Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Wind, hydro and other renewables · United States · 2023

Texas court rules wind rights can be severed from land ownership

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 1 not measured See the gaps

A Texas court ruled in 2023 that wind rights can be held apart from the land they cross. Wyoming has barred that separation by statute since 2011.

What?
A Texas court ruled that wind rights are property separate from the land, and a related trespass case produced a jury award above USD 1 million. Greenberg Traurig
Where?
Hale County, Texas, United States Greenberg Traurig
When?
2023 Greenberg Traurig
Who?
Gained
  • Company that acquired the separated wind rights (unnamed in the sources) — won trespass suit against the turbine builder Greenberg Traurig
Lost
  • Electricity company that built the turbines (unnamed in the sources) — lost trespass suit; jury award above USD 1 million Greenberg Traurig
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
The landowner sold the land and kept the wind rights, which later passed to a company that sued the turbine builder for trespass. Greenberg Traurig
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Greenberg Traurig reported that a Texas court ruled in 2023, in a Hale County case, that wind rights can be separated from ownership of the land.

A company that acquired the separated wind rights won a trespass suit against the electricity company that built turbines on the land, and the jury awarded more than USD 1 million.

Wyoming's 2011 statute, W.S. 34-27-103, provides that wind rights cannot be separated from the surface estate, according to the vLex text.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    1. 2023Claimant won
      Trespass suit over severed wind rights
      Texas court (as reported) · Civil · Company that acquired the separated wind rights (unnamed in the sources) → Electricity company that built the turbines (unnamed in the sources)

      Jury awarded more than USD 1 million to the claimant. Greenberg Traurig

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • None on record The sources reviewed do not say whether the 2023 severance ruling and the trespass verdict were in the same court proceeding.
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not name the court, the parties or the case number for the trespass suit.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

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