Only Senate Bill 14 Can Stop the Poisoning of the Bluegrass by NGL Pipelines

There is a lot of destructive and underhanded manuevering going on in the Kentucky General Assembly over various bills to try to stop the Bluegrass Pipeline.

It's critical that we don't let pressure from oil and gas lobbyists kill the best bill - SB 14 - by promoting weak bills that don't protect landowners from eminent domain or Central Kentuckians from toxic waste poisoning our land and our health.

Senate Bill 14, by Senator Jimmy Higdon, simply and powerfully denies the power of eminent domain to companies - like the Bluegrass Pipeline companies - who are not utilities.

The proposed Bluegrass Pipeline - contrary to lies the company's reps have repeatedly told to landowners throughout the region - does not and never will carry natural gas or oil for home heating. The proposed pipeline would carry "natural gas liquids" which are the toxic byproducts of fracking.

These are the same toxic byproducts that are blamed for permanently poisoning drinking water in fracking fields across the country.

And the companies proposing the Bluegrass Pipeline are the same companies paying millions of dollars in fines for the leaks, explosions and pollution from its NGL, gas and oil pipelines across the country.

But these are also companies who are part of Big Fossil Fuel: the richest and most powerful corporate group on the planet. And Big Fossil Fuel's lobbyists are pushing hard against Senate Bill 14 because they know it will be the death knell for the Bluegrass Pipeline.

Big Fossil Fuel is trying to get legislators to substitute House Bill 60 and Senate Bill 21, which would require companies to pay a pittance in severance tax on the toxic waste running through the pipeline. This is bullshit that will not produce revenue but will ensure that Kentucky's Bluegrass Region becomes the next Love Canal.

There are dozens of landowners at strategic points along the pipeline route who are categorically refusing to sell access to their land for the pipeline. Their refusal is blocking the pipeline.

The company is using terroristic tactics on landowners, threatening that if they don't sign over their land immediately, the company will use eminent domain to take the land anyway without payment.

So the company is lying twice in their response to a lawsuit stopping them from using eminent domain:

They are falsely claiming that they don't have to use eminent domain because landowners are selling access voluntarily, and they are falsely claiming that they haven't tried to use eminent domain yet.

In fact, they are using the threat of eminent domain to terrorize landowners who don't want the pipeline but can't afford to lose their land to eminent domain.

Call your legislators and tell them to reject House Bill 60 and Senate Bill 21, and support Senate Bill 14. Tell your Senators to sign on to Senate Bill 14 as co-sponsors.

Leave a message for your legislator by calling 1-800-372-7181. Click here to send an email to your legislator. Click here to find out who your legislators are.

Find out more about the Bluegrass Pipeline at stopbluegrasspipeline.us.