Man. farmers resist pipeline project

Two dozen producers in southwestern Manitoba have a clear message for an American oil and gas company that wants to build a pipeline through the region: not in our backyard.“The way things are going right now, we don’t want it…. We’re telling (the company) to go find another route,” said Darryll Breemersch, who farms southeast of Melita.Breemersch and 20 to 30 other landowners are refusing to sign a right of way agreement that would allow EOG Resources to build a pipeline across their land.The Houston-based company is planning to build a 100-kilometre connector pipeline, with a capacity of 40,000 barrels per day, from its oil wells around Waskada to a larger pipeline at Cromer, Man.The producers have hired a lawyer to represent them in the dispute, because EOG Resources wants to have their cake now and negotiate a price for it later, Breemersch said.“They want to go on to the land, put the pipe in and come back and talk to us later,” said Breemersch, who has five kilometres of land along the proposed route. “This is the kind of stuff they’re trying to do.”Terry Cocquyt, Breemersch’s neighbour, rents out his land and he’s concerned that construction of the pipeline will be a nuisance.“I’m concerned about the people I rent to…. It’s a hassle,” he said. “We’re not against them (EOG)…. I don’t think they are giving enough for nuisance cost.”EOG Resources is offering $1,000 per acre for a 20-metre right of way to build its pipeline. Breemersch said that represents eight acres, or $8,000, for each mile of right of way.“The compensation is basically a joke,” he said, noting that EOG would own the right of way and permit producers to farm it once the pipeline is buried.“They put a caveat against it. Basically they own the land and they say OK, you can use it,” he added.The payment doesn’t properly compensate landowners for the lost production when the pipeline is constructed, the risk of a leak and the long-term impact on the soil above the pipeline.“You get sinkholes, or spots where it sinks down for years afterwards,” Breemersch said.Yet, a number of landowners along the pipeline route have agreed to the compensation deal with EOG Resources. A cattle producer north of Melita, who didn’t want his name used, said the proposed route cuts across his pasture and hay land, so it won’t have a huge impact on his operation.With a number of landowners refusing access to their land, EOG Resources has applied to the Manitoba Surface Rights Board for an interim order, which would give them right of entry to the land, said Keith Lowdon, director of the province’s Petroleum Branch. The Surface Rights Board is a quasi-judicial board that arbitrates disputes relating to right of entry or compensation for surface rights.Landowners affected by the pipeline had until May 14 to make a written submission to the board, Lowdon added.If the board rules against the landowners, it would mean expropriation, Breemersch said.