On 2/17/2015 11:20 AM, Craig via Mercedes wrote:
On Sun, 15 Feb 2015 09:42:51 -0500 David & Kristin Gilmore via Mercedes
<mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
On 2/14/2015 10:55 PM, Curly McLain via Mercedes wrote:
While there is a national interest, is it proper use of eminent
domain to tear up the world's most productive land for the enrichment
of a private company?
From what I have seen a pipeline coming through enriches
everybody. Local contractors get work, landowners get easy money and
the land is not harmed. (The topsoil is moved aside and replaced when
they are done.) Once construction starts it all happens fast - the
machinery is so expensive they don't let it sit idle if they can help
it.
I agreed with Chesapeake to put 10,000' of a a 16" shale gas
gathering line through my place two years ago. It took the contractor
just a couple weeks in steep, mostly cut over timberland which
required removing stumps. The part that went through my ridge top hay
fields left them smoother then they were, fertilized and seeded to my
specifications. I gave up timber growing in a 50' ROW about 6,000'
long. In return I got a firebreak where I needed it and hay fields
enlarged. And $240,000. I understand bigger lines, like the
interstate lines, pay more.
What you describe, however, is not the use of eminent domain. Your
saying, "I agreed ... ," indicates it was a voluntary transaction with a
private company that compensated you for your losses and troubles.
Yes, my situation did not involve eminent domain. I should have
made that clear. As I understand it, a gathering pipeline is a local
intrastate sort of thing, in contrast to the interstate transmission
pipelines that typically involve eminent domain.
What I was responding to in Curly's original message was the idea
of tearing up productive land with the private company the only one
getting enriched. The land is restored. Putting a pipeline through
just means the farmer misses a crop and is well compensated for that.
As I see it the issue is that the resulting Right of Way limits use of
the land for something else, like putting buildings on it. That is
what you really are being compensated for. In most cases you can just
put up the building nearby.
Dave Gilmore, Cameron WV
I will attend to the trees and their gracious silence,
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