A Unique Discovery Request In A Texas Water Rights Fight

In re Plains Pipeline, L.P., is a suit to adjudicate title to groundwater. Did the trial court err in allowing a party to drill seven test holes on a tank farm? (Spoiler alert: It didn't.) This decision evaluates an order in a unique civil discovery situation, and the underlying claims exemplify approaches to disputes over groundwater rights.

The parties' claims

Plains Pipeline entities are oil gathering/storage companies; Winkler Services is a water exploration company. Both claim surface rights to 160 acres in Winkler County.

Plains acquired rights under a lease in 1928 to construct, maintain, and operate oil tanks and pipelines on the land. Plains asserted continuous use of the property in ways sufficient to maintain the lease since 1999 by a tank farm with nine 270,000 barrel storage tanks, 11 high-pressure oil pipelines, an office, and other uses. According to Plains, the Texas Water Code gives a surface lessee the exclusive right to possess and use