Oil Pipeline Right of Way

-
Coyote Jack

Coyote Jack

Member #55, I'm old
FABO Gold Member
Joined
May 22, 2004
Messages
8,701
Reaction score
3,883
Location
Baxters Corner N.B. Canad
It appears that the new 36 inch oil pipeline from Alberta to Saint John, New Brunswick is going to literally go through my back yard. The preliminary surveys have been done and they are now doing the land survey phase. They came and saw us and we were given a nice little sum of money to allow them to come on our land for legal and geological surveys. The name of the company is Trans Canada Pipelines.

It appears that the right of way will be within 50 feet of my back door. It can also be assumed that there will be a large amount of heavy equipment traffic on that right of way for some time as a main road goes by the end of my driveway and the intersection would be a focal point.

If I remember the construction process from the gas pipeline near my camp it goes kind of like this. Survey the pipeline, clear pipeline of trees and stumps, scrape pipeline of topsoil for future use, build access road along pipeline, blast rock areas, dig trench and lay pipe, surface recovery and finish with pressure tests and security.

Has anyone ever had this happen to them? If you have, would you mind sharing your experience with me? (by PM or email if you prefer is fine) Do you have any advice as far as what can be expected in negotiations? What kind of compensation to expect for the right of way and for the PITA that construction will be? Is there a major difference in compensation between wilderness and residential areas?

Any and all info would be appreciated!!!!!

Jack
 
To put it simply, the allow of crap they will be doing and the amount of stuff you can/can't near it (rules and regs) you might wanna consider just moving.
 
Tell them you'lll need a free gas card that is good for life, and put it under your son's name. ;)

Good luck with that.
 
We have a local rock quarry right down the road. As the pit grew larger, it encroached on a local salvage yard. (That's Peacock's for Frankie). I know the owner, Bob quite well. He's been a friend of mine a long time. The quarry ended up giving him a seven digit settlement to acquire most of what used to be his salvage yard. He is still in business there, but the yard is a good bit smaller.

I know the aggragate and oil business are two saparate things, but that's the closest comparison that I know of personally. I would NOT want to live on the same location as a pipeline 50 feet from my back door. They should be expected to compensate you for your property, as well as your move. JMO.
 
I would see if there are any Public Hearing being held for the construction of the pipeline, you and your neighbors might want to get a hold your local elected politicians, and see if a meeting with the Owner of the Pipeline can be arrange to find out what is the construction schedule...and what is in the contract to mitigate any local issues....

you want the Owner of the pipeline and probably the Contractor ....ask them to explain what is happening....

The contractor may be limited to working certain hours and days....like 6 am to 4 pm...and only work monday thru friday..

Usually there is a Preconstruction Meeting that is held..and is open to the public....but ever where is different.
 
I'm sure that laws, codes, rights, experiences vary. In this part of the country, the N end of Idaho, there's a US/ Canadian pipeline that went through (then) my Mom's parents property, and the property of two friends I knew then.

You better be absolutely certain you understand the limits of the right of way, and what you can and cannot do on the outer limits of the right of way or easement. 50ft? Sounds close to me.

If the limits of the right of way (not the pipeline proper) impact you, there may be several caveats, not to mention you cannot build anything, shop, etc on that land. It's not exactly "yours."

Every once in awhile, these things do blow up. The gas company here calls it "rapid expansion."

In the case of my ex -boss, I have no idea what happened, but a contractor working on his property actually uh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,'dinged' the pipeline!!!! with a backhoe.

This turned into a piss contest about who was responsible. That line, at the time, ran about 900 psi working pressure.

I sure as hell would not want one of these within 50 ft of my house. It WILL go through. You have no choice.
 
I am all for it...tired of paying "market prices" for foreign oil to go into our refineries....actually, the ESSO refinery in NS is being downgraded to a "terminal".

So, can you tap the sucker and make a home brew for your scoot ? :)

ian.
 
We were talking to someone just a few weeks ago about this, she owns a small market not too far from us and her house was out in a wooded area behind the store.

Well, we just had a large pipeline installed in our area and it was destined to go behind her store. She had some negotiations with them and wasn't comfortable with what they were offering, She told them she would like to own the house up the road and would need enough to buy it. Now mind you she had a small parcel that her house sat on. The oil company went with her to the property that she was talking about and they ended up buying the house and a large amount of acreage with it and deeded it over to her as compensation for her place.

If you are looking to move and possibly upgrade to a larger piece of land, you never know..............
 
Bad Sport said:
We were talking to someone just a few weeks ago about this, she owns a small market not too far from us and her house was out in a wooded area behind the store.

Well, we just had a large pipeline installed in our area and it was destined to go behind her store. She had some negotiations with them and wasn't comfortable with what they were offering, She told them she would like to own the house up the road and would need enough to buy it. Now mind you she had a small parcel that her house sat on. The oil company went with her to the property that she was talking about and they ended up buying the house and a large amount of acreage with it and deeded it over to her as compensation for her place.

If you are looking to move and possibly upgrade to a larger piece of land, you never know..............
Click to expand...


Actually that was one of the options my wife and I talked about.

In my meeting with the company rep, I did let it be know that we were not against the pipeline and that they could bring it right through the house if the price was right. LOL

Jack
 
Coyote Jack said:
Actually that was one of the options my wife and I talked about.

In my meeting with the company rep, I did let it be know that we were not against the pipeline and that they could bring it right through the house if the price was right. LOL

Jack
Click to expand...

Yup, it's much easier for them to lay out some cash to appease you rather than go through the logistical nightmare of moving the pipeline.

The lady I spoke of made out like a bandit. Bigger house, a very large tract of land to go with it. Gas company paid for EVERYTHING, and did all the leg work for her. They even paid a moving company to move her!
 
Sorry to say Jack but your options are limited short of hiring a high flouting lawyer. I'd approach the pipeline and tell them that you would be interested to move to another property for the right price mind you. I you were a small community then the closest they could bury that big lunger is 1/4 mile, still to close for me. Failing that make sure you get a "Farm Tap" (2 stepdown regulators) and pipe that puppy to your house and shop free. Practice that's been going on for years and still is. I'll talk to the old man, he retired TCPL a few years back.
 
demon seed said:
Sorry to say Jack but your options are limited short of hiring a high flouting lawyer. I'd approach the pipeline and tell them that you would be interested to move to another property for the right price mind you. I you were a small community then the closest they could bury that big lunger is 1/4 mile, still to close for me. Failing that make sure you get a "Farm Tap" (2 stepdown regulators) and pipe that puppy to your house and shop free. Practice that's been going on for years and still is. I'll talk to the old man, he retired TCPL a few years back.
Click to expand...


One of the problems of living out in the sticks is no large groups to make noise in this type of situation. As near as we can tell, it is only effecting 1 other neighbour on our side of the road and 2 on the other side. Other than that it is crossing crown land for a fair distance.
Unfortunately I'm pretty sure it is going to be moving tar sands crude. Not to easy to make use of that stuff.

Jack
 
I don't think Canada has eminent domain like we do here in the states. As has been said you will be giving up your rights to use the land for anything that is built on the entire easement/row for life. They will be able to enter that area any time they want without notice. It will seriously downgrade the value of your property forever.

Don't accept their offer until you have gotten every penny you can suck out of them. I sold a 30' easement across my frontage to the electric company last year and I was the last one to sell out so I got more money per foot than anyone else. I also got a lot of other considerations that no one else got.

Another biggy is to lock the easement/row to the oil companies so nothing else can go in that area without having to come to you first.
 
Like mentioned above, get all the money you can out of them. But personally there is nothing to worry about with pipelines. I work with Enbridge and the pipelines are very safe if not tampered with. The Trans canada pipeline runs right through the area I live. It is twin 24" pipes. After construction, they will mostly just fly over with helicopters to check it.
 
If they are within the Limits of their Right Of way...they dont have to give you ****...LOL
 
Hire a lawyer, down here we lawyers that specialize in that sort of stuff.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
I don't think Canada has eminent domain like we do here in the states. As has been said you will be giving up your rights to use the land for anything that is built on the entire easement/row for life. They will be able to enter that area any time they want without notice. It will seriously downgrade the value of your property forever.

Don't accept their offer until you have gotten every penny you can suck out of them. I sold a 30' easement across my frontage to the electric company last year and I was the last one to sell out so I got more money per foot than anyone else. I also got a lot of other considerations that no one else got.

Another biggy is to lock the easement/row to the oil companies so nothing else can go in that area without having to come to you first.
Click to expand...


Yes, we have eminent domain here as well. Your hands are tied to some extent because of it. I found a website from Texas that has some very good information on what to get written into the agreement and you are correct in your statement about locking the easement, it is a biggy.

Jack
 
I am not overly worried about the safety of the pipeline. They appear to be safe for the most part but accidents do happen. I will have something written in the agreement that takes care of us if there are problems in the future.

Jack
 
Here's a good read for you Jack, its for Alberta but gives some good info.

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex1125

Hmm site won't let me link it, you need to copy and paste it
 
Coyote Jack said:
This will be a new Right of Way Tony. Therefore they will have to deal with us.

Jack
Click to expand...

If they have to buy the R/W from you ...yes...you can negotiate ....but if they own the R/W...

Worked for Nevada DoT for 30 yrs...as Construction Project Manager/Resident Engineer...before NDoT could advertise a contract for bid...the R/W had to be certified that the Department owned it before the project could be release for bid....

Last project i had was a new 61 million dollar interchange on I-15 at ST. Rose Parkway, after working on the project for a year, an individual (asshole) said we were using his R/W...I went to our R/W division and they assure he was wrong....well..a few weeks later I get these new R/W plans that shows me he was right...and conveniently our head of R/W division retires....Cost the Taxpayer $700,000.00 dollars for her screw up as the guy suited the State for trespassing.....Even after i retired i had to go to the Attorney General office and give depositions....and even got served by his lawyer....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top