Herald and News
Letter to the Editor
July 6, 2006
I was concerned by the use of the term “bogeyman” by the Herald and News in a June 22 editorial addressing eminent domain and opposition to the proposed Pacific Connector Gas pipeline. The partners in this enterprise will bisect the properties of many in this farming community. Does the Herald and News really think that we have not looked at this process with as much intelligence as it has?
At the June 14 informational meeting many pertinent questions were not satisfactorily answered. What is the environmental impact of burying a pipeline under Lost River? Why was the initial path of the pipeline changed without input from landowners? Are landowners aware that this easement may also be utilized by other companies? In light of the recent rate hikes to farmers, do we really want the PG&E corporation to have access to this easement?
The reality is that this pipeline and its ensuing maintenance will have a negative impact on the ability to run a farming operation as well as its market value.
Will the necessary and seasonal operation of farming equipment be deemed an encroachment? What is just and equitable compensation? Will the lawyers decide? Why should rural landowners continue to pay the costs of, as the editor states, “the public good”?
We have survived the 2001 water cutoff and we will bear the negative and long-term impact of the pipeline going straight through our farmland to bring the much-needed gas to the communities in California and Nevada, but to suggest that we do not have legitimate concerns over eminent domain and the viability of sustaining our livelihood is insulting.
My guess is that if one of the editors had this pipeline running through his backyard, he might have some real-life and equal concerns.
Susan Scrimsher
Klamath Falls
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Source: http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2006/07/06/viewpoints/letters/letters.txt