Tag Archives: property

PHMSA abnormal vs. accident

Apparently an actual fire or explosion may (or may not) count as an accident according to PHMSA, but there’s a huge gap in PHMSA’s definitions: they don’t seem to say they apply to methane. And guess whose Public Awareness Program PHMSA requires pipeline operators to follow?

According to PHMSA’s Glossary and Definitions,

Accident

A release of the hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide transported that results in any of the following:
  1. explosion or fire not intentionally set by the operator.
  2. release of Continue reading PHMSA abnormal vs. accident

Central Florida property owner pipeline concerns –GTN

Injury to workers or local people, limited local resources, property rights, and more concerns all bubbling to the top in central Florida like methane from a deep well.

Briana Harper reported for GTN 29 January 2014, Natural Gas Pipeline Cause Concern for Property Owners,

The Sabal Trail Gas Pipeline is a project more than 400 miles long spanning across three different states. The purpose is to provide domestically-produced natural gas for the southeast region. But this pipeline comes at a cost to property owners. Eminent Domain Attorney Brian Bolves says, “It’s a big scale project that’s coming through the community. It will change the character of a lot of people’s property,there have been a lot of surveyors assessing people’s property and so people have a lot of concerns about the nature of this facility.”

The project will affect Continue reading Central Florida property owner pipeline concerns –GTN

Landowner gains review against pipeline in Texas Supreme Court

A huge transnational company has to justify its attempted use of eminent domain to a small farmer in Texas, so says the Texas Supreme Court. Somebody should make Sabal Trail and Spectra Energy try to justify their attempted use of eminent domain in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.

Julia Trigg Crawford wrote 8 January 2014 for Tar Sands Blockade, Texas Supreme Court Favors Landowner Over TransCanada in Eminent Domain Case,

The Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of landowner Julia Trigg Crawford, ordering TransCanada to submit information by Feb. 6 as the justices weigh arguments to hear the case regarding eminent domain abuse.

Texas’s highest court delivered a clear victory for pipeline opponents and landowners fighting TransCanada’s overreach on property rights. At the heart of Crawford’s case is the ability of TransCanada, a foreign corporation, to use eminent domain under the state’s “common carrier” clause since their pipeline transports 90% Canadian tar sands and 10% North Dakota oil. There is no on ramp for Texas oil therefore violating the definition of a common carrier under Texas law.

Crawford said she looks forward to her family’s day in court, “As a landowner, property rights are key to my livelihood and family legacy. A foreign corporation pumping foreign oil simply does not qualify as a common carrier under Texas law. TransCanada does not get to write their own rules. I look forward to the Supreme Court hearing our case and our plea to protect the fundamental rights of property owners.”

Here’s the Court’s letter in PDF on the Court’s website. It’s Case Number 13-0886, THE CRAWFORD FAMILY FARM PARTNERSHIP v. TRANSCANADA KEYSTONE PIPELINE, L.P.

That’s an oil pipeline, but the issues are the same Continue reading Landowner gains review against pipeline in Texas Supreme Court

The Alliance opposes any new pipelines in these areas –Ichetucknee Alliance to FERC

Filed with FERC 17 December 2013 and on the Ichetucknee Alliance facebook group:

Lucinda F Merritt, Fort White, FL.

The Ichetucknee Alliance (http://ichetuckneealliance.org) opposes placement of any new natural gas pipelines under, over or through the 5.5-mile long Ichetucknee River, including the area of Ichetucknee Springs State Park, the area of Columbia County that is included in the historic riverbed (the Ichetucknee Trace), and any part of the Ichetucknee Springshed.

The Alliance opposes any new pipelines in these areas for the following reasons.

The river and springs, including Ichetucknee Springs State Park, are Continue reading The Alliance opposes any new pipelines in these areas –Ichetucknee Alliance to FERC