Pipeline owners seek 77 properties through eminent domain
Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The owners of the Rockies Express natural gas pipeline have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to use eminent domain powers to acquire right-of-way on 77 Ohio properties to build the pipeline’s Ohio leg. The properties, many of which have multiple owners, include 15 each in Butler and Warren counties and four in Clinton County.
Rockies Express Pipeline LLC said eminent domain is necessary because the company couldn’t reach financial agreements with the land owners, which include Warren County Park District, the Wayne Twp. trustees and several area companies as well as dozens of families.
The company, called REX, wants a 50-foot-wide permanent right-of-way, an additional 75-foot-wide temporary work space and “all rights of ingress, egress and reasonable access” to maintain and repair the finished pipeline, which is scheduled for completion by mid 2009. REX filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Columbus.
REX got the right of eminent domain after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the 639-mile eastern portion of the $5 billion pipeline project on May 30. The pipeline is designed to bring Wyoming and Colorado natural gas to market in the Midwest and eastern U.S. Vectren Energy Delivery is among the distribution companies who have agreed to buy gas from REX.
REX spokesman Allen Fore said the company will continue to negotiate in hopes of avoiding eminent domain. “The action itself is not an indication that we’re going to come to eminent domain with these people,” he said. “Generally, neither Rockies Express nor the landowners want to end up in court.”
He said REX has reached agreements with 85 percent of the property owners on the eastern portion. In Ohio, there are 1,100 tracts in the pipeline corridor. Some owners are still in negotiation with REX.
The company asked the court to appoint a commission to determine the compensation to the land owners named in the lawsuit, but they want court permission to start work before compensation is set. “Without immediate possession, possible delayed or prolonged construction would put REX at risk of irreparable harm, including construction penalties, increased construction costs, lost revenue and, most importantly, the lack of availability of this vital energy resource to the intended markets in the United States’ energy infrastructure,” according to the lawsuit.
One of the land owners on the pipeline corridor is John Rowe, a University of Dayton biology professor, and his wife, Robbie, who operate a racing horse farm on their property in Clinton County. They haven’t reached agreement with REX, but weren’t named in the lawsuit.
Rowe, who has been fighting the project for months, said REX offered him “about a third of what it’s going to cost us” in terms of disruption to his pastures, which will take years to fully recover from the pipeline trenching.
But Rowe said he is more concerned that the politically well-connected owners of REX are being allowed to use eminent domain powers for a money-making venture.
“Our constitution is supposed to protect property owners. That is being eroded,” Rowe said. “It’s ridiculous that you can take someone’s property for profit, not for the public good. It’s just not right.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2264 or tbeyerlein@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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