Sandra Steingraber, Others Get 15 Days in Jail for Civil Disobedience Against Gas Co. | Common Dreams
April 20, 2013
Using Eminent Domain for Pipelines? That’s Right of Way Done Wrong –
April 14, 2013
Using Eminent Domain for Pipelines? That’s Right of Way Done Wrong –
- CROSS COUNTRY
- April 12, 2013, 6:36 p.m. ET
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.
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By CHRISTOPHER DENTON
Elmira, N.Y.
Last month the New York State Assembly voted to create a legislative moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, until 2015 to further assess health and environmental concerns. The Senate may follow suit. The current executive moratorium has been in place since 2008.
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.
I first became aware of this abuse of eminent domain in 2008, when I was approached by a landowner seeking legal representation concerning a proposed natural-gas pipeline on his farm in upstate New York. He explained to me that a pipeline company had offered him around $5 per linear foot to purchase a perpetual right of way for a gas pipeline. At 1,200 feet of right of way, my client would receive about $6,000.
After researching the issue, I discovered that the federal government and some Indian tribes—who by law are not subject to eminent domain—were not granting perpetual rights of way. Instead they were granting 10-year leases with rights of renewal and were charging rent accordingly.
This approach seemed reasonable, so on behalf of the landowner I requested a similar arrangement. To my surprise we were roundly rebuffed by the pipeline company, which then broke off negotiations and delivered to my clients a letter offering $1,000 per acre for a perpetual right of way. At 30-feet wide by about 1,200-feet long, the total area amounted to about 36,000 square feet or 0.826 of an acre. In other words, the $6,000 offer had been cut to $826.
The pipeline company’s attorney explained that his client had elected to exercise its right of “eminent domain” to condemn a perpetual right of way and that the $826 was the real-estate appraisal for the right of way. Pipeline rights of way are bought and sold on the open market by the linear foot among private pipeline companies, yet here my client was being offered a far lower price based on the per-acre value of the area to be used by the right of way.
State law determines just compensation in eminent-domain proceedings. In New York, as in many states, the courts use a system of “before and after” to determine the value to be paid for the right of way. The courts determine the highest and best use of the land underneath the right of way, then they value the land before the right of way is applied and after it is in place. The difference is paid to the landowner as his “just compensation.”
Valuing the right of way in this manner results in an extraordinary double-standard. Because a farmer can grow crops on the land again once the pipeline is in place, the loss to a farmer is deemed temporary and the land is worth, for all intents and purposes, the same before and after. Effectively the farmer receives a pittance for the right of way while the pipeline company enjoys a windfall of economic opportunity.
Clearly, the real value is not in the land but in the economic opportunity the right of way grants to the business entity. How is it “just compensation” that the farmer should be paid a fraction of the acreage value of his portion of the right of way, when anytime after eminent domain the pipeline company could sell the farmer’s right of way on a linear-foot basis at a substantial profit?
When the hammer of eminent domain is not available, the true market value arises. For example, in 2010 the 33-mile Laser Northeast pipeline, running from Susquehanna County, Pa., to the Millennium pipeline in Broome County, N.Y., did not have the right of eminent domain. The line is what is called a gas gathering line, which under New York law is not allowed the right of eminent domain. A coalition of landowners that I represented was therefore able to negotiate a 20-year right of way with a 20-year renewal.
The landowners were given the option of taking a lump sum or annual rentals. The lump-sum totals were about $55 per linear foot for the first 20 years and $65 per linear foot for the second 20 years. For nine miles of right of way in New York State, the company paid around $2.6 million for the first term. Annual rental rates were $3.50 per linear foot, indexed for inflation.
How did the pipeline company fare in this deal? It built its pipeline within a year for a total reported cost, including the rights of way, of $150 million. Last year it reportedly sold the rights of way and the pipeline within it for $750 million. The pipeline company did very well and the landowners were paid fairly.
How would this compare if Laser Northeast had eminent-domain powers? It would likely have paid around $1,000 per acre for 32 acres, for a total of about $32,727. Which of the above methods affords just compensation?
If New York state’s landowners must suffer the indignity of being denied the opportunity to develop their natural-gas deposits, they should at least be fairly compensated for the economic opportunity taken from them as other states’ gas passes through their lands.
Mr. Denton, an attorney, is co-founder of the Landowner Coalition Movement in New York State.
Medical Society of the State of NY Apr., 2013
April 14, 2013
April, 2013
The Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) just finished their annual House of Delegates meeting and passed yet another resolution on hydrofracking. These types of resolutions become part of their lobbying effort.
First 2 Resolves are basically reaffirmations of existing positions (not, obviously, a bad thing) plus attention paid to the establishment of trust fund and opposing non-disclosure that has become such a problem in PA (doctor gag order, etc.) and elsewhere.
Just passed at the annual House of Delegates of the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY)
RESOLVED, that the Medical Society of the State of New York reaffirm its Policy on high-volume hydraulic fracturing that states:
“The Medical Society of the State of New York supports a moratorium on natural gas extraction using high volume hydraulic fracturing in New York State until valid information is available to evaluate the process for its potential effects on human health and the environment” (Council Action, December 9, 2010); and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Medical Society of the State of New York supports the planning and implementation of a Health Impact Assessment to be conducted by a New York State school of Public Health: and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Medical Society of the State of New York advocate for the establishment of an industry-funded, independently-arbitrated state trust fund for people that may be harmed as a result of hydraulic fracturing: and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Medical Society of the State of New York oppose any non-disclosure provisions related to the practice of hydraulic fracturing that interferes with any aspect of the patient-doctor relationship and/or the ready collection of epidemiological data for future health impact studies.
Need to Know: April 12, 2013: Main Street: Findlay, Ohio | Need to Know | PBS
April 13, 2013
Need to Know: April 12, 2013: Main Street: Findlay, Ohio | Need to Know | PBS.
Now cheap energy (fossil) will fuel manufacturing; too bad these plants produce few or no jobs and destroy the environment and produce climate instability!
From the transcript!
FINDLAY IS AT THE CENTER OF ANOTHER, SURPRISING DEVELOPMENT. AFTER DECADES OF DECLINE – THE NUMBER OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURING JOBS IS RISING. AMERICAN FACTORY JOBS ARE ACTUALLY COMING BACK.
FINDLAY WITH 150 MANUFACTURING FACILITIES, HAS BEEN UNUSUALLY SUCCESSFUL AT ATTRACTING FACTORY WORK. WHIRLPOOL, AT 4901 NORTH MAIN STREET IS THE LARGEST DISHWASHER PLANT IN THE WORLD. IT EMPLOYS MORE THAN 2,000 PEOPLE. AND LAST YEAR IT ADDED 114 NEW EMPLOYEES, AND BECAME PART OF A STORY MUCH BIGGER THAN FINDLAY, AFFECTING THOUSAND OF COMPANIES AND POTENTIALLY MILLIONS OF WORKERS.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.
JOHN LARSOn [narration]: WHILE ONE CAN ARGUE HOW MUCH THE PRESIDEnt OR HIS ADMINISTRATION had to do with IT, at least 220 American companies have reportedly brought an estimated 50,000 jobs back to the US since January of 2010 — most coming from China. BUT WHY NOW, AFTER decades of losing FACTORY jobs?
GREG ARBURN: It’s potentially enormous.
JOHN LARSOn [narration]: Dr. Greg ARBURN is a professor of economics at the University of Findlay, on Main Street. He says, American manufacturing is returning in part because OF the tremendous EXPANSION OF domestic oil and gas production.
GREG ARBURN: For the United States, the cost of– of natural gas is much lower than it is for a lot of our competitors. Japan, the price of natural gas, China, the price of natural gas is more in the $17 range, where here in the United States it’s more in the three and a half dollar range for a million BTU. That’s a huge advantage. That’s—
JOHN LARSON: So six times less expensive here in U.S.?
GREG ARBURN: That– that’s– that’s a big deal.
JOHN LARSOn [narration]: IT’S NOT A COINCIDENCE THAT MARATHON PETROLEUM IS HEADQUARTED ON FINDLAY’S MAIN STREET. IN THE LATE 1800’S THE COMPANY FORMED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF RICH LOCAL OIL AND GAS FIELDS AND MANUFACTURING RUSHED TO FINDLAY, TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CHEAP, EVEN FREE ENERGY.
NOW, IT APPEARS IT MAY BE HAPPENING AGAIN. NEW TECHOLOGY OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING AND SHALE OIL RECOVERY, WHILE ENVIRONMENTALLY CONTROVERSIAL, HAS TRIGGED UNPRECEDENTED OIL AND GAS DISCOVERIES, DROPPED THE PRICE OF ENERGY, AND LAUNCHED WHAT ARBURN AND OTHERS BELIEVE MAY BE A NEW ERA OF AMERICAN FACTORY JOBS.
GREG ARBURN: In the case of Ohio– estimates are t– range wildly from 20,000 to 200,000 jobs in Ohio over the next three years — especially in the natural gas industry.
JOHN LARSON: Even if you take the average of that, you’re talking about a hundred thousand jobs just in this state.
GREG ARBURN: That’s a boom. That’s a lotta jobs. That’s a lot of people with more income –puts kids through school.
JOHN LARSOn [narration]: a second reason for manufacturing growth is that American corporations are investing in technology helping American labor become even more efficient.
GREG ARBURN: One of the things that’s happened, is interest rates have gone down and gone down and gone down. And so firms have found themselves in a situation where th– with a– with a very reasonable cost and capital, they can adapt new technologies, make capital investments, become even more productive.
JOHN LARSOn [narration]: TAKE ONE LOOK AT THE BALL CORPORATION’S CAN MANUFACTURING PLANT JUST A BLOCK OFF MAIN. 24 HOURS A DAY. 7 DAYS A WEEK. 3000 CANS A MINUTE. 3 BILLION A YEAR – ITS THE LARGEST RECYCLABLE ALUMINUM CAN MANUFACTURER IN THE WORLD. BUT JUST LAST YEAR BALL INVESTED ANOTHER $14.6 MILLION DOLLARS HERE TO BRING IN MORE LINES AND FURTHER IMPROVE ITS TECHNOLOGY. THE FACTORY’S EFFICIENCY JUMPED TO UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS.
GLENN JOST: There’s a drive. All of us want to succeed. Every plant I know of out there in our division wants to do better.
JOHN LARSOn [narration]: GLENN JOST IS THE PLANT’S MANAGER. BALL RECENTLY CLOSED PLANTS IN OHIO AND FLORIDA, BUT EXPANDED THE PLANT IN FINDLAY, ADDING 30 NEW EMPLOYEES. STILL THE MASSIVE PLANT IS SO EFFICIENT THERE ARE ONLY 90 EMPLOYEES ON THE FACTORY FLOOR.
JOHN LARSON: My first reaction when I saw it was, “Wow.” And my second reaction was sorta, “Where is everybody?” You know, I expected to see 1,000 people running around these machines.
GLENN JOST: The machines to a degree run by themselves. But they don’t run unless we have people capable of programming those machines, people capable of keeping them running mechanically. Electronically, yes. It looks like it runs by itself but it doesn’t.
JOHN LARSOn [narration]: THESE HIGHLY SKILLED WORKERS OPERATE PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC CONTROLS – SOPHISTICATED COMPUTER SYSTEMS – THAT AUTOMATE THE PRODUCTION LINE, AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS DOWN TO A MILLIONTH OF AN INCH.
AND THEN THERE ARE WAGES. JOBS ARE RETURNING TO THE U.S. IN PART BECAUSE WAGES IN CHINA ARE RISING, WHILE NATIONALLY MANUFACTING WAGES HERE IN THE U.S. ARE FALLING. GOVERNMENT STATISTICS FOR THE FINDLAY AREA REFLECT THIS, SHOWING WAGES IN LOCAL MANUFACTURING ARE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN SERVICE INDUSTRY JOBS, FOR EXAMPLE – BUT NOT AS HIGH AS SOME MIGHT THINK, AND THE MANUFACTURING WAGES HERE ARE DROPPING.
CHRIS RENN: Their benefits package in industry is still gonna be better than if they worked in the service industry. But the reality is, all of us are– are struggling with health care and the expense of health care and the benefits packages probably are not what they used to be– all across the board.
JOHN LARSOn [narration]: FEW ARE MORE FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE OF INDUSTRY WAGES AND JOBS THAN CHRIS RENN, DIRECTOR OF FINDLAY’S MILLSTREAM CAREER CENTER.
IN 2007 THE BLANCHARD RIVER JUMPED ITS BANKS AND FLOODED FINDLAY – ONE OF THE WORST FLOODS OF THE YEAR IN THE MIDWEST. AFTER THE FLOOD, HOWEVER, VOTERS APPROVED THIS NEW 19 MILLION HIGHSCHOOL FOCUSED ON TECHNICAL TRAINING – PREPARING STUDENTS FOR A FUTURE IN, AMONG OTHERS THINGS, MANUFACTURING.
CHRIS RENN: Just in northwestern Ohio alone, over the next seven years it’s estimated there’s gonna be 59,000 job openings in manufacturing. That’s gigantic, and– most industry that we talk with– they have no idea where they’re gonna find those workers.
Drill Baby Drill Screening Apr. 17th in Cortland
April 11, 2013
Drill Baby Drill Film Coming to Cortland
The new documentary Drill Baby Drill will have its CNY premiere in Cortland on Wednesday, April 17.
Filmmaker Lech Kowalski, a native of Utica who currently lives and works in Paris, France will be present for the screening and for the discussion following the 84-minute film.
The film, which was made in Poland and in Pennsylvania, tells the story of a group of Polish farmers who band together to protect their land when unconventional shale-gas drilling (fracking) threatens. It also looks at the effects of ongoing drilling on farmers and their communities in Pennsylvania.
The film’s power derives in part from its refusal to provide easy answers to the questions it raises about corporate power and its effect on democracy, and about the tensions between our demand for energy and the necessity of protecting our air, water, farmland, and food supply. The subject should be of strong, immediate interest to residents of New York, where energy companies are leasing land with plans to do similar drilling.
EVENTS LOCATIONS and INFORMATION
Wednesday, April 17, 7 p.m, Main Street SUNY Cortland, 9 Main Street, Second Floor, Room 202.
Sponsored by CGIS Environmental Justice Committee and GDACC (Gas Drilling Awareness for Cortland County. Donations to help cover the filmmaker’s expenses will be accepted at the door.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About filmmaker Lech Kowalki
Kowalski has won wide acclaim over 35+ years as an independent filmmaker. His large body of work has won awards and been the subject of retrospectives at international film festivals. This film was shown recently in the French Senate, and on French and German television (with high ratings). It will be shown to European Parliament on April 23, prior to theatrical release.
Drill Baby Drill film description
One day the people who live in a small village located in eastern Poland near the Ukrainian border, an ecologically pristine agricultural area called the “lungs of Poland,” discover that Chevron, the world’s fourth largest energy corporation, plans to build a shale gas well in their village. At first the villagers are not against the construction of the gas well, but research reveals that having a shale gas well so near farms might not be such a good idea. The farmers mobilize. They appeal to politicians and government institutions to stop the construction, but their requests are met with silence. Suddenly Chevron sends bulldozers to start construction. Lech Kowalski was there to film the first-ever farmer rebellion against Chevron. But energy companies and the Polish government hope to hit a golden shale gas jackpot, and the odds are against the farmers winning. The story about their struggle weaves around realities that are taking place in Pennsylvania, which industry has called the “Saudi Arabia” of North America. It’s too late to stop the harms in Pennsylvania, but can the farmers win in Poland? What happens is a surprise.
For further information contact gdacc.cortland@gmail.comD
GDACC 
