Save Carbon County held a meeting in Towamensing on Wednesday evening to address landowners' concerns over pending negotiations with agents representing the PennEast pipeline.

"I have no doubt, and we all know it's true, that this pipeline is going to get a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity," said Linda Christman of Save Carbon County. "Many of you, like myself and my husband, have already received letters from PennEast about it purchasing the right of way."Christman arranged the meeting so that concerned landowners would have an opportunity to hear about their options from an attorney who specialized in the representation of others like them whose land is being impacted by the pipeline."Landowners are worried because they have been subjected to a barrage of letters, visits from land agents, and slick P.R. materials all delivering the message that landowners have no choice but to take the offer from PennEast/UGI before the certificate is issued because, after that, there will be no negotiation - only an eminent domain proceeding," Christman said.There were about 25 people present at the meeting to hear attorney Jordan Walker explain what to expect and how to prepare for the inevitable negotiations with the pipeline representatives.Walker is a partner with Sever/Storey, a law firm out of Illinois that specializes in eminent domain cases. The firm represents landowners exclusively. The firm has partnered with Biersdorf and Associates and Benner and Piperato, two Pennsylvania land use firms to represent clients in the state.Walker stressed the importance of being prepared before speaking with a land agent."First you have to understand that the right of way guy is a backward door-to-door salesman," Walker said. "They are not about using every trick in the book, and they specialize in selling you fear."Walker warned that a quick decision is a bad decision for you and a good decision for them.Walker has already worked on a number of PennEast condemnations in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey and has seen the initial easement offered by the company. He described it as a "blanket easement," meaning that the language is so broad that in some cases the landowner would be granting the right to multiple pipelines, fiber-optic cable lines and other uses on the property without realizing it.When asked when the right time to hire an attorney would be, Walker answered, "Now."Christman pointed out that it is expected that the certificate would be issued sometime in late August and that the land agents are already saying in their letters and phone calls to landowners that once the certificate is issued that the company will not be as "generous" with its offers.Walker also pointed out that an individual landowner has very little leverage when dealing with any company acquiring easements under a federal permit. One of his suggestions, which was echoed by Christman, was to talk to your neighbors, share information with each other because there is strength in numbers and the more information each has, the better.There are two ways the eminent domain attorneys can be paid. The most common is by a contingency agreement. The less common way is through direct billing.Walker said his firm works on a contingency basis with individual landowners. Under a contingency agreement the firm will take a percentage of the final price negotiated for the easement.