Pipelines and Farmland

[farming101]

How well would you guess your farmland would produce after the topsoil is stripped(inadequately),
then a 10-12 foot trench is dug and backfilled leaving nutrient poor clay at the surface, then the sorry little pile of topsoil is spread back over?

Answer: Not even worth farming, inputs down the drain.

Anyone involved with any of this type of destruction beware.

[sumdumguy]

Yep, it's been about 7 years since pipeline went through and you can still see it right across the 1/2. Compensation should cover that, but does it?

[farming101]

Compensation totally inadequate in many instances. That's if you are hoping to profit farming over the pipeline for the foreseeable future.

[farmaholic]

If you guys think the procedure is bad now....the first ones never even stripped the topsoil. Now they at least strip....I think they did the "A"horizon and "B" horizon separate as well. Then of course the trench material. And no, it will never be the same. Harder, drier when conditions are dry. First place the snow melts in spring. First place the crop seems to mature. More rocks for a while. Trenches settling for the first while. Make sure.the natural drainage isn't blocked.

At least the last two that went through here really paid well. More than I paid for the whole quarters in the 90's! They realize they need you and have really come to the plate in compensation. Also most times they will do what ever it takes to remedy legitimate concerns.

This is Enbridge's main pipeline corridor I'm talking about....can't speak to smaller oilfield projects or other Company's projects or main corridors.

Would you like a yearly lease payment in lieu of the large one-time settlement?

[SASKFARMER3]

But you don't own any more the area over top of the pipe line they paid you a lot of money for it didn't they.

[farming101]

Oil and gas lines are about 5 feet deep? Is that right?
Another thing is the topography. Putting a line through pothole land is much different than
flat land. Just saying be adequately informed, adequately compensated and realistic about future prospects if planning on farming over top of a pipeline.

[RD414]

Had a section of pasture that trans. gas went across about 15 to 20 years ago. The best I ever made on that piece was when Roger Aldag gave me a cheque for $10,000 to cross a full mile. He was Sask. gas landsman at the time. They used a strip 15 feet wide. What do they pay now? Ive heard some super high prices but never seen another cheque.

[grassfarmer]

Realise too that you are taking on responsibility/liability for the pipeline after the company has abandoned it. Thirty years from now when the pipe is corroded through, some water gets in and carries contamination from the pipe onto your neighbours land YOU are liable for damages, not the oil company. Lots of gas and oil pipes are buried only a couple of feet deep - cheaper that way. Are you sure compensation is adequate? Mine never was.

[Ronski]

Realise too that you are taking on responsibility/liability for the pipeline after the company has abandoned it. Thirty years from now when the pipe is corroded through, some water gets in and carries contamination from the pipe onto your neighbours land YOU are liable for damages, not the oil company. Lots of gas and oil pipes are buried only a couple of feet deep - cheaper that way. Are you sure compensation is adequate? Mine never was.

I have a couple lines crossing my land. The ones put there after I took control state in the original contract that lines will be removed when abandoned. It might be 30 years before they notice that clause but they signed it and are not going to like it when the new owners read that part.

[grassfarmer]

I have a couple lines crossing my land. The ones put there after I took control state in the original contract that lines will be removed when abandoned. It might be 30 years before they notice that clause but they signed it and are not going to like it when the new owners read that part.

They can just walk away from it the same as the orphan wells, fold one company and start another. How many abandoned wells do you see restored to their original state?

[biglentil]

Its too risky to pull the abandoned pipelines next to working lines so the right away grows and grows. They are pretty good at putting top soil back these days but there is always loss.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Big Trans Canada pipelines accross some low pasture. Best producing pasture on the entire quarter. Warmer, deep compaction removed. I have one well site that won't grow anything, sidehill , water just pools. Another that produces better than the surroundings.

[ColevilleH2S]

Most of the survey maps of the quarters I farm look like Manhattan street maps there are so many oil, gas and electrical lines buried under them. Cave-ins and slumping are my biggest beef, since I no-till these small hollows never get filled in by regular cultivation anymore so it is a perennial battle to get someone out preseed or post harvest to deal with them. Off the top of my head I can think of dozens of spots that need work, but try to motivate the local operators to get a crew out to deal with them, good luck.

Last fall I gave a list of 5 locations to one company, only one was levelled and it was done right after a rain with probably the heaviest road grader they could find. the soil was so packed it could have supported primary weight traffic. The other 4 locations were never touched, in retrospect I wonder if that was a good thing.

Bouncing through all the slumps and lease roads while preforming field operations has taught me to do one thing. Remove that damn button on the top of every ball cap I own because eventually it will get driven into the top of my head as it meets the cab roof, a the result of driving through some slumped in crater.

[farming101]

Exactly Coleville, your adequately compensated until you're not. The headaches just keep coming, including the one where you drive the cap button into your head.

[stonepicker]

Why don't you run a disc lengthwise along your pipeline problem?