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Southwest farmers tell oil company to forget pipeline

Owners don't want it on their property

By: Larry Kusch

Posted: 05/8/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

It's a showdown between a group of Manitoba farmers, who want to get their crops in the ground, and a big oil company from Houston.

EOG Resources' goal of building a 104-kilometre pipeline is another sign southwestern Manitoba's oil industry is booming, but two dozen farmers with property along the proposed route are balking at the project.

They accuse the oil firm of being heavy-handed, offering paltry compensation and wanting to inconvenience their farm operations. They also say they're concerned about the impact on the environment.

In a submission to the province in March seeking permission to build the pipeline, EOG Resources said it operates 329 wells in the Waskada area -- about 280 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg -- and plans to drill 250 more over the next three years.

The pipeline would initially transport 10,000 barrels of oil per day from the Waskada area to an existing line near Cromer. It would have the capacity to haul 40,000 barrels per day.

Currently, EOG, one of several companies operating in the region, trucks oil from its wells, which causes a considerable strain on local roads.

"All of that traffic is hard on our roads and the more (oil) that goes through the pipeline, the better we like it," said Dunc Steward, reeve of the RM of Brenda, which is right in the heart of oil country.

Not that the municipality is complaining too much. This year, oil-well taxes accounted for about one-third of the municipality's $2-million budget. By next year, it's projecting it will account for half of the budget.

However, Darryll Breemersch, a Melita farmer whose property would be bisected by the proposed pipeline, is one of more than 20 landowners who have refused to grant permission to the company to come onto their land.

On Friday, he and others received a letter from the province advising them that EOG has applied to the Manitoba Surface Rights Board for immediate right of entry to their land. The farmers have seven days to report their objections in writing. They've hired a lawyer to represent them.

"They're trying to get the right to put that pipeline in and negotiate later," said Breemersch, who called the company's $1,000-per-acre offer "a joke."

EOG's pipeline would require the use of 24 acres of his property.

Breemersch said he wasn't impressed with the timing of the company's move, which comes as farmers are busy planting their crops.

He said farmers are also worried about the potential for oil leaks that could threaten local water supplies and holes left in fields that could damage their expensive field equipment. "We told them, 'Go somewhere else. Find another route because we don't want you.' "

Reached in Texas, Elizabeth Ivers, director of public relations for EOG Resources, did not comment other than to read from a prepared statement, which said the company's goal is to complete the pipeline this fall.

"Our new pipeline will allow safe, efficient transport of crude oil and eliminate trucks hauling crude oil on local roads on a daily basis," she said.

EOG has operated in southwestern Manitoba for more than 25 years and is "committed to being a good neighbour for years to come," she added.

A provincial government spokesman could not be reached for comment.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 8, 2010 A9

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