Question Mr. Coogan,
Your water well answer was quite beneficial to us. We are, nonetheless, still in a "battle".
Could you please explain the difference between a lease and an easement?
Columbia Gas Transmission has a lease on our property and has submitted application to FERC for an additional natural gas storage well on our property.
Columbia has stated in their environmental assessment submission that "Columbia would acquire from affected landowners an easement".
We have not signed an agreement or any easement because they will not agree to our terms. They have filed for declaratory judgment in the local court in regard to the lease. They have told us time and again that they can do whatever they want to on our land and they don't have to compensate us anything and that there is nothing we can do about it.
They have been pushing FERC to sign off on a notice to proceed with construction in a location that would even breach a term of the lease. FERC has not budged. They lie relentlessly to FERC, the ODNR, our attorney and us.
Do they indeed have to have an easement in addition to the lease and first gas well? And, where would that first gas well easement be recorded? It's not in the county records. We don't find any easements for any of the new wells in this expansion project in county records.
Columbia had sent us a form to complete and sign away any claim to any damages for a pittance. We did not and so their lies just keep coming.
Columbia actually drilled a well on my dad's property in the '90s without an agreement, easement or any compensation. Columbia based all its claims on the original lease, which is the same form as ours. Is there anything they can do now to go back and get compensation for that well on their property?
Thanks so much for your interest.
Dick
Answer Dear Dick:
I will give you general, non-specific information, the kind you could get from Wikipedia, not necessarily related to Ohio law or your situation. In other words I am not offering or providing you with legal advice.
A lease is essentially a contract to "rent" property according to its terms (usually including a specific length of time)
An easement is a grant of a right to use part of the property for the specified purpose (there are different kinds). A typical easement is for highway purposes.
There may be an "easement" in a lease and vice versa.
You should be asking these questions of your attorney.
