Evans and Rhodes, LLC partner, Donald C. Evans Jr., advised land owners impacted by the planned Palmetto Pipeline in Georgia to deny Kinder Morgan survey rights. An excerpt from the SavanahNow.com article explains:
“Anti-pipeline activists have been urging landowners to revoke the right to survey with a form letter available through the Push Back the Pipeline coalition. Interest has been keen, said Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus.
“Basically people call the office constantly,” she said. “We’ve had three to four landowners every day.”
A companion post titled “5 Reasons to Not Sign the Palmetto Pipeline Survey Form” outlines how the company’s generic survey form “strips away your property rights.” The form seeks access to the entire property at any time, not only for Kinder Morgan employees, but also for its “successors and assigns, affiliates, employees and contractors.”
“We consider it one of the more abusive forms we’ve ever reviewed,” said attorney Don Evans of Evans & Rhodes in Cartersville.
Evans, who wrote the tips, has made a specialty of representing landowners in eminent domain cases. He is representing five landowners along the route of the Palmetto Pipeline.
“Petroleum companies only have a right to take a look. They don’t have a right to dig holes or go beneath the ground, though they could drive survey stakes,” he said. “These guys, right out of the gate, they were intimidating landowners to give (the company) rights they’re not entitled to under the law.”
Evans urges landowners to consult an attorney before granting survey permission. He tells his clients to demand access to all the information the company learns about their property and to audio record every verbal interaction with land agents.”
“They’re accumulating a lot of information,” Evans said. “They will keep it secret because they want to know more about your land than you do in the event you go to court. In exchange for granting survey rights the company agrees that everything they learn about the property they share with the landowner. That’s a great leg up in the event you do need to go to court.”
Read the complete article: Surveys Continue as Palmetto Pipeline Awaits Appeal