Atlantic Coast Pipeline to take landowners to court to clear way for 600-mile project
“The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is preparing to sue uncooperative property owners to gain access to their land so it can build a 600-mile natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina.
The energy consortium, which includes Charlotte-based Duke Energy, said this week that about 20 percent of 2,900 landowners whose properties lie in the path of the proposed underground pipeline have not signed voluntary agreements to allow their land to be used for the project, including an estimated 200 property owners in eight North Carolina counties.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is awaiting all state and federal permits, but it can begin legal proceedings against holdout property owners at any time. This week a spokesman for pipeline partner Dominion Energy said the Atlantic Coast Pipeline expects remaining state permits to be issued by mid-December, reiterating recent comments Dominion CEO Tom Farrell II made to Wall Street analysts.
The regulatory approvals would clear the way for tree removal, boring, trenching and other construction for the pipeline. The project, already a year behind schedule, is expected to start moving natural gas in the second half of 2019.”
Source: Murawski, John. The News Observer 16 November 2017.