Save Carbon County will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Towamensing Fire Department, 105 Firehouse Road, at the intersection with Route 209.

The meeting will feature Harrisburg attorney Peter J. Carfley, who is with the Lavery Law Firm and exclusively represents homeowners in easement negotiations and eminent domain proceedings with pipeline companies.Carfley will explain both the easement negotiation process and eminent domain proceedings, and will answer questions from affected landowners and explain their rights in these processes.Save Carbon County says homeowners face increasing pressure to sign easement agreements with agents for PennEast/UGI.The group says homeowners have been told, "All of your neighbors have signed easements."They have been told that they might as well sign an easement because the company will get the land through eminent domain anyway.In one instance, the group says the landowner was told the pipeline company wanted a certain number of acres for a fixed price.When he got the agreement, he noticed that the fine print would take twice as much land for the same price.The standard agreements for the pipeline easements:• Specify that the company may install a second pipeline in the same easement at their choice and with no additional money for the homeowner.• They can also add above-ground facilities, all without homeowner consent.• Once the easement is in place, the company can enter the homeowners' property at will and make borings, repairs, cut trees and remove obstructions.• If PennEast damages the property during pipeline installation, they will only pay, "actual physical damages" which are not defined. There is no dispute resolution for damage value, and loss of real estate value is not considered a loss.• The easement is "in perpetuity" which means "forever." And the homeowner pays the taxes on the easement forever.The group says it is very important that homeowners receive good legal counsel before signingan agreement.