A months-long legal battle between utility Louisville Gas & Electric and Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, a nonprofit nature preserve, ramped up in the fall. The fight centers around the monopoly utility’s plans to build a 12-mile long gas pipeline that would cross three-quarters of a mile of the forest through an existing easement for power lines.
In September, the utility sued the state in an attempt to overturn a conservation easement using eminent domain. The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet requested in November to have the case thrown out, arguing that LG&E did not attempt to buy the easement first. The utility previously sued Bullitt County landowners, Bernheim and the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund Board, the state entity that holds the easement. LG&E’s eminent domain lawsuits were ongoing as of press time in early December.
Environmentalists are particularly concerned about LG&E’s unprecedented efforts to terminate conservation easements.
“This is new and this is potentially a very bad precedent,” Don Dott, president of the Kentucky Land Trusts Coalition, told WFPL News Louisville in October.
Bernheim purchased the 500-acre area containing the pipeline crossing in 2018 to serve as a wildlife corridor and to protect endangered species such as the Indiana Bat.
LG&E states that the pipeline is needed to supply growing demand in the area, which it argues has surpassed current natural gas capacity. The utility is still missing several state and federal permits for the pipeline. — By Kevin Ridder
Related Articles
Latest News
More Stories
Ridgeline Pipeline Construction Impacts in Rural East Tennessee
Neighbors share about noise, unpredictable construction schedules and other disruptions due to methane gas pipeline construction in East Tennessee. The 122-mile Ridgeline Expansion Project, constructed and owned by East Tennessee Natural Gas, a subsidiary of Enbridge, a multibillion-dollar Canadian fossil fuel company, was approved to go into service Nov. 1.
Neighbors Help Neighbors
A photo essay that celebrates the volunteer spirit of the grassroots group Hurricane Helene WNC and speaks to the resourcefulness, collaboration and hard work embodied by thousands and thousands of volunteers, first responders and aid workers across the region after Hurricane Helene.
Halloween Approaches, and Night School Is in Session
The House of Art in Bluefield, West Virginia, looks like a haunted tower, making it the perfect location for its sixth annual haunt event: Night School. The Night School will be open every Friday and Saturday night through Oct. 31.
‘The Most Perfect Act of Love’
Hundreds of people attended the second annual Affirming Sumner Pride celebration on a 24-acre farm dubbed “Fruity Farm” in Bethpage, Sumner County, Tennessee.
Signs of Life: Endangered Bats Found in Nantahala for First Time in More Than a Decade
In the Nantahala National Forest, a team of biologists spotted Indiana bats, an endangered species that hasn’t been seen in North Carolina for the last 11 years.
‘First Line of Defense’
During Hurricane Helene and its aftermath, rural fire departments and other first responder hubs played critical roles in keeping their communities safe, even without power and cut off from outside support for days or weeks after the storm. Two years later, plenty of work remains to ensure these hubs have the resources they need to operate day to day and be ready when emergencies or natural disasters strike.
Leave a comment
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Leave a Comment