LISBON Officials to discuss pipeline

The sheriff is concerned that some landowners have told him they will resort to violence to keep surveyors off their property.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- An Independence Pipeline representative has agreed to meet with Columbiana County Sheriff Dave Smith, county Prosecutor Robert Herron and others before surveying for a proposed natural gas pipeline begins here.
Landowners and pipeline companies have varying opinions about whether surveying can be done without landowners' permission.
Smith is concerned that some landowners have told him they will resort to violence to keep surveyors off their property. Some have contacted the local unorganized militia for support, he said.
"There will be opposition -- to what extent, I don't know," Smith said. "If something happens, and we go to court, I want to be able to say I have the state of Ohio behind me."
Seeking information: Smith said he has spoken with Chris Hawthorne of the pipeline company's Detroit office in an effort to understand the legal ramifications of the survey effort before it begins here. Hawthorne said the company is waiting on a legal opinion from the Ohio Attorney General's office before surveying begins, Smith said.
"He said surveying will start out west and come this way. Columbiana County will be the last county in Ohio to be surveyed, so they expect everything will be ironed out before they get here," Smith said.
Smith said Hawthorne agreed to meet with him, Herron and anyone else concerned about the surveying and property owners' or the company's rights. Hawthorne is amenable to discussing the issue and answering questions, he said.
Independence officials contacted Friday at the company office in Greentown said Hawthorne was en route to Detroit and could not be reached. They declined to comment.
John Garwood, president of Columbiana County Landowners Association, said he would like to participate in the meeting. The pipeline would cross about 100 acres of High Hope Farms, which Garwood and his wife, Linda, own in Fairfield Township.
Garwood has contacted Ohio Farm Bureau Federation attorneys about the landowners' rights, but has had no response as yet.
Not supporting violence: Garwood has said the landowners association condemns any notion of armed resistance or any other violence against surveyors or any other pipeline representatives.
"We don't deny the need for the gas supply, we just believe there are other ways the company could accomplish its goal," Garwood said. "There are other routes they could take, some pipelines already in place that they could use."
Local landowners remain hopeful that a federal judge will overturn the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval for pipeline construction. The case will be heard Oct. 5.
The pipeline is to extend from Defiance, Ohio, to Leidy, Pa., passing through Stark and Columbiana counties in Ohio and Butler and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania.
Gas company officials have said the project's goal is to pipe cheaper gas from the West -- primarily from Canada -- to the heavily populated areas of the east coast.
Local landowners fear the pipeline would restrict access to their land and damage crops and tile drainage systems.