{"id":3529,"date":"2014-10-01T18:38:48","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T22:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/?p=3529"},"modified":"2014-10-01T18:38:48","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T22:38:48","slug":"important-information-for-et-rover-landowners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grangehallpress.com\/Enbridgeblog\/2014\/10\/01\/important-information-for-et-rover-landowners\/","title":{"rendered":"Important Information for ET Rover Landowners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today in\u00a0the comments section of one of our posts<\/a>, a reader reports that ET Rover is or will soon begin making cash offers to landowners to acquire easements from them. We cannot verify this. But it’s not at all hard to believe. Pipeline companies acquire easement rights well before projects are approved all the time. In fact, it serves the pipeline companies quite well because– among other things– it lets them say to regulatory agencies that landowners approve of the project. Just look at how many easements we’ve already acquired!<\/p>\n

It’s also a way for pipeline companies to take advantage of landowners, who may not really know what they are getting into. And let’s be honest, when someone says pleasing-sounding things to you and waves a check in front of your face, it’s awfully\u00a0tempting. But this is why it is so very important that landowners inform themselves. To help with that education process, we recently posted some “basics” that landowners need to know about ET Rover along with some links to valuable resources.<\/a>\u00a0Please visit that post and those links. In it, we also provided some advice, based on experience, that we’re going to reproduce\u00a0below.<\/p>\n

We’ll just preface this advice by saying that land agents can sound persuasive. They can even be likable. You will want to believe them. But you really shouldn’t. The truth is that you simply cannot\u00a0trust them. Their job is just to get you to sign an easement. Despite what they will tell you, they don’t really care very much about you or your property or your concerns– none of that is what gets them paid. Therefore, you should be very\u00a0skeptical of everything they tell you, especially as it relates to time. There is NO rush for anyone\u00a0to sign any agreements. ET Rover has not even filed an application with FERC yet. Approval, if the project is approved, is probably two years away. Even if you believe the project will ultimately be approved, it is important to understand that\u00a0there is NO advantage to signing early. In fact, the opposite might very well be the case. Do NOT be pressured into entering into an easement agreement until you have a full command of the facts and implications of that agreement and are completely and totally certain that you are not being taken advantage of in any way. We beg you!<\/p>\n

That said, here is the substance of our advice from the earlier post:<\/p>\n