Using Eminent Domain for Pipelines? That’s Right of Way Done Wrong
“New York is a no-fracking zone—and many landowners are even losing money on gas flowing from other states.
But outside of Albany, many farmers and landowners have welcomed the revenues that have come with the drilling of the Trenton Black River formation and would likewise welcome drilling in the Marcellus and Utica formations, two of the largest natural-gas deposits in the nation, which have gone underdeveloped in the state since 2008. During this four-and-a-half-year wait, many farmers in rural New York have gone out of business, the oldest generation has begun to die off and the unemployment rate has hit near record highs.
In addition to being denied revenues from the oil and gas deposits beneath their feet, many New York farmers and landowners are also not being justly compensated for the pipelines running through their fields. Regardless of one’s stance on high-volume fracking, private companies should not be able to use eminent domain to seize land-use rights for pipelines at one price—deemed fair by the courts—only to turn around and sell those rights at a substantial profit.”
Wall Street Journal 12 April 2013.
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