Living by the Line

An exposed portion of the Longhorn Pipeline (Photo By John Anderson)

Keeping the Longhorn Pipeline out of Central Texans' back yards may seem a losing battle, but legal setbacks aren't reason enough to silence those who live within shouting distance of the line. Hill Country property owner Gary Simanton says that for the past year, he and his neighbor have lodged complaints and queries with Longhorn about an uncovered portion of the pipeline on Simanton's property, located off County Road 187 a few miles north of Dripping Springs. Simanton theorizes that since the pipeline was laid more than 50 years ago, a streambed gradually washed away the soil, leaving several feet of bare pipe.

Not to worry, says Longhorn spokesman Don Martin. The exposed pipe in question is scheduled for "lowering" this spring, as a crew of workers inches westward from the Brodie Lane area through the outlying corners of Dripping Springs. "The pipe has been dormant for four years now, and will not begin operation until this and hundreds of other lowerings are completed," he added. "There is nothing to complain about at this stage."

Try telling that to Simanton and dozens of other outspoken opponents, who don't relish the idea of gasoline moving underfoot on its journey west to El Paso and other markets. Southwest Austin resident Donna Baca, a grandmother with no history of activism, says she recently threatened to lie down in front of a bulldozer to keep Longhorn workers off of her right-of-way property. "I went out there and told them the city had issued a stop-work order and that they shouldn't be working without a permit," she said. "They kept right on working." The stop-work order, it turns out, didn't hold water because, as U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruled in January, the city has no local control over the federally regulated pipeline. Baca, who lives in the fairly young Village of Western Oaks subdivision, says she has been alerting new homeowners (and even one prospective buyer) about the dangers of living near a pipeline. "A lot of people aren't even aware that that pipeline is going to be transporting gasoline some day. When we bought our home a year ago, our plat showed an Exxon pipeline [ExxonMobil is a partner in the Longhorn venture], but I think everyone just figured the city would never allow this to happen."

Meanwhile, builders continue laying sticks and concrete for new homes going up near the pipeline. The homes are located within city limits and built under city rules -- rules that were in place long before Longhorn became such a hot controversy. Now, however, city officials are mulling over ordinance revisions that would impose a 1,000-foot setback from the pipeline; houses would be "grandfathered" in under existing rules.

At this point, re-routing the pipeline is not in the cards, according to Longhorn's Martin. "One thing the federal agencies looked at was the re-route options, and they concluded that the pipeline is safer exactly where it is," he said. "It would likely be physically impossible to acquire new right-of-way in this day and age."

So given the odds, should pipeline opponents give up the fight? "Everyone tells us, 'You're fighting a losing battle,' but that's what [Longhorn] wants us and everyone else to believe," said Marguerite Jones, coordinator of the Safe Pipeline Coalition. "But we're going to be organizing more, we are going to be working harder, and we're going to be talking to statewide groups to join us in this battle. Momentum is building."