Texas refineries from Canada.

Ms. Crawford plans to appeal the ruling. "We may have lost this one battle here in Paris, Texas, but we are far from done," she said in a statement. "I will continue to proudly stand up for my own personal rights, the property rights of my family, and those of other Texans fighting to protect their land."