Jeanne Simpson sits before a foot-wide section of 42-inch diameter green pipe, a sample of what is likely to be buried on her property. A fourth-generation landowner, Simpson co-owns and manages the Barreno Ranch southwest of Marfa, a more than 6,000-acre property her great-grandfather settled in 1884.
A special commission hearing Wednesday ruled damages to her property from the Trans-Pecos Pipeline to be worth nearly $700,000. The pipeline had offered $18,000.
During nearly four hours of testimony, Simpson described the native pronghorn population that grazes in Maria pasture, named for her grandmother who ran the ranch alone for years, and a 100-year-old hackberry tree, rare shade in this high desert environment… Read more from Big Bend Now