How much would you pay for a .17-acre piece of land to bury something?
Magellan Pipeline Company LP, a subsidiary of Magellan Midstream Partners LP of Tulsa, says it’s willing to chip in $468 for such a segment in North Little Rock.
The company has filed a petition in Pulaski County Circuit Court to condemn the land, owned by Jayvian J. Johnson, after he declined to respond to its original offer of $3,065, according to court documents submitted earlier this month.
The company is seeking a 50-foot permanent easement and right of way for the pipeline and a 30-foot temporary easement as a workspace on the lot.
Attorneys for the company wrote that the $468 figure was a fair amount for the easement and that the company had eminent domain authority to take private property.
The proposed 12-inch steel pipeline will transport up to 75,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products, including gasoline and jet fuel, from the company’s Fort Smith terminal to Little Rock. The segment that the company plans to run through Johnson’s lot is about 38 miles long and connects the capital city to an existing pipeline near Searcy.
Another new pipeline will be constructed to connect the existing pipeline to the terminal in Fort Smith.
Bruce Heine, the director of government and media affairs for Magellan’s parent company, said the lawsuit is the only litigation related to right of way acquisitions for the project. He said the company plans to have the pipeline online by early 2016.
The project is estimated to cost about $150 million.
Johnson could not be reached last week for comment. He has not yet responded in court to the petition.