ATLANTA – The Senate passed its version of a bill Tuesday to halt construction of a petroleum pipeline across East Georgia but added a last-minute amendment to allow the company to apply for environmental permits during 13-month moratorium.
The bill is aimed at blocking efforts by Texas-based Kinder Morgan to lay pipe across more than 200 miles stretching from the South Carolina border to the Florida one, crossing five rivers and hundreds of parcels of private property. Many landowners object as well as environmental groups.
House Bill 1036, if enacted, would stop until July 2017 the company from seizing land against the owner’s wishes, a legal process known as eminent domain. In the meantime, a 15-member commission would study laws and policies for granting eminent domain for gasoline pipelines, which are not regulated by the state.
The company doesn’t have eminent domain authority because Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry denied it, and a judge upheld his denial. Kinder Morgan has until the end of this month to ask the Georgia Court of Appeals to overturn the denial, but company officials have said it intends to build the pipeline without eminent domain by convincing landowners to sell access.
The Senate passed the bill 53-1. Although the House has already passed a version of the bill, it must agree with the Senate or negotiate the differences in a conference committee before the General Assembly adjourns for the year March 24.
The last-minute amendment accepted before the Senate voted allows Kinder Morgan to apply for a required permit from the Environmental Protection Division during the moratorium.
Amendment sponsor Sen. Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, said, “If it can be done safely and environmentally, then we don’t oppose it.”
He does still object to giving a corporation eminent domain authority to accomplish its goals.
