Our Opinion: Mohegan Sun Arena plaque honoring the late Anthony Lupas a slap in the face

Letter to the Editor: Beware promise of STEM education resulting in high-paying job

We read with interest and sad irony the column titled &#8220;Pipeline path shaped by public,&#8221; written by Chris Springer, project director of the Atlantic Sunrise Project, and printed in the Times Leader on April 1.The commentary is full of fluff and fanfare of how wonderful the Williams pipeline company is to the environment, the farmers and landowners.He also states his employer is compliant and sensitive to the individual landowner&#8217;s interest. Many landowners would disagree with his opinion and Pollyanna assessment.Many of the so-called changes in the pipeline route are subtle to minimal, i.e. 50 feet to the right or left. The impact this pipeline has on the individual rights and property rights of hardworking, tax-paying Pennsylvanians is devastating. A 100- to-125-foot, clear-cut swath through your property with massive heavy equipment and dynamite is hardly gentle to the environment or to the affected property owners&#8217; land and buildings.For most property owners, their most important assets are their homes, farms and land. For many, it&#8217;s their legacy to the next generation. For some, their land has been a family legacy for more than than 200 years. It is sad and ironic that their property, house, barn and garage are now forever in the blast zone of a massive pipeline that will transport huge volumes of natural gas (1.2 billion cubic feet per day) at enormous pressures (1,200 to 1,500 pounds per square inch). The loss of peace of mind and pastoral beauty, as well as the outright betrayal of our national and state constitutions, cannot be measured in dollars and cents, or kind happy words from the Atlantic Sunrise project director.The course of this pipeline (which is exclusively within Pennsylvania) goes through many &#8220;greenfield&#8221; areas. A greenfield pipeline is situated on land where there is no previous pipeline or right of way. Once established, that greenfield pipeline becomes a permanent right of way that can be sold to other interests or used again for more pipelines and more pipelines.Since the Williams Corp. has cobbled this project of a Pennsylvania-only pipeline with other repair and other pipelines in other states, it has declared it an interstate pipeline. It is already threatening reluctant landowners with the bludgeon fist of eminent domain.The individual landowners are forced to fight alone against an army of employed and contracted attorneys with huge support staffs and mountains of capital. This combinations allows the firm to minimize its one-time offer of compensation, and it hardens its stance on the actual placement of the pipeline on your property. The landowner continues to pay the taxes on the pipeline route and assumes the hazard of living adjacent to a pipeline for no compensation. The townships along the pipeline will receive no compensation, taxes or royalties.As impacted landowners, we are faced with the burden of a long transit passage of this pipeline through our forests, wetlands and fields. Our nightmare scenario has forced us to investigate a cumbersome bureaucratic and unfair process at all levels. We have found it too difficult to obtain appropriate and accurate information.We have been confronted by helpless and hapless politicians, contradictory state and federal laws and economic impact statements written by the oil and gas industry. The environmental and cultural impact studies are also paid for by the pipeline company and are hardly independent. This pipeline and all other pipelines (there are six planned for Luzerne County) allow for a tax-free, rent-free passage of billions of cubic feet of natural gas for the benefit of the pipeline company and the natural gas company, which drilled for that resource.The townships, counties and, ultimately, the commonwealth &#8211; and particularly the individual landowners &#8211; are left with the residuals and the costs. It is a sorry state in America when a private company can &#8220;take&#8221; your land, property and peace of mine for its private gain.We have met with many landowners affected by this process who collectively own miles of this proposed right of way. We, together, cry for our land and loss of privacy. It will never be the same.Pardon us, Mr. Springer, if we don&#8217;t send you a thank-you note.

Thomas W. Byron and Joan Byron: Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project clouds future for landowners like us