Landowners in Kentucky may be emboldened by a recent decision by the Kentucky Court of Appeals that rejected an attempt by Bluegrass Pipeline Co. to obtain public utility status that would allow it to acquire easements pursuant to eminent domain. While this decision largely echoes that of the York County Court of Common Pleas rendered in February 2014 in Sunoco Pipeline LP v. Loper, (C.P. York Feb 24, 2014), Pennsylvania law continues to be somewhat unsettled on the subject.
The classification of pipeline operators in this context is of great significance, as it directly impacts their ability to potentially avoid negotiating pipeline rights of way with individual landowners and instead, essentially, take the property through eminent domain. Furthermore, public utility status may also allow the operator to seek exemptions from local zoning ordinances. Operator status is a growing issue in Pennsylvania, where it is expected that as many as 25,000 miles of gathering lines and another 4,000 to 5,000 miles of midstream and transmission lines will be built over the next decade.
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