We briefly mentioned the impending NEXUS pipeline in our recent feature on the fracking industry's moves into Ohio. With a $1.5 billion price tag and a likely 2017 construction start date, there's still plenty of news rolling in on that development.
This week, echoing statements he's made previously, Medina County Auditor Mike Kovack said officially that property values are going to hurt as NEXUS comes to fruition in the county.
“The installation of the pipeline on properties will necessarily reduce the usage of those properties to some degree," Kovack said in a May 18 statement. "The easement and right of way ensures this. Therefore, there will be reductions in valuations of property. I have been shown several examples of the current path of the pipeline where I believe the impact on a property value in Medina County may be substantial.”
(See a map of the proposed — and very much unofficial — NEXUS route below.)
[UPDATE: A NEXUS spokesman sent us this statement regarding the question of property values: "The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the lead federal agency on the construction of pipelines, researched pipelines effect on property values and reported the results in an Environmental Impact Statement issued in October, 2014 (FERC Docket No. CP13-499-000, pages 4-152 to 4-156). The Environmental Impact Statement found that there was no pipeline-related impact on property value."]
Presently, members of Sustainable Medina County are circulating petitions to get a Community Bill of Rights charter amendment on the ballot in November. The idea is to assert residents' rights to "safety, security, environment, parks and the community in which they live."
Recently, however, a Cuyahoga County judge overturned the home rule inherent in Broadview Heights' own voter-approved Community Bill of Rights and granted drilling rights to Bass Energy and Ohio Valley Energy.
Have you been approached by land rights negotiators working in tandem with the NEXUS development? Get in touch at [email protected].
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