No Reviews...Blogger Stews... Just My Personal Opinion, Of Course...

Natural gas production by countries (Romania in red) in cubic meters per year (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Warning against digging up the Columbia Natural Gas pipe in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you are a retired employee, burnt out, but still of sound mind...most of the time... sometimes the world, at its worst, needs to be talked about...

Some of you know that I formerly was Associate Director of Facilities Planning and Management at West Virginia University. One of the things that my staff handled was land management. Robert Merow, an intelligent, highly competent man handled all the contracts for us for rights of way... I knew what he did, although I very rarely had to do anything unless I had to sign something as the director...

So last year, when I got a letter from Columbia Gas that they were taking their equipment from my land, of course I immediately exclaimed that that could not happen. Although I did not "own" the right of way, it was still in effect and had been for more than 30 years...

What we learned was that Columbia Gas had sold their rights... Now, I know that if WVU had entered into a right of way and that company sold their rights...you can bet that WVU would have acted to legally intercede!

So when I explained...it was up to Columbia Gas to ensure their rights of way, in effect, were properly updated., that was ignored by merely quoting the "new contract..."

They did not do that. What that means, in my opinion, is that if you have entered into any contract with Columbia Gas, you will have no legal rights via that contract if they decide to sell it.

Oh?! You say I must be wrong?

Well, all I know if that that said equipment was taken from my property during my short visit to the grocery store this past weekend... When I came back, two young men stopped to tell me what they had done.

I commend the two young men who stood there, while I broke down and ask, "Are you saying I have no gas?"

I have no gas to make a cup of tea or to cook...
I have no gas to dry my clothes...
I have no gas to heat my home during these chilly day and nights we are having..
I have no gas to take a hot shower, wash dishes, etc...

Before you ask, yes I had hired a lawyer, who told the three people who visited when we thought he was going to work for us, that they were not taking the free gas... Yes, there was free gas for the home on the property, as part of the original agreement. Income from that well is less than $100 a year (or a little more if you considered the gas cost for a log cabin)...It has not been renegotiated... The original signers are dead...

Now, for me, this was not a matter of paying for the gas, but I was told that this was not possible. Indeed, unless I paid somebody to "do whatever is necessary" I couldn't even continue to use the well... But get this, there is no company from whom I can buy natural gas!!!

I'm not going to bore you with the research, telephone calls, etc., that the original ROW representative did... Let me just say that the lawyer never returned any calls nor did the one and only written communication mention anything about Columbia Gas proceeding...

When you don't know, most people assume...I have to assume (1) Columbia Gas is lying, my lawyer is lying, or maybe even that "somebody" paid off the lawyer to get us out of this whole thing...

But, in the meantime, I wish I had a cup of tea...

And I just finished some mowing of my law and wish I could take a hot shower...

But no... If you feel a Columbia Gas had the legal right to do what they did...please tell me why? If not, if you tweet...would you retweet in support of my dilemma...

Yes, I've been screwed royally...by bureaucracy and crooked or inefficient people...who knows?


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