CORRECTION: The date the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the Mountain Valley Pipeline is Oct. 13. The date was incorrect in an earlier version of the story.
Mountain Valley Pipeline has filed a federal lawsuit against hundreds of landowners in Virginia to initiate acquiring easements through eminent domain across roughly 300 private properties and to seek a court order granting immediate access to the properties.
Both Maureen Brady, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, and Chuck Lollar, a Norfolk-based lawyer who specializes in eminent domain, said filing suit against multiple landowners and properties at once is standard procedure for similar projects.
Lollar said one reason to file condemnation proceedings against hundreds of landowners at once “is to seek one court order granting entry to begin construction, applicable to all property owners who have refused to sign easements, since they would be the remaining obstacle to commencement of construction of the pipeline.”
Mountain Valley’s 196-page lawsuit, filed in Roanoke Tuesday, notes that the project received approval Oct. 13 from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC’s order grants Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC the authority through the Natural Gas Act to condemn private property to obtain easements for the pipeline and related access roads and workspaces.
“Condemnation is necessary because MVP has been unable to negotiate mutually agreeable easement agreements with landowners,” the lawsuit says.
Many property owners opposed to the pipeline have refused to even enter such negotiations.
Mountain Valley must still obtain other permits and authorizations, from both state and federal agencies, before launching construction.
The company’s lawsuit asks the court to grant Mountain Valley the property rights sought by the litigation and an order granting “immediate access and entry prior to the determination of just compensation upon the posting of an appropriate bond.”
The Roanoke Times – Duncan Adams – 10.27.2017
Posted by: Nelson Bailey
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