The Supreme Court of Virginia has upheld a state law that allows natural gas companies to enter private property without landowner permission to survey the route of a potential pipeline, but also required the companies to notify landowners of specific dates when crews will enter their properties.
The two decisions, both written by Justice William C. Mims, represent the high court’s first judgments on a 2004 law that has become a flashpoint in the bitter battles between property owners and the developers of two natural gas pipelines proposed across hundreds of miles of Virginia.
Both cases involve disputes arising from the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a $5 billion project proposed by Richmond-based Dominion Energy and other two big energy companies in the Southeast. It would carry natural gas from the shale fields of West Virginia through the heart of Virginia to markets along the southeastern coast and eastern North Carolina.
Richmond Times Dispatch – Michael Martz – 07/13/2017
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