As many landowners and public officials anticipate a highly contentious March 16 meeting about the proposed 255-mile Ohio-to-Canada NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline, an industry study released Monday claims that pipelines don’t hurt property values.
The 144-page study, by Integra Realty Resources on behalf of The INGAA Foundation Inc., examined about 200 transactions in Ohio, New Jersey, Virginia, and Mississippi, many in neighborhoods where pipelines had been laid over the past decade.
The group found “there is no measurable impact on the sales price of properties located along or in proximity to a natural gas pipeline versus properties which are not located along or in proximity to the same pipeline.”
On March 16, backers and critics of the NEXUS project will meet at 6 p.m. in the Waterville Primary Community Room, 457 Sycamore Lane, Waterville, for an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency hearing over a proposed compressor station that would move natural gas through the pipeline. Near several Waterville-area schools, the proposed station has led many school, health, parks, and elected officials to file objections with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The report backs findings of a similar INGAA report in 2001, Cathy Landry, foundation spokesman, said.
“These findings might help property owners feel more confident about natural gas pipelines proposed in their communities,” said Don Santa, foundation president and chief executive officer.
INGAA is the research arm of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, the pipeline industry’s trade group in Washington.
Terry Lodge, a Toledo attorney representing several northwest Ohio landowners opposed to the NEXUS project, said the study “ignores what easily can become years of depressed pricing, where people who want simply to get away are trapped by their inability to sell, or the need to sell short to escape the area.”
The Ohio data, generated by Cincinnati suburbs, is not applicable to Lucas, Fulton, Wood, Henry, Sandusky, and other area counties along the proposed route, he said.
“We’re at far too late a date for the public to accept a petrochemical industry-financed study as in any way objective or legitimate,” Mr. Lodge said.
Ms. Landry said the research suggests mortgages were no tougher to obtain and land was not deemed less desirable because of pipelines.
“You can feel confident your property value isn’t going to depreciate because you have a pipeline,” she said.
Mr. Lodge said several studies show newer pipelines aren’t necessarily safer than older ones, which he says must affect the market.
Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.
First Published March 1, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
