ET Rover has altered the route of its proposed pipeline in response to massive citizen protest, resulting in the pipeline construction being limited to Washtenaw, Lenawee and Livingston Counties.
Pipeline projects are in the news. Publicity surrounding an Enbridge pipeline break in Kalamazoo and the Congressional battle over the Keystone pipeline intended to carry Canadian oil to American refineries has increased public awareness. ET Rover, the most recent pipeline project to arise in Michigan, has faced significant resident opposition. This Detroit Free Press article discusses a deal reached by ET Rover to use existing pipelines to avoid impacting properties in in Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Genesee, Shiawassee and Lapeer counties. This link shows a larger map identifying the route.
The pipeline will be built through western Livingston County, western Washtenaw County including in the vicinity of Manchester and continue through Lenawee County near Clinton and Adriam.
Pipeline projects can implicate many different just compensation issues. For example, pipeline easements often seek rights in excess of those necessary for the project, including the right to relocate pipelines elsewhere on the property or add additional lines. In one pipeline case that I handled in Lenawee County, the agency sought an easement allowing it to relocate its lines anywhere on the property without paying just compensation. The easement did not prohibit relocation of the line under the existing home. Since just compensation must be paid based upon the assumption that the acquired property rights would be used to the fullest extent allowed by law, the house had to be valued as an interim use of unknown duration. This effectively destroyed most of the value of the property. I resolved that case by re-writing the easement to insure that no pipeline could be located within a specific distance from the house and dramatically increasing the just compensation offered. Without proper representation, the property owner would never have evaluated this issue and would have received less compensation for a more onerous easement. For that reason, it is critical the property owners confronted with the ET Rover pipeline taking consult with an eminent domain specialist.