Flipping the script on eminent domain
“But she may lose all 125 of the trees. Holleran says energy infrastructure company Williams wants to dig out the small maple grove to make room for the proposed pipeline. The 124-mile underground line would run natural gas from fracking sites in Northeastern Pennsylvania to just west of Albany.
But, unlike many of her neighbors, Holleran is refusing to sign a right-of-way agreement with the company. She plans to force them to take it through eminent domain.
The government can use eminent domain to seize a person’s property for projects deemed to be in the public good, like forcing the sale of a home in the path of a new highway.
Holleran’s daughter, Megan, says the land agents use eminent domain as a way to pressure landowners.
“People are scared. Somebody comes and sits there in your house and says if you don’t sign this paper you won’t get any money for this land and we’ll take it anyway. It’s a flat out lie but that’s what they tell them. They get scared so they get persuaded and talked into it. And then they sign something.”
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“So here’s where they gave us for damages, sixteen thousand for damages, for all the damages on the property. When he called me back he said, ‘we’re going to add another thirty three hundred for your maple trees.’ I thought, ‘Are you joking me?’ Thirty three hundred dollars for 50 years worth of maple trees?”
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Martin, Matt. Innovation Trail 6 May 2014.