International pipeline company: Eminent domain would be ‘last resort’
“Eminent domain could become an issue for residents with property along the route of a proposed 250-mile natural gas pipeline from Kensington, Ohio, to Dawn Hub, Ontario.
Arthur Diestel, a spokesman for Spectra Energy Co.’s NEXUS Gas Transmission project, said that while the company doesn’t use eminent domain as a negotiation tool, the company will exercise that power as a last resort.
“We begin every negotiation with the expectation that a mutual agreement will be made,” he said. “Over 90 percent of our negotiations end in a mutual agreement.”
Diestel said individual negotiations for easement rights begin with property appraisals by an independent real estate appraiser.
He said rights-of-way and land department agents will reach out to landowners in Medina County face-to-face within two weeks to answer questions, explain details of the project and to arrange meetings for the start of easement negotiations.
Diestel said Spectra plans to start surveying the route for the pipeline in late September.
“We need a place to start, to get boots on the ground,” he said.
The study corridor will be 600 feet wide to allow for future refinements that may come with landowner, environmental and construction concerns, Diestel said.”
Anderson, Katie. GazetteOnline 27 August 2014.