Hello, Everyone: Date: September 11, 2015

Many people have been approached with contracts for easements, roads, pipeline rights of way, and other legal documents for access to property. Bear in mind, these contracts are written for the benefit of the company, not the landowner.

It is up to each landowner to read these and decide what they want in the contract – that is, IF they wish to sell. But IF you must, you also MUST be armed with information. If you can’t afford a lawyer, at least read up.

Please see, attached and below, the list of recommended additional specifications to be added to Right of Way offers to protect landowners.  Pay special attention to points 8 and 22. Please feel free to forward this to others who may be or may know land and/or mineral owners.  Besides the ones contained herein, you can add your own. 

Too many landowners have been made to feel that they have no choice in whether or not they should sign a contract for the use or sale of their land for pipelines. Companies have been illegally citing Eminent Domain as a reason to give up claim or sign for less than the property, or the LOSS of it, is worth. Do not be taken in by this argument.

If you do not wish to sign, there is no compunction to do so at this time, because, and THIS IS IMPORTANT, the interstate pipelines ACP and MVP have not yet been approved by FERC, and this approval is required before ED can be applied. And if you do hold out, the rewards could be greater if you are forced into court. 

With a pipe this large (42″) going through, your property will be devalued up to 75% by what will soon be an outdated piece of infrastructure, when you might have instead put in some solar panels that would increase your property value. Not to mention a life-changer. Interestingly, the ACP is at one point less than half a mile from Buckhannon-Upshur High School, straddling route 20. Can you imagine the mayhem in our county if that line exploded? Promises are just that: words.  How smart is it to trust a for-profit company with our lives?

If you have already signed and you feel that it was done under duress, fraud, or misrepresentation, you may have legal grounds to revoke the contract (so don’t spend that money yet!). Contact a lawyer who handles Eminent Domain Abuse, such as Joe Lovett, Isak Howell, or Chuck Lollar.

As landowners and citizens in this time of taking private property for corporate gain, we must stay abreast of information which keeps the power in our hands. The future of our families and our state depend upon it.

>>>>>> April Keating, Concerned Citizen, Buckhannon, WV

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Pipeline Easement and Right-of-Way Agreements - 
A Landowner’s List of Terms to Negotiate

From the Blog posted by Attorney Eric C. Camp on December 9, 2013 

The following article (blog) discusses terms a landowner should consider when negotiating a Pipeline Easement or Right-of-Way Agreement (collectively called “Easement Agreement”). This list is not exhaustive; each situation is different, as are the laws of each state. This list is not legal advice. When negotiating an Easement Agreement, a Landowner should seek independent legal advice at the outset of negotiations, not just before signing the Easement Agreement or condemnation proceedings.

In this list, the terms “easement” and “right-of-way” are interchangeable. Also, the Grantee is called the “Pipeline Company” and the Grantor is called the “Landowner.”

You can View Blog here.

WBOY News 12, Clarksburg, WV

Update: U.S.  Federal Energy Regulatory Commission heard concerns on Atlantic Coast Pipeline project

From an Article by Allen Clayton, WBOY, March 24, 2015

Clarksburg, WV — U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission held its final meeting Tuesday evening at Bridgeport High School allowing residents to talk about their concerns of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Corky DeMarco, Executive Director of West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association said they encourage the public to give input regarding the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Many residents are concerned what environmental impacts the pipeline will have. DeMarco said all the disturbances will be temporary and they plan to reseed and replace vegetation.

Some residents were in support of the pipeline project and spoke of the jobs it would provide to West Virginians. Others who were concerned on the impact to the land and wildlife said residents are concerned for some of the endangered species in those areas of the state.

“My principle concern at this point is that local fire departments are not equipped to take care of the effects if a pipe line should explode,” said Tom Bond, Lewis County resident.

Bond also said he’s concerned if the pipeline was to get a hole in it the size of pencil or a little larger could result in an explosion. He also said he feels concerned how emergency crews will be trained to handle those situations.

Original: 3/23/15

U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission held a meeting Monday evening at Elkins High School in Randolph County to talk about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said the purpose of the meeting is to provide an opportunity to residents and businesses to verbally comment on the projects. The pipeline project would affect approximately 295.6 miles of a 42-inch-diameter pipeline in Harrison, Lewis, Upshur, Randolph, and Pocahontas Counties in West Virginia.

The Commission was speaking about the “Supply Header Project” which would involve construction and operation of approximately 38.7 miles of pipeline loop and the modification of existing compression facilities in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. A pipeline “Loop” is a segment of pipe constructed parallel to and existing pipeline to increase capacity.

“You’re going to have people here that are for this project because of the jobs that are going to be brought and the economic development that it will have in this area. Then there will be people who will be opposed because maybe the project may be on their property,” said Bob Orndorff, Senior Policy Advisor Dominion, WV.

Proposed construction of the planned facilities would affect more than 12,000 acres of land for the pipeline project and aboveground facilities. The environmental impact of the projects will be considered in one environmental impact statement that will be used by the commission. The commission said in its decision will be to determine whether its projects are a public convenience and necessity.

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More Landowners Resisting Gas Pipelines in WV & VA

From an Article by Dan Heyman, Public News Service, March 23, 2015

More landowners are going to court to oppose huge pipelines intended to carry Marcellus and Utica natural gas to eastern markets. They say they are concerned in part about construction impacts.

CHARLESTON, WV – Huge pipelines intended to carry Marcellus and Utica natural gas to eastern markets are running into spreading resistance from landowners.  Richmond-based Dominion Resources and its partners have filed about 100 lawsuits against landowners who are resisting surveying crews for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Now landowners in the path of a different pipeline, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, have filed preemptive suits to stop surveying crews hired by the Pittsburgh-based EQT energy company and its partners.

Isak Howell is an attorney with Appalachian Mountain Advocates, a non-profit organization that represents dozens of landowners along each line. “These companies are proposing to use the right of eminent domain -– the extraordinary power to take private property against the landowners’ wishes – and it should not be granted lightly,” Howell states.

Each pipeline would cost billions of dollars, run for hundreds of miles and carry billions of cubic feet of gas a day. They are designed to carry Marcellus and Utica natural gas to North Carolina and Virginia, with other connections. Both projects would go through rugged, hard-to-build-in terrain. The companies argue the projects would put people to work and would lower gas prices, which they maintain would be good for the economy.

Howell says the landowners don’t expect to see any benefit in their region, just the negative impact on land and water. “They’re definitely going to have a huge environmental impact out on the land,” he stresses. “The companies should be held to the letter of the environmental laws before these pipelines are ever approved.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will determine much of the future of both projects. Both cross national forests, which complicates the picture. And the landowner lawsuits in state courts will also need to be addressed.

Appalachian Mountain Advocates filed suit on behalf of three families in Summers and Monroe counties. Howell says their cases turn on the interpretation of a law that’s more than a century old.  He says it states a company can use eminent domain for a public use. But he says the gas won’t be used in West Virginia, which leaves open the question of whether it qualifies.

“There’s not a definitive case answering this question that I’ve been able to find, and so, possibly very soon, it’s going to be up to a West Virginia court to decide whether that bar is as high as we think it is,” he explains.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

More pipelines to cross WV

Commentary on “Dealing with Pipelines”

By S. Thomas Bond, Retired Chemistry Professor and Resident Farmer, Lewis County, WV

An article in the Toledo Blade quotes Dale Arnold, director of energy services for the Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation, saying “About 38,000 miles of pipeline are expected to be built or replaced across the state in the next decade.” Assuming the right of ways built are 75 feet wide on the average, any high school student who has Chemistry or Physics (because that’s where you learn “dimensional analysis”*) should be able to calculate that it amounts to 511 square miles, considerably above the average of Ohio’s 88 counties. How much do you think that will affect agricultural production?

True, the right of way will be “paid for.” But does that reflect the loss over several years? Hardly! There will be loss of crops, extra fertilizer and seed to reestablish the use, silting off the right of way into local streams (minimized at some considerable expense by the contractor) and inconvenience to the land owners. How does acquisition work? Costs have nothing to do with it, it is a kind of poker game. They pay what they can get it for.

The company maintains or hires a corps of land men and appraisers, or a company that does this work, who establish the “present value,” by using “comparables.” usually three or four properties within a few miles that have recently been sold. Such things as house value, quality of road access, slope, land use (pasture, forest or meadow) and general upkeep are considered. Then they value each particular property, or part of it, to be condemned in relation to the comparables. The “trick” (I use that word in the colloquial sense, meaning the right balance to achieve a desired end) is for the appraiser to establish a “present value” at just the level it will not pay the owner to take it to condemnation. No consideration is made for sentimental value, nor other higher uses in the future, but the neighborhood is a factor.

The first offer made to the land owner is well below the present value, defined above. It is for suckers the unwary who just might bite. There will be a series of increasing offers, perhaps two or three before arriving at the “present value” determined by the appraisers. Increasing psychological pressure will be applied. “This is more than it is worth.” “Your neighbors have sold.” “We are not going to offer any more.” “We will have to take you to court and condemn it,” knowing most people fear or hate to go to court, even in their own interest. Finally they will take you to court.

And, court activity will involve costs you. You have to have a lawyer and trips must be made to see him and get him clued in to your property, and trips made to court. Considerable nervous strain is involved for many people, and you have to pay the lawyer anyway, win or loose. You can pay him by the hour if you have the money, or you can have him work “pro bono,” meaning he gets a third to 40% if you win, but it costs nothing if he looses.

When the Corps of Engineers took land for the Stonewall Jackson Dam project, I studied what had happened at the Burnsville Dam project. The Corps had a number of appraisers and land men that were independent but almost “inhouse,” since they were used over and over for Corps of Engineer Dam projects. The offer by the company and the settlement after the court decision are a matter of record. Condemnation must be decided by a jury which sets the amount. Our forbearers who wrote the law understood that without a value set independent of the judiciary, there would be too much chance for corruption.

Most of the awards at Burnsville were above the offered price. I had no way of knowing what the lawyers got from each case. I’m sure it was good work for them. Whether it was good for the landowners is another story. The lawyer has to charge a lot, because his share must pay not only for the overhead on cases which he wins, but also on the cases he loses. I always wondered how all those land owners came out.

The author has never seen an estimate for how much of pipeline will be built in West Virginia, but surely it will be similar to the amount built in Ohio, because, although Ohio has more area, the Marcellus and Utica is along the Eastern part of the Ohio, with only long distance lines in the Western part of the state.

Now, here are some ideas. Just as it is the practice to lease not only the layer that is the drilling objective, but all gas and oil under a particular tract, they will try to get everything they can. (1) Do not accept verbal agreements. Everything must be written down, to bind all parties. (2) Try to limit them to keeping the right of way free of herbicides. They will sincerely tell you they use a brush hog and will never use herbicide. But when the crush comes after a few years they will decide they cannot afford to brush hog. Herbicide is not bad if it is done every year with ground equipment, but if it is done from a helicopter or with high volume sprayers because they let the brush get big, it will drift off the right of way into surrounding forest land. You’d be better off to do it yourself yearly.

(3) Limit them to one pipeline. There are many cases where they come back and lay another adjacent to the first one for free. (4) Require them to build fences to control your cattle if new fences are needed. (5) Require them to let you supply the lock and key. If they supply the locks, they will be “keyed alike” locks and everyone in the neighborhood will have a key to your land as well as all your neighbor’s land. (6) Take pictures of the right of way before the work is done and after. (Always document changes on your land when dealing with others working on your land.) Get an agreement to provide subsurface drainage of wet spots which develop due to water following the pipeline, a frequent occurrence. (7) Write in that they will come back in and correct slips and settling.

(8) Be sure that the width of the “take” is specified in the contract and the location of the pipeline itself. (9) Specify whether the pipe is to be yours or to be taken out when the line is no longer in use. It is now the law that it becomes yours when abandoned, but that can be changed and the way things are going, it may. (10) Don’t allow any use for the pipeline except the original use – gas or oil. Many contracts allow telephone lines, power lines, water and/or sewage lines, regular vehicle traffic (they need access to work on the pipe lines, and keep the brush down, but don’t need daily traffic) and other uses. Some gas lines have been converted to carry other, non-hydrocarbon, or manufactured products – a particularly horrible example is hydrogen sulfide. (11) Make sure it is specified that the land reverts to your property when use stops. You may not care but your grandson will.

These people are experts at applied psychology. They do it every day. Never agree to sign anything the first time they come. You need some time to think about a proposal and talk about it with other people who have experience. You may feel good to pull off something by yourself, but remember the old saying, “Two heads are better than one, even if one is a sheep’s head.” Sometimes you understand something better just by talking about it with someone else, even if they don’t contribute much.  Good luck on all this, you will need it!

<<< *Dimensional analysis takes advantage of the fact that units (such as feet/mile or inches /foot) cancel, just like you learn to do in fractions. Keeping track of them makes sure you use the right conversion factors. >>>