In filings last week, the pipeline company petitioned the state's Department of Public Utilities for power to enter the properties to conduct civil engineering and geotechnical surveys. Tennessee also wants access to assess for archaeological resources, wetlands and endangered or rare species and find vernal pools.
Tennessee Gas claims it is entitled to "pre-condemnation survey access" to the properties "preliminary to eminent domain proceedings." The company cites case law, portions of Massachusetts general law, and a prior 2004 DPU order.
The DPU itself
asserts in a recent fact sheet that it has statutory authority to allow the surveys, and also to grant eminent domain rights to pipeline companies with approved routes.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires Tennessee to survey properties along the pipeline route to prepare environmental documentation. The pipeline company
filed its massive federal application with FERC on Nov. 20, and the project is currently under review.
Tennessee Gas says it sent letters and made phone calls, and even tried to make personal contact, but 408 landowners along the proposed route have either "expressly refused to grant Tennessee permission to conduct the surveys" or not responded.
"... (the landowners are) minding their own business and seeking to simply live their lives in peace."
The
list of property ownersdigging in their heels includes names from across the state. In Western Massachusetts, notable landowners include Deerfield Academy, Northfield Mount Hermon School, First Light Hydro Generating Co. in Northfield, Clarkdale Fruit Farm and Ciesluk Farm in Deerfield and Woolman Hill Quaker Retreat Center in Deerfield.
Notably, the company's DPU filings do not include a request to enter over 100 conservation parcels in Massachusetts, many of which
are protected from development under Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution. Tennessee may need legislative approval to gain easements through those properties.
The company says it will conduct its work within a 400-foot-wide "survey corridor" and stay 25 feet away from any house. Tennessee says the pipeline will need a 50-foot permanent right-of-way with a wider construction corridor. Much of the corridor will be next to existing utility rights-of-way, according to filings.
Pipe Line Awareness Network president Kathryn Eiseman said the landowners are "minding their own business and seeking to simply live their lives in peace" and that her group is "working to ensure that they have the legal guidance they need to deal with this assault on their privacy and unjustified intrusion on their property."
Under the Natural Gas Act, Tennessee Gas, a Kinder Morgan subsidiary, would win the power of eminent domain if it gains a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from FERC. Eminent domain would let the pipeline company forcibly take private and public land.
The DPU will hold hea
rings across the state on the survey matter, including March 29 at Berkshire Community College and March 30 at Greenfield Middle School. Both hearings start at 7 p.m.
