Will you ever need to cross it with utilities? The contractor building my home is also building another home on property with a gas line and they need to cross it with the electrical service. They are almost finished up building and still trying to get thru the engineering red tape of what is needed to cross it.
Buying land that has a natural gas line on it?
- Thread starter ShowroomShine
- Start date
3Ts
Elite Member
I have 2 LPG pipelines running diagonally across my property. One is 10", the other 14" and a 100' wide easement. They're supposed to be several feet down, but with some rains and a wet weather creek, the smaller one got exposed as being near the surface. They patrol the line frequently with an airplane but did not pick up on the exposure. I called them, their rep came out right away and put it on the list to fix. 2years later they came out fixed it and regraded - no complaints. They've been good stewards. They take care of mowing the ROW as needed. The original deed says they can add more pipe lines as they see fit, but have to pay 25 cents per rod to do so - The deed was written in 1930's and no inflation factor included.
My buildings are about 250' from the pipeline because that was the best place for them. LPG is heavier than air and will flow downhill if there is a leak. I'm on the high point of our property.
The only thing I know of with the pipelines being a problem is one instance where someone was plowing his field and caught and broke the pipeline. There was an explosion and the tractor operator died. I'm not aware of anything else in 10 years of living next to a pipeline.
My buildings are about 250' from the pipeline because that was the best place for them. LPG is heavier than air and will flow downhill if there is a leak. I'm on the high point of our property.
The only thing I know of with the pipelines being a problem is one instance where someone was plowing his field and caught and broke the pipeline. There was an explosion and the tractor operator died. I'm not aware of anything else in 10 years of living next to a pipeline.
Oaktree
Super Member
I would have thought that they'd have been buried deeper than anything you'd hit plowing the land.
Not natural gas but a utility right of way situation... I bought several hundred acres of timbered land in West TN that has a TVA electric powerline running on the south end of the property. It is away from any potential building or lake sites so it didn't really bother me when I was looking for land. My wife didn't love it and called it an "unsightly scar" in the timber. I saw it as a 40 yard x 1200 yard shooting lane/dove field. Yes, I can plant under it.
In hindsight, I didn't research the Right of Way subject enough. The previous owner allowed TVA to have a lock on the main gate and use the main interior road to access the right of way. The gate and beginning of the road are approx. half a mile from the power line. We do not live on the property and about 10 months after we bought it I got pictures from my game cameras of bulldozers and large trucks on the property. I couldn't get there to check on things for a few days and when I did I found a new gate (they apparently they knocked the old one down), major ruts in the main road from dozer tracks, some ruts and trees down on a natural interior road/trail that isn't as wide as a D4 dozer, grass chewed up under the power lines leading to potential erosion issues, and an old culvert in a washout was crushed. I never received any notice from TVA that they were going to access my property before or after they were there.
I got on the TVA website and found a way to make a complaint. I also researched right of ways. The previous owner, by allowing TVA to use the main gate and road, had granted "off right of way access". This is a courtesy - not a requirement and I can revoke it at any time. I didn't realize this and TVA likely didn't even know there had been a change of ownership. A TVA guy finally called me back and sent someone out to look at the damage. He immediately acknowledged that they caused the damage and that it was their responsibility to repair it. They sent a Contractor out and when I met him I learned that the off right of way access they have on my property is very valuable to them because they would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a bridge that will support heavy equipment across a storm water drainage to gain direct access to their right of way. Given this, they had instructed the Contractor to "make me happy".
I got a new, better gate (because I didn't like the one they put in), ~3/4 of a mile of road graded and sloped with a base of 3"-4" limestone rock topped with 1" limestone, damaged trees removed and paid for, the small natural road repaired and mulched, grass under the power lines smoothed, seeded, and covered with hay, and the washout graded and a new culvert installed. I'm guessing around $50,000 of improvements.
This worked out for me but it wasn't because I had a total understanding of my rights and obligations regarding the Right of Way. Going in I should have had a better understanding what the utility can and can't do and what I can and can't do. I now require notice if they are going to access my property off Right of Way (in non-emergency situations) and I find ways to remind them how nice I am being by giving them access. The TVA website has a lot of information about Right of Ways. Maybe your utility does as well.
I'm kinda hoping they need to work on the other end of the Right of Way so they can tear up more of my roads. Rock has gone up a bunch in the last year!!
In hindsight, I didn't research the Right of Way subject enough. The previous owner allowed TVA to have a lock on the main gate and use the main interior road to access the right of way. The gate and beginning of the road are approx. half a mile from the power line. We do not live on the property and about 10 months after we bought it I got pictures from my game cameras of bulldozers and large trucks on the property. I couldn't get there to check on things for a few days and when I did I found a new gate (they apparently they knocked the old one down), major ruts in the main road from dozer tracks, some ruts and trees down on a natural interior road/trail that isn't as wide as a D4 dozer, grass chewed up under the power lines leading to potential erosion issues, and an old culvert in a washout was crushed. I never received any notice from TVA that they were going to access my property before or after they were there.
I got on the TVA website and found a way to make a complaint. I also researched right of ways. The previous owner, by allowing TVA to use the main gate and road, had granted "off right of way access". This is a courtesy - not a requirement and I can revoke it at any time. I didn't realize this and TVA likely didn't even know there had been a change of ownership. A TVA guy finally called me back and sent someone out to look at the damage. He immediately acknowledged that they caused the damage and that it was their responsibility to repair it. They sent a Contractor out and when I met him I learned that the off right of way access they have on my property is very valuable to them because they would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a bridge that will support heavy equipment across a storm water drainage to gain direct access to their right of way. Given this, they had instructed the Contractor to "make me happy".
I got a new, better gate (because I didn't like the one they put in), ~3/4 of a mile of road graded and sloped with a base of 3"-4" limestone rock topped with 1" limestone, damaged trees removed and paid for, the small natural road repaired and mulched, grass under the power lines smoothed, seeded, and covered with hay, and the washout graded and a new culvert installed. I'm guessing around $50,000 of improvements.
This worked out for me but it wasn't because I had a total understanding of my rights and obligations regarding the Right of Way. Going in I should have had a better understanding what the utility can and can't do and what I can and can't do. I now require notice if they are going to access my property off Right of Way (in non-emergency situations) and I find ways to remind them how nice I am being by giving them access. The TVA website has a lot of information about Right of Ways. Maybe your utility does as well.
I'm kinda hoping they need to work on the other end of the Right of Way so they can tear up more of my roads. Rock has gone up a bunch in the last year!!
riptides
Super Member
On ROW's - investigate and investigate. My neighbors neighbor has a ROW for an electrical utility line.
The power company upgraded the line. From some single pole structure to one of those massive 120 foot towers, then the upgraded that line again. By installing a parallel 120 foot tower beside it. All on their ROW.
The things are visible from space. And there are a whole bunch of whatever's on what you can and cannot do under them.
They are electric, original OP is gas line, but imagine that line being "upgraded". Whatever that means to the service company.
The power company upgraded the line. From some single pole structure to one of those massive 120 foot towers, then the upgraded that line again. By installing a parallel 120 foot tower beside it. All on their ROW.
The things are visible from space. And there are a whole bunch of whatever's on what you can and cannot do under them.
They are electric, original OP is gas line, but imagine that line being "upgraded". Whatever that means to the service company.
duffer
Platinum Member
I've had gas lines running across multiple properties I've owned for decades. 2 houses ago there was a nat gas line (not sure of size) that had a ROW of about 50'+. Never had any issue with it. Just can't build on top of it, or encroach the ROW with permanent buildings. See if you can get a map of the ROW on the property to insure what you think is accurate is in fact, true.
Current house has nat gas and elec coming up to the house in the same trench almost. One line is 12" deeper than the other. No issues.
Agree with the other posters who said to get them to tap the line for you and run it up to your building site so you can have cheap nat gas, instead of propane, or only elec. You'll still have a gas meter on your house, but you shouldn't have to pay to run the line from the house to the gas main.
Current house has nat gas and elec coming up to the house in the same trench almost. One line is 12" deeper than the other. No issues.
Agree with the other posters who said to get them to tap the line for you and run it up to your building site so you can have cheap nat gas, instead of propane, or only elec. You'll still have a gas meter on your house, but you shouldn't have to pay to run the line from the house to the gas main.
kevin37b
Veteran Member
OP
ShowroomShine
Gold Member
I spoke with the gas company today and cleared up a few items. Its actually 2 pipes, a 8" and 12" pipe from the 1950's. Its a short transmission line from one cross country line to the city of Roanoke.
ROW seems to be minimal, waiting for details now. Basically he said as long as we dont build or dig over top of it we can do as we please. There is already a farm tap around 100' from our build site that we can hook into and only pay for NG.
I mentioned the 200' blast radius again and said we would likely be building within that, his response was rather canned but tended to lean towards the extremely slim statistics of an event vs a mandate.
I think we feel comfortable at this point proceeding given final evaluation of that original ROW agreement.
ROW seems to be minimal, waiting for details now. Basically he said as long as we dont build or dig over top of it we can do as we please. There is already a farm tap around 100' from our build site that we can hook into and only pay for NG.
I mentioned the 200' blast radius again and said we would likely be building within that, his response was rather canned but tended to lean towards the extremely slim statistics of an event vs a mandate.
I think we feel comfortable at this point proceeding given final evaluation of that original ROW agreement.
riptides
Super Member
Best of luck on your projects going forward!