Houston-based Gulf South Pipeline Co. has filed a lawsuit to take over private land in Ascension Parish so it can relocate a pipeline as part of a larger federal effort to deepen the Mississippi River.
The company filed the complaint in Baton Rouge federal court on March 21. It is asking the court to grant it immediate access to about 65 acres of private land off La. 405 north of Donaldsonville.
The land is tied to members of the Maher family, who are defendants in the suit. Kenneth Maher Sr. is the record owner of the property. Gulf South says the land is needed to relocate part of a pipeline system that currently crosses under the Mississippi River in the area.
The pipeline relocation is necessary, the company says, because of a large-scale infrastructure project to deepen the Mississippi River ship channel from the Gulf to Baton Rouge. That project, which is being managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, will allow larger ships to access ports along the lower Mississippi River, including the Port of Greater Baton Rouge.
To accommodate the work, Gulf South plans to abandon sections of its old pipeline system and install new, larger pipelines deeper beneath the river. But to do that, the company says it needs access to specific land along the river.
Gulf South says it tried to buy the rights to use the land—known as servitudes—and the rights of way from the Maher family, but negotiations broke down. Now, the company is using a legal tool called eminent domain, which allows utilities and other entities to take private land for public projects as long as the landowner is paid fair market value.
Gulf South is seeking about 31 acres in servitudes: two permanent servitudes totaling about 3 acres and a much larger temporary workspace servitude of about 28 acres for construction crews and equipment. It is also asking that a court-determined amount of compensation be paid to the landowner. The company initially offered the defendants $199,617, documents show.
It is not yet clear whether the Maher family intends to fight the lawsuit.
