Kinder Morgan’s approximately $1-billion Palmetto Pipeline project ran into major setback in Georgia after that state rebuffed the energy infrastructure giant for attempting to use eminent domain to seize some 396 properties.
Russell McMurray, the state commissioner for the Georgia Department of Transportation, issued a decision on May 17, turning down Kinder Morgan’s application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity.
The certificate is one of the documents enabling a company to exercise the right of eminent domain. Eminent domain then requires that a business approach a local judge and ask that land be taken away.
McMurray said in a public statement said that the decision was made after the department heard numerous comments at seven public meetings and two public hearings. He said he and other staff received around 3,000 comments submitted online and by mail.
Tonya Bonitatibus of the Savannah Riverkeeper — an organization fighting the Palmetto project — called the decision a big step.
“What’s really interesting in this process is the pipeline has been the centre of it, but the conversation has really been about people’s land rights and the ability of a private company to take away private property for its own good,” Bonitatibus said in a phone interview with the National Observer.
“The fact that the application was denied and now sent to the court system is a big deal.”
Ron McClain, president of Kinder Morgan Products Pipelines, said in a news release the company was disappointed with the decision.
“We believe that we have more than adequately demonstrated that this project is in the best interests of Georgia’s consumers, as it will result in lower costs and provide safer transportation of refined petroleum products to many areas in the Southeast, including specifically many communities in Georgia,” McClain said.
McClain vowed the company will pursue “all viable options” to move ahead with the project.
The company has 30 days to appeal the DOT’s decision in court.
The proposed pipeline would transport gasoline, ethanol and diesel from Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina to Georgia and Florida. It would be able to handle up to 167,000 barrels daily.
While Bonitatibus is relieved at the DOT’s decision, she noted the fight is far from over. She called the situation in South Carolina “more dire and much scarier.”
The permitting process for eminent domain doesn’t exist in South Carolina; however, an amendment to a bill is in the works, but it would need to go through the current legislative session, which will end around the third week of June.
Bonitatibus said if they reach the end of the legislative session and the process hasn’t been put in place, Kinder Morgan could be in the courts using eminent domain in that state before the legislature meets back again.
McClain said Kinder Morgan is “sensitive” to issues surrounding the potential use of eminent domain and noted in all cases it results in “an award to impacted landowners based upon fair market value for access to their property.”
McClain said over 80 per cent of the landowners the pipeline potentially impacts agreed to have their properties surveyed.
But according to Bonitatibus, many people disagreed.
“In Georgia, I think we all spoke pretty succinctly across a wide swath of folks who said, ‘No, I don’t think this private company should be allowed to use eminent domain.’”
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