Who Owns Abandoned Pipelines?

摘要

The grantee company's obligation to release an easement containing an idle pipeline upon the request from a landowner will first depend on the specific provisions of the contract or instrument granting the easement. This instrument is almost always the right-of-way agreement. If that contract or instrument does not specify a term or condition for reversion of the easement, then it will depend on whether the landowner can establish that the purpose for which the easement was granted has ceased or that the grantee company can no longer'use the easement for its intended purpose.rnThe reality is that most landowners are not going to go to the expense and time to prove this. Pipeline companies know this and quietly deal with incidents one at a time with special attention given to larger parcel owners along the right-of-way. The idea that a landowner with a quarter-mile section of pipeline on his property is going to file suit against a major pipeline company is unlikely. However, if the landowner is desperate to sell that property or needs to build on the land, he or she will seek a remedy somewhere.