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Message: Article - Enbridge pipeline through US
Farmers, energy interests clash over pipeline planCanadian oil company may seek eminent domain power to buy rural land along a 170-mile route to a southern Illinois terminalBy E.A. Torriero | Tribune staff reporter January 6, 2008 MERNA, Ill. - Oil from the crude-rich sands of Alberta, Canada, makes its way almost 2,000 miles south by pipeline, headed for American refineries.
But a group of farmers and landowners want to make sure it stops before it gets to this little town in the center of the state, and their opposition has set off a multifront battle that involves safety, history, economics and dueling sources of energy.
Enbridge Inc., a Canadian conglomerate, and its affiliates want to build a 170-plus-mile stretch of pipeline from just outside Pontiac in Livingston County to Patoka in Marion County that would get the oil to a Downstate terminal. It is a $353 million piece of the company's $2.45 billion expansion push in the Midwest.Landowners express safety concerns, citing oil spills along Enbridge pipelines in Wisconsin and an explosion that killed two welders working on a pipeline in northern Minnesota in November. Others simply don't want to give up rights to land they say has been in their families since the Civil War.
Both sides hope to capitalize on the high price of petroleum products. Enbridge contends the pipeline will save Illinois consumers more than $406 million over the next two decades, insulating them against price spikes in overseas oil. But some of the farmers counter that their land is already fighting energy dependence by producing corn for the burgeoning ethanol market.
Even Enbridge's north-of-the-border pedigree has come under fire.
"Do we want a foreign company coming in here and taking our land while putting us at risk for the things we have seen them do elsewhere?" asked Scott Clement, whose 110 acres of family property would be cut in half by the pipeline. "What they are trying to do is un-American."
Documents are piling up at the Illinois Commerce Commission, which plans to hold hearings on the proposal in the coming months. If landowners fail to accept Enbridge's offer of more than $6,000 per affected acre, the company wants the power of eminent domain -- the right for the public good to seize the rich agricultural land.
Not since landowners in McHenry County fought a decade ago against a pipeline and won a battle against eminent domain has an underground project been so divisive in the state.
With more than 2,100 miles of crude oil pipelines already crisscrossing Illinois, it would seem building another 170-plus miles wouldn't cause much of a fuss. Besides oil, Illinois also has gas lines and chemical pipelines. In all, more than 17,000 miles of transport pipes exist in the state.
Illinois is a key oil pipeline hub, with oil mostly funneling from Oklahoma in the west and Canada in the north to refineries in the Chicago area and in southern Illinois near St. Louis. More than 40 percent of the oil refined in Illinois comes from Canadian supplies, Enbridge says.
Some landowners find that a persuasive argument.
"It's a question of whether we give up some of our land to help the country out in a time when we need more energy," said John Gramm, a farmer in Gridley, Ill. He has decided not to fight and accept more than $25,000 in compensation so the pipeline can cut through his 100-acre cornfield. "I think it's worth it."
Others, however, believe that amount won't mean much if there are problems in the operation or building of the pipeline, and they often cite a rash of trouble in Wisconsin.
In February, Enbridge crews inadvertently struck an existing pipeline in northern Wisconsin, sending out a pool of oil 20 feet deep and contaminating the water table. The spill totaled more than 126,000 gallons, which was one of the worst spills in state history. It followed a break last January on one of the operating pipelines.
Enbridge's construction methods, meanwhile, have been cited more than 100 times recently by Wisconsin environmental authorities, as the pipeline snakes its way toward Illinois.
A Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources official said Enbridge has been cooperative and quick to react with corrections.
"But why should a company that specializes in building pipelines have these problems?" asked Erin O'Brien, a policy specialist for the Wisconsin Wetlands Association. "It shows a disregard for doing things properly."
In Illinois, where Enbridge owns or operates more than 500 miles of pipeline, the company has had six incidents resulting in small spills since 2001, according to federal records.
"It still remains the safest and most efficient way to transport oil over a long haul," said David Sykuta, executive director of the Illinois Petroleum Council. Enbridge spokesman Joe Martucci said the company plans to repair any damage done to the ground from pipeline construction, will abide by environmental and state agricultural permits, and hopes to seek eminent domain only as a last resort.
As the argument winds on, the stakes are rising. Enbridge does not discuss its offers publicly. But several farmers say the offers amount to roughly $10,000 to $25,000 per farm. And in recent days, farmers say Enbridge has been sweetening their offer with a 20 percent incentive to those who sign up now.
Hundreds of holdouts have retained lawyers to fight Enbridge. In recent years, improved technology and growing methods have seen these farms grow some of the best corn in the world, even as ethanol has boosted demand and prices."Why would we want a gas line coming through here when we are growing a renewable source of energy in corn?" asked farmer Scott Kiefer, whose family has 170 acres of corn and beans threatened by the pipeline project.
Opponents are banking on the precedent set by McHenry County landowners, who successfully fought eminent domain before the ICC in 1996 for a Minnesota company's pipeline from Canada to Chicago. In the end, the pipeline was built but landowners did not have to sell.
"So that's why you see a pipeline that makes turns and zigzags across the county," said Mark McCormick, a McHenry landowner who kept the pipeline from crossing his wooded property. "We won the battle but lost the war. But at least people who didn't want it on their land don't have the pipeline."
Oil experts say times have changed. The McHenry County contingent had a key ally in the ICC who was opposed to eminent domain but has since died. And gas prices were a pittance of what they are today -- making the issue less volatile.
With oil prices spiking and demand only increasing, it's hard to see farmers' concerns trumping America's energy needs, energy experts say.
"It's hard for a group to stop a pipeline project these days," said Carl Weimer, director of the watchdog group The Pipeline Safety Trust. "When it comes to demonstrating need, oil usually trumps all."
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