Only 240 easements have been filed across northern Ohio for routing the $2 billion Nexus pipeline, and there remains staunch opposition to the project in Medina County, according to a grass-roots group.
In Medina, only 15.8 percent of landowners — 37 of 233 — have signed the needed agreements for the project.
The Coalition to Reroute Nexus reviewed easement filings with local county recorders.
The easements are deals between the pipeline company and individual landowners, giving the company access for building the 250-mile natural gas pipeline. The landowners are paid negotiated fees for use of their land.
Pipeline opponents are proud that the number of signed easements is low, said CORN spokesman Paul Gierosky of York Township in Medina County.
Pipeline supporters appear to have signed easements and opponents are holding out, he said. “Most of us won’t sign until we’re forced to,” he said.
CORN is urging landowners not to sign such agreements.
To date, 23.9 percent of Summit County landowners have approved easements, said CORN. That is 40 out of 167 parcels that the company needs, the group said.
Also approving deals are 25.8 percent of Stark landowners (33 of 128) and 30.9 percent of Wayne County landowners (13 of 42).
In Erie County, only 12.4 percent of landowners have signed such agreements. That is the lowest percentage of the county’s for which reports have been filed.
It is not clear the exact number of Ohio parcels that the pipeline company, Nexus Gas Transmission LLC, needs.
The project to transport natural gas from Ohio’s Utica Shale to Detroit and Ontario and beyond must be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. A final federal environmental report is scheduled to be released next fall, and a final decision is expected in February.
The companies are on track to begin pipeline service in November 2017, said project director Erika Young of Texas-based Spectra Energy, one of the companies behind the pipeline. Also involved is DTE Energy, a Michigan-based utility.
The pipeline would be 36 inches in diameter and would transport up to 1.5 billion cubic feet per day. That’s enough to heat 6 million homes. It would run from eastern Ohio to Defiance in northwest Ohio and then north to Michigan and Ontario. It would connect to other pipelines that could move the natural gas.
A contractor to build the pipeline has been selected but no public announcement has been made, Young told an audience Wednesday at a shale conference at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
The company to build needed compressor stations along the pipeline has not yet been chosen, she said.
The city of Green and residents along the route have fought the project and numerous lawsuits have been filed. The pipeline companies have won most of the suits. Several are pending or on appeal.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.