TransCanada has proposed a new pipeline in the northern panhandle of West Virginia.  It’s called the Buckeye Xpress (no E on the front of Xpress).

The Buckeye Xpress will move gas from the Sherwood plant in Doddridge County to the Oak Grove processing plant in Marshall County, from the Oak Grove plant to the Seneca plant in Noble County, OH, from Oak Grove to the Majorsville plant in Marshall County, and will pick up gas between the Waynesburg compressor station and the Smithfield compressor station.

Unfortunately, WordPress is acting up on me and not allowing me to put a map on here.  The only map I could find is pretty vague and mostly useless for determining whether the route is on your property.

If you’re on the route, you’ll want to stay ahead of the action as much as possible.  What do I mean by that?

Well, we’ve watched a handful of our clients go through the process with the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.  We’ve learned a thing or two, and here’s what you need to know.

First, they absolutely do not have the right in West Virginia to enter your property to survey until after they get FERC certification, which is going to take years.  If you find a survey crew on your property without permission you can ask them to leave and they have to leave.  If the surveyors say they have the right to be there they are either ill-informed or lying.  You can literally call the sheriff and have them escorted off the property.

Second, if you don’t want the pipeline to cross your property you’re going to have to give them a good reason not to be there.  This project will be seeking FERC approval, and when it gets FERC approval it will have the power of eminent domain.  If they really want your little piece of almost heaven, they will be able to take it.  You need to give them a rational, logical, verifiable reason not to take it.  Things they want to avoid are environmentally sensitive areas, wetlands, historic sites and graveyards, and places where the ground is likely to slip.  If you can show them that it will be easier (or less expensive) for them to go on your neighbor’s property they probably will.

Third, if you don’t mind them crossing your property but you would prefer that they move to a different part of it, you need to tell them so immediately.  The pipeline will usually be willing to work with you on the location, but if you wait until they’re a long ways into the process they’re less willing to work with you.

Fourth, if you have plans to build on or subdivide your property in the future you need to get those plans on paper and filed in the courthouse or under contract now.  You’ll want to make sure that you get compensated for what you plan to do with your property.  The standard for measuring compensation for your property is it’s current actual use, not any possible future uses.  If you want to build a house on the ridgetop and you think you might be on the pipeline’s path, go pull a building permit and get some estimates from contractors and stake out the location.  Maybe even dig and pour a foundation.  If you want to sell lots on your property go get it surveyed and have the survey filed at the courthouse.  Stake out the lots.  Build a road and lay some water lines electric lines or something that shows you are actually going to develop it.  You need documentation that would hold up in court that will show that your property is not just pasture or steep timberland.

Those last suggestions could be expensive, of course.  Only undertake them if you already intend to do those things.  If the pipeline doesn’t come across your property and you’ve spent money on any of those things hoping to increase the value of your property you’ll lose money.  You should only do those things if you are already planning to do them in the next few years anyways.  This is only a suggestion to bump your timeline forward to today.

And one last bit of advice from someone who negotiates with oil and gas companies all the time–be nice (but firm) to the pipeline guys and you’re more likely to get concessions from them.

Good luck.  Luck favors the prepared.