Citizens Called to Public Hearing on Proposed Palmetto Pipeline Threat in North Augusta, SC on May 21 at 6pm at the North Augusta Community Center
www.pushbackthepipeline.com
(NORTH AUGUSTA, SC) Citizens of counties affected by the proposed Palmetto Pipeline route are being asked by the Push Back the Pipeline Coalition to stand up once again against Kinder Morgan.
Kinder Morgan plans to construct a pipeline carrying up to 167,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products from Belton, South Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida. A portion of the pipeline will run through Aiken County, Edgefield County, and McCormick County.
The coalition urges citizens to express their concerns about the state of South Carolina allowing a private company to use eminent domain without having to receive any preliminary state permits. This leaves the property owners unprotected. “Without a process in place, the citizens have no voice. We must demand that our legislature solve this issue immediately and protect South Carolinians’ property rights above the interests of a Texas pipeline company,” said Tonya Bonitatibus, Savannah Riverkeeper and member of the Push Back the Pipeline Coalition. Citizens in South Carolina are urged to attend what is currently the only scheduled public meeting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 21 at the North Augusta Community Center, 495 Brookside Avenue, North Augusta, SC, 29841 as well as to contact Gov. Nikki Haley and local legislators.
Earlier this week, the Georgia Department of Transportation denied Kinder Morgan’s request for the use of eminent domain in Georgia. The process worked, and the voice of the people was heard. It’s time for South Carolina to be protected in the same way.
The Georgia governor and lieutenant governor oppose the massive pipeline project. http://jacksonville.com/news/2015-05-07/story/geogia-governor-and-lieutenant-governor-oppose-massive-pipeline-project
As recently as December 2014, more than 300,000 gallons of gasoline have leaked from Texas-based energy company Kinder Morgan’s pipeline in Belton, South Carolina.
http://savannahnow.com/news/2015-04-30/kinder-morgan-pipeline-leak-reaches-300000-gallons-south-carolina
Kinder Morgan, a Houston-based energy infrastructure company, is seeking needed approvals to construct a 210-mile pipeline across Georgia for delivery of petroleum products from the Gulf Coast to the South East. Because 202 miles of the proposed route are on private property, Kinder Morgan requires GDOT to issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity, which if approved, authorizes them to condemn the private property of 398 landowners and cannot be appealed. Time is running out on the 90-day period to fight the application and the GDOT public hearing on Thursday, May 7, is the last chance for the public to confront Kinder Morgan and GDOT representatives with unanswered questions.
Top Reasons Why Citizens Are Against the Palmetto Pipeline: • Eminent Domain for a Private Company is WRONG. • Big Oil Monopoly = Higher prices at the pump. • Private Property will be TAKEN. • SC deserves answers from Kinder Morgan not Empty Promises. • Pipeline would endanger rivers, marshes and wetlands.
INFORMATION ON EMINENT DOMAIN
The Fifth Amendment states that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. In the past ten years, massive restructuring of the eminent domain rules to protect owners has occurred with 47 states. Nine years ago, Executive Order 13406 was issued by President George W. Bush, stating: “It is the policy of the United States to protect the rights of Americans to their private property, including by limiting the taking of private property by the Federal Government to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation, and for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken.” However, it is the right of the states to make their own decisions about what qualifies as public use.
CONTACT: info@savannahriverkeeper.org