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Landowners protest land seizures by eminent domain TO THE EDITOR: Regarding eminent domain, landowners are usually at a disadvantage. Our government founded "for the people" has morphed into a government that penalizes taxpayers by creating independent government agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission funded by the industries it regulates. Since April 2006, local landowners have opposed the Elba Express Pipeline. This group is NOT opposed to natural gas or private profit.Many have used natural gas in their homes and all want to privately profit from hard work and investments, but not at their neighbors' expense. EEP is a private company backed by foreign companies that are proposing a 90+- mile pipeline from Wrens to Anderson, S.C., with no service to the counties it traverses. Its purpose is to increase private profits$54 million annually. EEP offers to pay a one time fee to landowners. EEP offers to pay county governments for the width of the pipe (only 3 feet of the permanent ROW) and that amount is depreciated annually. Landowners must pay the property taxes on the rest of the unusable land (47 feet of the permanent ROW) every year for eternity which is never depreciated. Misinformation is being publicized. There has been a comparison made of this project to a DOT project. The following is clarificationfrom LEEP's attorneys… "the DOT condemns by "declaration of taking" (O.C.G.A. 32-3-1 et seq.) not through the special master process (O.C.G.A. 22-2-100 et seq). The two methods are separate and distinct. Only the government can use declaration of taking for acquiring roadways. Once the DOT "declares" that they are taking the property, title changes hands; the predetermined value of the property must be deposited with the court at the time the declaration is filed (O.C.G.A. 32-3-7). In this case Elba cannot take the land without a hearing before a special master (O.C.G.A. 22-2-102). Everyone will get their day in court before any land changes hands." LEEP asks again, do you believe a private company who is trying to condemn your private land to increase their private profitsby $54 million annually while providing no service OR do you believe other private landowners in the same situation as you who have taken a stand? According to the Energy Information Administration, there are 302,000 miles of transmission pipelines crisscrossing our country. An adequate infrastructure exists but using the existing pipelines requires transportations costs (tariffs) to be paid to the owner of the pipe. In order to cut costs and increase profits,each company wants to own the pipeline it uses to transport the natural gas. How many more acres of private land should be condemned to accomplish projects of greed, not need? Our neighbors to the south are facing the third or fourth pipe crossing their lands. Less than 20 percent of the impacted landowners along the northern segment have succumbed to the paltry offers or intimidation techniques of billionaire oil baron representatives.
In closing, if you have a question, please contact one of us to get the rest of the story.
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