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It may take a year or more for landowners to learn the fate of easements sold to the ANR Pipeline Company.

This summer, ANR cancelled plans to construct a 400-mile natural gas pipeline across northern Ohio. But before that cancellation, some property owners had sold easements to the company. Now, the fate of those easements is unresolved.

Larry Gearhardt, OFBF director of local affairs, has been in contact with ANR. "What we know is that ANR will not release easements for at least a one year period," he said. The company told Gearhardt it is examining future potential uses and values for the easements it owns.

As for use of the land in the interim, Gearhardt said that provisions in the existing easement agreements are still applicable.

Not all landowners may have to wait for ANR’s decision. Gearhardt said he’s learned that some landowners negotiated a buy-back provision in the original easement agreement, so those owners may be able to exercise their right to repurchase the easement.

Whether you can move ahead now or have to wait a year, Gearhardt expects the easements will not simply be cancelled. "Consideration was given for the easement when it was purchased by the company, and so they would probably be interested in having some consideration paid back if they release that easement back to the landowner," he said.

Several county Farm Bureaus and many individual members were active in a six-year battle to stop the pipeline construction. At the heart of the fight was landowners’ opposition to the use of eminent domain authority to appropriate private property.

Members who sold easements to ANR may contact Gearhardt at 614-246-8256.