Landowners in Ohio sue pipeline's owner

Landholders in northeast Ohio are suing Nexus gas pipeline owner and the two construction firms.

The 410-km pipeline will deliver about 42,5 million cubic meters/day of gas from Ohio to an existing pipeline in southeastern Michigan.

According to the landowners, the companies did not repair the damage that the construction of the pipeline provoked on their fields, breaking their initial agreement. Moreover, farmlands were filled with water and silt without the farmers' permission. As a result, the topsoil and the crops were destroyed. The total cost of the damage is estimated at about $25,000 plus legal fees. 

Michael Thompson, the lawyer who represents the landholders, has already filed 12 lawsuits and the chances are that he will be filing more. On the other side, a Nexus representative stated that a "great effort" has been made to cause minimum damage during the construction works.

Pipelines also address severe issues due to environmental concerns. Recently, the construction of a $10 billion pipeline project (TransCanada's Canada-to-Nebraska Keystone XL Pipeline) was postponed by a federal court after a lawsuit about the environmental and cultural hazards was issued.

Source: USnews.com Constructiondive.com