We have some good news to report on the Michigan legislative front– of a minor sort. You might recall that at the end of last month, we had ourselves pretty worked up about some seemingly minor changes proposed by state lawmakers to the Crude Oil and Petroleum Act. The bill that had us most concerned was a companion to another bill that will reduce the oil and gas severance tax in the state. HB 5254, as it was originally introduced, would have changed the word “landowner” to “owner of agricultural property,” thereby eroding the already scant protections afforded to property owners affected by eminent domain. Needless to say, this is for us a rather sensitive topic.

So we wrote to our House Representative Joseph Graves as well as the House Energy and Technology Committee, multiple times to express our concerns. Promisingly, we then saw those concerns expressed in the Committee’s deliberations on the bill. Yet we weren’t certain as to whether those discussions bore any sort of fruit. Then last week we spoke on the phone with Representative Graves, who reported to us the good news that the Committee removed the offending change from HB 5254, leaving its original language intact (here is the bill as passed by the House).

Score one for landowners!

Admittedly, this is an exceedingly small victory, but at the very least it shows that Michigan legislators do recognize the need to protect property owners and are capable of listening to their constituents. We are grateful to Rep. Graves and other members of the committee, Marilyn Lane in particular, for their responsiveness on this question. We also spoke with Rep. Graves about pursuing further discussions regarding the treatment of landowners by Enbridge. If something comes of that– and we plan to follow up– we will of course let you know.