San Miguel Electric Coop is a Texas nonprofit electric
cooperative that owns and operates a power plant that supplies
electricity to 38 Texas counties.
After a four-week absence, they return to these pages, this
time in
DCP Sand Hills Pipeline, LLC v. San Miguel Elec. Coop.,
Inc. Read on to learn about the "paramount importance
doctrine".
San Miguel's only source of fuel is lignite it strip mines
in Atascosa and McMullen counties. DCP, a common carrier, operates
a 721-mile long 20-inch pipeline that contributes to a larger
system that transports 20 percent of all natural gas liquids
produced in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins to the Gulf Coast for
processing.
In 1954, the Wheelers granted San Miguel's
predecessor-in-interest a coal, lignite and mineral lease covering
2,200 acres. San Miguel has exclusive rights from the surface
to a depth of 350 feet. The Wheelers reserved the right to explore
for oil and gas below 350 feet so long as it does not
