Pipeline Ruling Sides With Builders

The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the company developing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in a lawsuit against a woman who sought to keep surveyors off her property. Hazel Palmer owns land in Augusta County along the route of the proposed natural gas pipeline that would run from West Virginia to North Carolina. The company went to court after she refused to allow surveys. She argued in part that because the company was organized in Delaware, a Virginia law allowing surveying privileges shouldn’t apply. The court disagreed and ruled Thursday that Palmer’s property rights don’t allow her to exclude the surveyors.