WHEELING – The parties in a civil action focusing on a group of Ohio County landowners who claimed three energy companies wanted to have heavy vehicles drive through their neighborhood for a pipeline project have come to an agreement.
The parties filed a stipulation to reflect the terms of their agreement September 8. It says defendants The Sandscrest Foundation Incorporated, SWN Energy Services Company LLC and Williams Energy Resources LLC state they do not intent to use Longvue Acres Road to access or otherwise gain entry to Sandscrest’s property for the Franz Thoman Well Connect pipeline project.
“Sandcrest and its oil and gas pipeline partners won't use the heavily populated Longvue Acres Road for an industrial access point,” attorney Teresa Toriseva told The West Virginia Record. “After the pipeline work is done, plaintiff homeowners will dismiss their lawsuit and therefore also the injunction.
“Because the injunction remains in place until the work is completed, the homeowners are protected. It’s a positive outcome for all and we think this outcomes helps reduce future nightmares and future litigation. Our clients are grateful that the system heard them and protected their homes and families.”
The homeowners filed a petition August 26 in Ohio Circuit Court against the Sandscrest Foundation, SWN Energy, Williams Energy and Appalachian Mid-Sream LLC. Sandscrest is owned by the West Virginia Episcopal Diocese, and there is a road on Sandscrest property owned by the religious conference and retreat center.
On August 27, Ohio Circuit Judge Ronald Wilson granted the temporary injunction in a three-page order.
“In lieu of engaging in further litigation over the validity, scope and terms of the order or the issuance or the issuance of a permanent injunction, the parties agree to stay all further activity in this civil action except as provided for in this stipulation,” the five-page stipulation states. It goes on to say the parties will enter an agreed order when the pipeline construction is complete. That order will dissolve the preliminary injunction, and the plaintiffs then will voluntarily dismiss their petition without prejudice.
According to the original petition, the companies are involved in a multi-million-dollar financial partnership to lay pipeline on Sandscrest’s 248 acres. The work was scheduled to begin September 1.
“To do that, they want to take all trucks and heavy equipment down a 0.7-mile stretch of densely populated residential neighborhood,” the petition stated. “This will impact over two dozen families with months of incessant intrusion in their lives, from sun-up to sun-down.
“There can be no quiet enjoyment of their property while this project is ongoing. But this is not about stopping the pipeline. This is also not about money for any of the plaintiffs. They demand no compensation here.”
The petition also said Sandscrest declined “substantial sums of money to use their private road on the very land that they are using to profit richly from the pipeline.” It said the entrance to that private Sandscrest road is 0.2 miles past the entrance to Long Vue Acres, the plaintiffs’ neighborhood. The private Sandscrest road goes to a “peaceful retreat center,” according to the petition.
“These defendants instead choose to bring their industrial and heavy equipment parade from dusk to dawn, down a densely populated, family centered-community, where kids play and pets roam, rather than use the road on Sandscrest’s property,” the petition continued. “Long Vue Acres is a dead end road. Addressing these issues now will prevent public nuisance and extensive future civil litigation which will be caused by the community chaos that is about to ensue because of Sandscrest’s and the other defendants’ profit driven activity. …
“There are school age children that live in Longvue Acres and must walk to their school bus stop located the intersection of Longvue Acres Road and G C & P Road.”
The plaintiffs claimed Sandscrest’s refusal to allow this activity on their own road is an acknowledgement by Sandscrest “as to how significant the industrial traffic will be and how much it will destroy their ‘peaceful retreat.’ Plaintiff homeowners all agree.”
A map attached to the petition shows the paths the vehicles have to make using both roads. The path using the private Sandscrest road is shorter, more direct and doesn’t go through a residential area.
“Sandscrest has entered into a written agreement with the other defendants to allow the other defendants to use a portion of the Sandscrest real property acreage to construct, maintain and use a section of the Hopedale to Majorsville 12” Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) pipeline to transport produced Marcellus NGL from the Franz Thoman well pad to the Majorsville processing plant,” the petition stated. “By virtue of the agreement, each party will contribute and/or combine their property, funds, skills and resources to achieve a profit.”
It says Sandscrest will be paid $110 per linear foot per month for the rights of the other defendants to install, maintain and use the proposed pipeline. Access will require hundreds of commercial vehicles with gross weights in excess of 71,500 pounds to carry the equipment.
“Sandscrest has refused to allow the energy defendants to use Sandscrest road,” the petition stated. “Because Sandscrest refuses to allow use of its private road to access to construct, maintain and use the pipeline, in the alternative, the energy defendants, are planning to use Long Vue Acres Drive as the access road to construct, maintain and use the pipeline across the Sandscrest property.
“This means that all of the truck, equipment, and other related items will access the Sandscrest property to build the pipeline will not use the private road of the Sandscrest, the beneficiary of the pipeline agreement, but the road used to access the residents’ homes of Long Vue Acres. …
“Sandscrest however does not want the intrusion of the trucks and equipment on its road to build the pipeline and is thereby forcing the intrusion on to the residents of Long Vue Acres who are receiving no benefit of the pipeline.”
One of the homeowners saw workers making paint markings and affixing flags in Long Vue Acres in February. No advance notice was given to the property owners.
“During the time between February 2020 and now, the defendants have embarked on a campaign of disinformation that even when lawful, has created the emergency the residents find themselves in today,” the petition stated, adding that “the campaign of disinformation has included” sending different employees and/or agents of the defendants to the neighborhood to tell residents to expect distinctly different things, directing employees and/or agents there is nothing the residents can do about it, directing employees and/or agents to misstate the project start date and end date.
“Sandscrest has even gone so far as to send its own employee and/or agent, actually a Long Vue Acres resident, to a confidential attorney-client meeting to secretly record the attorneys and clients during their discussions and to report back to her superiors, likely Bishop Klusmeyer, in real time during the meeting of the plans developing for the Long Vue Acres residents to assert their rights,” the petition stated. “This employee and/or agent knew at the time she was trusted by the other residents because she too was a resident of Long Vue Acres but she also knew prior to the meeting that she was not on the residents’ side but was on the defendants’ side.”
The plaintiffs were seeking to have the defendants enjoined on an emergency and permanent basis from using Longvue Acres Road as the access road for the construction, maintenance and use of the pipeline being constructed on Sandscrest property.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Toriseva and Joshua Miller of Toriseva Law in Wheeling and by Mark Kepple of Bailey & Wyant’s Wheeling office. Mychal S. Schulz and Matthew S. Casto of Babst Calland Clements & Zomnir’s Charleston office are representing Williams Energy and Applachian Mid-Stream. Jeffrey Grove of Grove Holmstrand & Delk in Wheeling is representing Sandscrest, while Timothy M. Miller and Robert M. Stonestreet of Babst Calland Clements & Zomnir’s Charleston office are representing Southwestern Energy.
Ohio Circuit Court case number 20-C-178