Many of these lines were built in the past five years to carry natural gas from the Marcellus Shale region of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where hydraulic fracturing has increased dramatically. In West Virginia alone, natural gas production has quadrupled in the past decade.
Such rapid growth has also led to hundreds of security and environmental violations, most notably under reduced Trump administration scrutiny and streamlined pipeline project approvals. While energy companies promise economic benefits for backward regions, pipeline projects are turning people’s lives upside down.
As a technical and professional communications scientist focused on how rural communities deal with complex problems and as a geographer specializing in human-environment interactions, we collaborated to study the effects of pipeline development in the rural Appalachians. In 2020, we surveyed and spoke to dozens of people living close to pipelines in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
What we found illustrates the stress and uncertainty communities experience when natural gas pipelines change their landscape. Residents live with the fear of disaster, the noise of construction and the fear of not being in control of their own land.
‘None of this is fair’
Appalachians are no strangers to environmental hazards. The region has a long and complicated history with extractive industries, including coal and hydraulic fracturing. However, it is rare to hear first-hand stories about the long-term impacts of industrial infrastructure development in rural communities, especially when it comes to pipelines, as these are the result of more recent growth in the energy sector.
For all the people we spoke to, the pipeline development process was lengthy and often confusing.
Some reported that they had never heard of a planned pipeline until a “farmer” – a representative of a gas company – knocked on the door and offered to buy some of their property; others said they found out through newspaper articles or social media posts. Everyone we spoke to agreed that the burden eventually fell on them to find out what was happening in their communities.
A woman in West Virginia said that after discovering plans for a pipeline feeding a petrochemical complex several miles from her home, she began to conduct her own research. ‘I thought to myself, how did this happen? We didn’t know about it, ”she said. ‘It’s not fair. None of this is fair. … We are stuck with a polluting company. ‘
‘Lawyers ate us’
If residents don’t want pipelines on their land, they can take legal action against the power company instead of reaching a settlement. However, this can result in the use of an eminent domain.
Eminent domain is a right given by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to companies to access private property if the project is considered important to the public need. The courts decide on compensation based on the estimated land value, disregarding the intangible assets associated with the loss of the land around the home, such as the loss of future income.
This process may force residents to accept an amount that does not take into account all the effects of pipeline construction on their land, such as the damage heavy equipment will cause to surrounding land and access roads.
A man we spoke to has lived on his family’s land for decades. In 2018, a company representative approached him for permission to install a new pipeline, parallel to a pipeline that had been in place since 1962, far away from his home. However, the crews had problems with the steep terrain and wanted to install it much closer to his home. Unhappy with the new placement, and seeing erosion from the construction of pipelines on the ridge behind his house causing outages, he hired a lawyer. After several months back and forth with the company, he said, “They gave me a choice: either sign the contract or do the eminent domain. And my attorney told me I didn’t want to do an eminent domain.”
Pipeline construction cuts through a farmer’s field. Erin Brock Carlson, CC BY-SA
Among the 31 people we interviewed, there was a unanimous feeling that companies have seemingly endless financial and legal resources, making lawsuits virtually impossible to win. Non-disclosure agreements can silence landowners. Additionally, lawyers licensed to work in West Virginia who don’t already work for gas companies can be difficult to find, and legal fees can become too high for residents to pay.
A woman, the main administrator of the land her family has worked for 80 years, faced significant legal costs following a dispute with a gas company. “We were the first and the last to fight them, and then people saw what was going to happen to them, and they just didn’t – it cost us money to get lawyers. Lawyers ate us,” she said.
The pipeline now runs through what were once hay meadows. “We haven’t had any income from that hay since they made it in 2016,” she said. “It’s nothing but a cannabis patch.”
“I mean who are you calling?”
Twenty-six of the 45 respondents in the survey reported feeling that the value of their properties had fallen due to the construction of pipelines, citing the risks of water pollution, explosion and unusable land.
Many of the 31 people we interviewed were concerned about the same kind of long-term issues, as well as gas leaks and air pollution. Hydraulic fracturing and other natural gas processes can affect drinking water supplies, especially if there are spills or improper storage procedures. In addition, methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, and volatile organic compounds, which can pose health risks, are by-products of the natural gas supply chain.
Oil spills are a major problem for landowners. Erin Brock Carlson, CC BY-SA
“Forty years away from this, will they be able to maintain and maintain the infrastructure? I mean, I smell gas sitting here,” a man told us. His family had seen the natural gas industry move to their part of West Virginia in mid-2010. In addition to a 36-inch pipe on its property, there are several smaller wells and pipes. “This year, the company that maintains the smaller lines has had nine leaks … that’s what really worries me,” he said.
The biggest concern mentioned by respondents was explosions.
According to data from 2010 to 2018, there was a pipeline explosion on average every 11 days in the U.S. While large pipeline explosions are relatively rare, when they do occur, they can be devastating. In 2012, a 20-inch transmission line exploded in Sissonville, West Virginia, damaging five homes and leaving four lanes of Interstate 77 looking “like a tar pit.”
These fears are reinforced by the lack of consistent communication between businesses and residents living along pipelines. About half of the people we interviewed reported that they did not have a corporate contact to call directly in the event of a pipeline emergency, such as a spill, leak, or explosion. “I mean who are you calling?” a woman asked.
‘We just keep doing the same’
Several interviewees described a fatalistic attitude towards energy development in their community.
Energy analysts expect gas production to increase this year after a slowdown in 2020. Pipeline companies expect to continue building. And while the Biden administration will likely restore some rules, the president has said he wouldn’t ban fracking.
“It’s just a little sad because they think, again, this will be West Virginia’s salvation,” said one land owner. ‘Harvesting the wood was, then digging the coal was our salvation … And then here is the third. We just keep doing the same. ‘
Erin Brock Carlson is an assistant professor of professional writing and editing at West Virginia University.
Martina Angela Caretta is an Associate Professor of Human Geography at Lund University.
Disclosure Statements: Dr. Carlson has received funding for this project from the West Virginia University Humanities Center.
Dr. Caretta has received funding for this project from the Heinz Foundation and the West Virginia University Humanities Center.
Reposted with permission from The Conversation.
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