Landowners fight pipeline in case headed to US appeals court

The natural gas pipeline is routed to run through the southwest Virginia farm his family has owned for seven generations. The 88-year-old Navy veteran never considered signing an easement agreement with the developers, because he thought the whole thing seemed an affront to his property rights. But state law meant he couldn't even keep surveyors out. As work chugs along toward having the pipeline in service by the end of the year, Jones and a coalition of more than a dozen other like-minded Virginia and West Virginia landowners have taken their fight to court. They sued project developers and the federal regulators who approved the pipeline, arguing that taking their property through eminent domain is an unconstitutional land grab. They say regulators have "run wild," granting developers of the approximately 300-mile-long (480-kilometer-long) project land acquisition powers, which are usually reserved for government entities. A hearing Thursday before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond comes as other legal challenges against the project proliferate and protests escalate, with some opponents camped out in trees along the pipeline's path in an attempt to prevent construction work.