By far, the most common complaint I hear from landowners is their concern about the heavy handed and unfair manner in which their land is being confiscated for pipelines under the false flag and the guise of eminent domain.
Eminent domain is a thin transparent disguise purporting public good to hide the virtual theft of private property. Pipelines exact a heavy burden on the land by reducing the actual overall value of a farm or ranch real estate value by as much as half. In extreme cases it can even reduce the value of property by more than half. The area near a pipeline cannot be built upon. In some cases, where pipelines run through the middle of a property, an entire ranch may be virtually reduced to nothing more than a dark reminder of the Houston Ship Channel. Those living near pipelines often suffer from PTSD like soldiers returning from war with nervous and stress disorders from fears of a catastrophic leak that may contaminate their land, or worse, a horrific fireball explosion.
The original pipeline ROW is often the proverbial foot in the door that allows for additional pipelines to be installed at later dates usually into perpetuity. Some Eagle Ford landowners currently suffer from main pipeline corridors running through their property with as many as 6 or more large diameter pipelines in a single right-of-way.
As the population grows as anticipated and more electric power has to be generated, the logical place for the location of these unsightly new high voltage main transmission power lines will be placed in these pipeline ROWs creating a visual blight on the land. There is a strong possibility that today’s pipeline ROWs will in the future become the equivalent of the Trans Texas Corridor for every public utility imaginable.
Note from author: If you have a pipeline horror story I want to hear it. Please send me an email at: libertadormg@gmail.com
Change comes from within —we find a better way as we learn to live wisely.
Mitakuye Oyasin!
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