Guest column
Nexus Pipeline affects all of us
by Louise M. Harvey Retired administrator, Seville
Although your Medina home may not be in the path of the proposed Nexus pipeline, I would encourage you to keep reading to better understand what is happening. Our Constitutional rights as property owners are at risk, in addition to the health and safety issues related to the pipeline.
If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves the pipeline route, construction will begin immediately. Spectra Energy will have the right to exercise eminent domain over the properties they wish to cross. Spectra Energy is finalizing a merger with the Canadian gas company, Enbridge, thus a foreign company will potentially have the power of eminent domain over U.S. property owners. There has been little or no consultation with most affected homeowners, although Nexus representatives assert that there has been. Many properties have been surveyed without owner consent. “Consultation” means Nexus tells property owners what will happen and offers them one-time compensation. There is no negotiation on location of the pipeline, regardless of the effects on the homeowners’ lives, livelihood or property, which may include proximity to houses, barns, wells, septic systems, water streams, cemeteries, community or county parks. In many cases the proposed routes will be 40 feet to 2,000 feet from existing homes and outbuildings. It is a 36-inch, 1,440 psi pipeline, which will be buried 3 feet. Nexus will have a 50-foot permanent right-of-way with the ability to place another pipeline next to it at any time without further approvals or consultation with property owners. There is no compensation for property owners whose land abuts the pipeline and will be affected with potential health and environmental risks, lowered property values and possible adjustments to their homeowners insurance. Many banks do not fund mortgages on properties with a gas well or gas line.
As you may know, FERC has issued their Final Environmental Impact Statement, which says that there is will be no significant impact on the environment. Wrong. FERC is not a government-funded agency. Its $400 million annual income comes entirely from the gas and oil companies they regulate. Those companies supply the safety data for FERC analyses. FERC chose not to use the proposed changes submitted by several responsible research groups. At this time, no gas will be distributed to Ohio or Michigan residents. It will all go to Canada. There will be no odorizer in the gas flowing through the pipeline (except 20 feet in Canada), so there will be no way to detect a leak – until it explodes. Anyone within a 5-mile range of the pipeline will face damage if there is an explosion. Anyone within 1,500 to 2,000 feet from the pipeline is considered by Nexus to be within the “blast zone.” Radiation fallout is twice that distance. Medina County commissioners and elected officials in Columbus have not been supportive of protecting property owner rights nor the safety of their citizens, in spite of the well-documented public health and environmental issues the pipeline will create. Medina County Townships – with the exception of Lafayette – have passed resolutions supporting a reroute of the pipeline. There is little to substantiate the claim that the pipeline construction will create thousands of new jobs in Ohio, as Nexus officials allege. Workers are being imported from Texas. Projected revenue for schools, municipalities, etc. is propaganda, not real. The FERC Environmental Impact Study lists emissions that will potentially affect the health of all Medina residents. Do not expect the EPA to help. It will take a concerted effort involving many Ohio residents to resist – and hopefully thwart – the proposed pipeline.
Contact your public officials and tell them you oppose the proposed Nexus pipeline route through Ohio to protect your Constitutional rights as a property owner.
Although your Medina home may not be in the path of the proposed Nexus pipeline, I would encourage you to keep reading to better understand what is happening. Our Constitutional rights as property owners are at risk, in addition to the health and safety issues related to the pipeline.
If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves the pipeline route, construction will begin immediately. Spectra Energy will have the right to exercise eminent domain over the properties they wish to cross. Spectra Energy is finalizing a merger with the Canadian gas company, Enbridge, thus a foreign company will potentially have the power of eminent domain over U.S. property owners. There has been little or no consultation with most affected homeowners, although Nexus representatives assert that there has been. Many properties have been surveyed without owner consent. “Consultation” means Nexus tells property owners what will happen and offers them one-time compensation. There is no negotiation on location of the pipeline, regardless of the effects on the homeowners’ lives, livelihood or property, which may include proximity to houses, barns, wells, septic systems, water streams, cemeteries, community or county parks. In many cases the proposed routes will be 40 feet to 2,000 feet from existing homes and outbuildings. It is a 36-inch, 1,440 psi pipeline, which will be buried 3 feet. Nexus will have a 50-foot permanent right-of-way with the ability to place another pipeline next to it at any time without further approvals or consultation with property owners. There is no compensation for property owners whose land abuts the pipeline and will be affected with potential health and environmental risks, lowered property values and possible adjustments to their homeowners insurance. Many banks do not fund mortgages on properties with a gas well or gas line.
As you may know, FERC has issued their Final Environmental Impact Statement, which says that there is will be no significant impact on the environment. Wrong. FERC is not a government-funded agency. Its $400 million annual income comes entirely from the gas and oil companies they regulate. Those companies supply the safety data for FERC analyses. FERC chose not to use the proposed changes submitted by several responsible research groups. At this time, no gas will be distributed to Ohio or Michigan residents. It will all go to Canada. There will be no odorizer in the gas flowing through the pipeline (except 20 feet in Canada), so there will be no way to detect a leak – until it explodes. Anyone within a 5-mile range of the pipeline will face damage if there is an explosion. Anyone within 1,500 to 2,000 feet from the pipeline is considered by Nexus to be within the “blast zone.” Radiation fallout is twice that distance. Medina County commissioners and elected officials in Columbus have not been supportive of protecting property owner rights nor the safety of their citizens, in spite of the well-documented public health and environmental issues the pipeline will create. Medina County Townships – with the exception of Lafayette – have passed resolutions supporting a reroute of the pipeline. There is little to substantiate the claim that the pipeline construction will create thousands of new jobs in Ohio, as Nexus officials allege. Workers are being imported from Texas. Projected revenue for schools, municipalities, etc. is propaganda, not real. The FERC Environmental Impact Study lists emissions that will potentially affect the health of all Medina residents. Do not expect the EPA to help. It will take a concerted effort involving many Ohio residents to resist – and hopefully thwart – the proposed pipeline.
Contact your public officials and tell them you oppose the proposed Nexus pipeline route through Ohio to protect your Constitutional rights as a property owner.