An appeals court in San Antonio has ruled that Eagle Ford county officials will be able to maintain control of local roads.

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In 2012, LaSalle County landowner Philip Hindes declared a stretch of dirt road his private property and granted exclusive passage to EOG, who was drilling on his land. This sparked a heated and bitter dispute as other local residents claimed Hindes did not have authority to restrict access, let alone posting guards to ensure compliance.

After a neighbor filed suit demanding access to the road, county commissioners got involved in order to make sure that their jurisdiction over  hundreds of miles of roadway in the Eagle Ford would not be compromised.  Even though commissioners declared they had a public interest in the road, Hindes obtained a temporary court order and continued to block vehicles. The litigation escalated as residents asked the courts to finally declare the road public under state law.

Local resident, Frank Plocek, 69 told FuelFix, "The oil boom has created a lot of headaches. It all comes down to money. Greed and money. I've seen a bunch of them around here that used to be friends that aren't friends anymore because of the greed and the money."

The appellate ruling issued last week, upholds the county’s right to consider the request to open the road.