Coastal States Gas Producing Co. v. Pate

• Decision Date: 12 February 1958
• Docket Number: No. A-6419,A-6419
• Citation: 158 Tex. 171,309 S.W.2d 828
• Parties: COASTAL STATES GAS PRODUCING COMPANY et al., Petitioners, v. J. E. PATE et al., Respondents.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 828

309 S.W.2d 828

158 Tex. 171

COASTAL STATES GAS PRODUCING COMPANY et al., Petitioners, v. J. E. PATE et al., Respondents.

No. A-6419.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Feb. 12, 1958.

[158 Tex 173] Kelley, Looney, McLean & Littleton, Edinburg, Looney, Clark & Moorhead, Austin, for Coastal States Gas Producing Co.

Will Wilson, Atty. Gen., James H. Roger, John Milton Richardson and C. K. Richards, Asst. Attys. Gen., for the State.

Stafford, Atlas & Spilman, Carl H. Judin, Jr., McAllen, for respondents, J. E. Pate and others.

WALKER, Justice.

Subsection 14, Sec. 8-A, of art. 5421c, Vernon's Ann.Tex.Stat., grants to any leaseholder or assignee holding a lease under the State for development of oil and gas in State-owned river beds, the right of eminent domain for the following purposes:

'(1) Of securing such additional adjoining lands as may be necessary for erection of power machinery, and construction of storage tanks and slush pits in the operation of said channel or river development and to prevent or lessen the dangers of pollution involved in the drilling of any well in any such river beds or channels.

'(2) For the purpose of securing a right of way to and from any well which may be drilled in said river beds or channels so as to enable the Board or any of its contract or leaseholders to go to and from said wells and to transport any materials necessary in the development of said river beds or channels and to transport oil and/or gas away from any wells.'

The controlling questions in this case are: (1) Does the statute authorize the condemnation of land for use as a site to drill a directional well into the producting sands under the river bed? and (2) Is the statute unconstitutional in that it permits the taking of private property for a use that is not public? We answer the first question in the affirmative and the second in the negative.

Coastal States Gas Producing Company, petitioner, holds an oil and gas lease under the State covering approximately 85 acres located in the bed of the Rio Grande River adjacent to land owned by J. E. Pate et al., respondents. This proceeding was instituted by Coastal against respondents to condemn a tract of 1.84 acres for the purpose of: (1) erecting power machinery and constructing storage tanks and slush pits thereon, and (2) drilling a directional well therefrom into the strata underlying the river bed. ¹ After objections to the award of the commissioners were filed in the County Court at Law, the State, acting by the Attorney General in behalf of the School Land Board, intervened in the cause and adopted Coastal's pleadings. The latter's right to condemn and use the 1.84-acre tract for all of the purposes mentioned was upheld by the trial court. The Court of Civil Appeals concluded that while art. 5421c is constitutional, it does not authorize the condemnation of land for use as a site to drill a directional well. The judgment of the trial court, in so far as it granted Coastal the right to use the land for that purpose, was accordingly reversed and rendered in favor of respondents. 302 S.W.2d 185. Coastal and the State applied for writs of error, and both applications were granted.

We agree with the Court of Civil Appeals that art. 1497, Vernon's Ann.Tex.Civ.Stat., does not contemplate the condemnation of land on river banks or elsewhere as a site for drilling a directional well. If Coastal has that power, it must be found in the provisions of art. 5421c quoted above.

By the express terms of this article, the landowner retains title to the oil and gas under the condemned property. It also seems clear that the condemning party may acquire only an easement in the land taken. Respondents do not contend that Coastal was guilty of fraud or bad faith, or acted arbitrarily or capriciously, in deciding that the acquisition of the land is necessary for all the purposes mentioned above, and its determination in that respect is therefore conclusive. See Housing Authority of City of Dallas v. Higginbotham, 135 Tex. 158, 143 S.W.2d 79, 130 A.L.R. 1053. Nor do they question the company's right, if the statute is constitutional, to take and use the surface of the 1.84-acre tract for erection of power machinery and construction of storage tanks and slush pits. As the case reaches us, moreover, it must be assumed that respondents have been adequately compensated for all damages sustained by them. The question we must decide is whether Coastal, being entitled to condemn and use the surface of the land for certain purposes, may also acquire the right to place a rig thereon and drill a well through the subsurface into the strata underlying the river. There is no suggestion that such a well will have any greater tendency to drain respondents' land than a vertical well bottomed at the same point.

Although the statute does not mention directional drilling, it expressly grants the power to condemn property on the river bank for the erection of 'power machinery.' Petitioners contend that the quoted phrase is broad enough to include a drilling rig, while respondents insist that the statute must be construed strictly in their favor and that when so construed it does not grant the right to condemn property for a site to drill a directional well. It is true that the power of eminent domain must be conferred by the Legislature, either expressly or by necessary implication, and will not be gathered from doubtful inferences. Statutes granting the same are strictly construed in favor of the landowner and against those corporations and arms of the State vested therewith. See City of Houston v. Derby, Tex.Civ.App., 215 S.W.2d 690 (wr. ref.); McCord v. Housing Authority, Tex.Civ.App., 234 S.W.2d 108 (wr. ref. n. r. e., 149 Tex. 587, 236 S.W.2d 115); Brazos River Conservation & Reclamation District v. Harmon, Tex.Civ.App., 178 S.W.2d 281 (wr. ref. w. m.); 29 C.J.S. Eminent Domain § 22, p. 806; 18 Am.Jur. Eminent Domain, Sec. 26, p. 650.

Strict construction is not, however, the exact converse of liberal construction, for it does not require that the words of a statute be given the narrowest meaning of which they are susceptible. The language used by the Legislature may be accorded a full meaning that will carry out its manifest purpose and intention in enacting the statute, but the operation of the law will then be confined to cases which plainly fall within its terms as well as its spirit and purpose. See Franklin County Coal Co. v. Ames, 359 Ill. 178, 194 N.E. 268; Cummins v. Kansas City Public Service Co., 334 Mo. 672, 66 S.W.2d 920; 82 C.J.S. Statutes § 387, p. 915; 50 Am.Jur. Statutes, Sec. 389, p. 408.

The adjective 'power' means operated by or producing mechanical force or energy as distinguished from human power. See Webster's New International Dictionary, Unabridged, 2nd ed. 1950; Hall v. Mutual Ben. Health & Accident Ass'n, Tex.Civ.App., 220 S.W.2d 934 (wr. ref.). According to Webster, the word 'machinery' refers to machines in general or collectively, and in its popular and wider sense a machine is any combination of mechanical parts, together with the framework and fastenings supporting and connnecting them, which serve to transmit and modify force and motion so as to produce some given effect or do some desired kind of work. After stating that machines other than those operating on material are commonly designated by special names, the same authority points out that one form of hoisting machine is called a derrick. The term 'machinery' in different contexts has also been judicially construed to include a derrick or a line of attached drill pipe in the well. See Cleveland v. Hightower, 108 Okl. 84, 234 P. 614; Miller v. F. R. Patch Mfg. Co., 101 App.Div. 22, 91 N.Y.S. 870; Hawkins v. Frick-Reid Supply Corp., 5 Cir., 154 F.2d 88. In the light of these definitions and decisions, it is clear to us that a drilling rig, with its derrick, engine, boiler, drilling tools and equipment, can fairly and reasonably be said to constitute power machinery.

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