Land Trust
Tennessee Gas Pipeline, LLC
Re: _________________________________
Dear _____________,
I write in response to Tennessee Gas Pipeline, LLC’s request for permission to survey
our above-referenced land, located in ___________, Massachusetts. It is our
understanding that the purpose of the requested survey is to facilitate your company’s
plan to lay a natural gas pipeline through our property.
First, we must stress that we are opposed to any pipeline being laid through our land. As
you are aware, this land has been set aside for conservation purposes. Its importance to
our community depends on preserving its environmental and ecological integrity.
Clearing a pathway and digging a trench for a pipeline, with its attendant destruction and
disruption of vegetation and fauna, is fundamentally incompatible with these values. We
will therefore oppose any plan to go through our property, whether before the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), before local and state permitting authorities, or
in court. Were your company to succeed in procuring the necessary regulatory approvals,
and in defeating any court challenges to those approvals, we would litigate strenuously to
ensure that any eminent domain valuation of our property took fair account of the
special—we would submit, incalculable—value of conservation land. See Newton Girl
Scout Council, Inc. v. Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, 335 Mass. 189, 191-200 (1956)
(recognizing that market value of girl scouts’ secluded forest refuge was not a fair
eminent domain valuation).
Our hope is that, in recognition of the great value and importance of this land to our
community, and our determination to protect it from any damage and disturbance, you
will opt to plot a different course for any pipeline. Nevertheless, we would be willing to
meet with your representatives, and to escort them on a tour of the property so that they
can familiarize themselves with the land. The main goal of such a meeting, as we see it,
will be to impress upon your representatives the special features of the property that made
it such a valuable acquisition for our Trust. [Among these features are ___________ ,
___________, and __________].
If you wish to accept our invitation for a tour of our property, please contact me to
arrange a mutually convenient time. To be clear, we do not consent to your entry upon
our land except in the company of one of our representatives. Additionally, we will not
consent to any surveying activity that involves the disturbance of vegetation or land. To
the degree that your survey can be accomplished without such disturbances, we will not
be opposed.
Regardless of whether you accept our invitation, I ask that you please respond in writing
to this letter, answering the following questions:
1. How was the route for the proposed pipeline developed? Please provide any
analysis that was conducted by your company or its representatives in
developing the route for the proposed pipeline that includes our property.
2. What alternative routes have been or are being considered for the pipeline?
3. What is the company’s anticipated timeline and plan for completing and
submitting appropriate applications for the pipeline to FERC, the
Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, and other appropriate
governmental entities?
4. What market conditions have prompted your company’s desire to build the
pipeline? Geographically, what markets will the gas conveyed by the pipeline
serve?
To date, we have received very little information concerning the pipeline, [and have
found no information about the pipeline on the FERC website]. We believe that it will be
beneficial for all parties if you are more forthcoming in explaining your company’s
process and intentions.
Thank you very much for your time. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
_____________________