Pipeline Fight
Posted by brvanlanen on May 1, 2008
Beginning next month, 120 miles of natural gas pipeline will be placed through the property of Wisconsin landowners, whether they like it or not.
Although farmers like Chuck Rhein of Brownsville and Leslie Zielicke of the town of Byron are among those who banded together to fight in federal court for control of their land, a judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, Guardian Pipeline, out of Oklahoma.
“Essentially, the landowners wanted Guardian to abide by state rules, which are more favorable to landowners. In this case, the judge ruled that Guardian could operate under federal regulations more favorable to businesses,” Rhein explained.
The ruling on four consolidated cases came on April 18 from Judge William C. Griesbach in United States District Court 7 in Green Bay. The condemnation lawsuit involved eminent domain and a utility company’s right, under law, to acquire private property for public use, like easements for a pipeline. Utility companies obtain the approval through the Public Service Commission.
The proposed pipeline travels from Ixonia to DePere to provide natural gas to the greater Green Bay area, affecting 300 property-owners in Dodge, Fond du Lac, Calumet, Outagamie and Brown counties.
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In his ruling, Griesbach said the Federal Natural Gas Act does not mandate compliance with state condemnation procedures and that “neither equal protection considerations nor equitable concerns prevent application of federal condemnation laws.”
The judge also concluded that guidance under federal rules had the potential to be far less costly and time consuming than those governed by Wisconsin Statutes.
Environmental regulations make farmland an easy target for pipeline companies, said dairy farmer Steve Goebel from the town of Empire. He believes the judge’s ruling was discriminatory, forbidding Wisconsin law to operate for its residents. Wisconsin and many other states, in fear of overreaching governmental authority to interfere with private land use, have enacted provisions restricting the right to condemn property for public use.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Natural Gas Act, however, give the federal government authority over interstate pipelines.
“Billions in dollars will be going through this pipeline. They can’t go through wetlands or forests, so farmlands are probably the easiest to go through, and we are an easy target to take advantage of,” Goebel said.
I can see the benefits of the pipeline. At the same time though I question whether this is something the federal government should be in. I could be wrong though. It’s the strong-arming and one-sided negotiations that are troubling.
Rhein said representatives from Guardian showed up about 17 months ago — going door-to-door — to negotiate a fair purchase price with landowners for property before formally condemning land. A little over half the property owners entered into an agreement.
“It’s a one-sided negotiation. They offered me a one-time payment of $3,000 an acre. For me, that means about $30,000, not enough to pay the negative effect it has on my property value,” he said.
According to the court decision, Guardian has posted a $4.3 million bond in order to gain immediate possession of the land.
Zielicke, a dairy farmer with 215 acres, said it angers him that he has no say in where the pipeline will be laid through his property.
“First they told me it was going in one spot and I said OK. Then they changed it and didn’t even notify me. The land was zoned so that in the future I could sell it for retirement, but the pipeline company basically said tough luck, we don’t care,” Zielicke said.
Even if it is needed, is the pipeline so needed that work has to start before the appeal process is finished? Even if it goes through shouldn’t the landowner have a say in where on his property it should go through? And don’t the landowners deserve just compensation? I’m no real estate expert but I would that farmland could be sold to developers for more than $3,000 an acre. Seems to me if Guardian had gone about this in a better way this wouldn’t have gone to court.
