Somewhat Reasonable, the Heartland Institute’s blog, has an excellent post which shows just why the pipeline projects which are criss-crossing West Virginia right now are so important.

To sum it up, lack of pipeline capacity hurts the price of gas in the Marcellus shale region, which means lower royalty payments to owners; and lack of pipeline capacity means that more oil is being moved by rail, with more spills as a result.

We agree that pipelines are necessary.  We want pipelines.  We just want people to know what they’re getting in to when they agree to a pipeline crossing their property.  Informed property owners will make better decisions and be happier with the results than uninformed property owners.  Informed property owners may refuse a pipeline across their property.  That’s their right.  Either way, it needs to be an informed decision, not a knee-jerk reaction.