Officials from Central New York Oil & Gas recently informed landowner Bob Swartz that the company plans to cut "a 50-foot-wide, 400-foot-long gash through an ancient stand of trees" in his front yard to clear the way for a $250 million, 39-mile natural gas pipeline in the mountains of northern Pennsylvania. Not surprisingly, Mr. Swartz balked at the company's heavy-handed plan, recommending an alternate route for the pipeline out across an open field. Company officials promptly swatted aside Mr. Swartz's suggestion, and with brazen indifference, offered instead to pay him for the wood from the felled trees. "That's not negotiation. It was their way or no way, and 'we'll see you in court.' It's the little guys against Goliath," Swartz told the Associated Press. He is challenging the company in court, but faces a steep uphill battle because our federal government permits companies like Central New York Oil & Gas – under the auspices of the Natural Gas Act of 1938 – to assume control of private property for so-called "public benefit." I'll try to explain. Mr. Swartz is one of a growing number of victims falling prey to a new disturbing trend: The fracking industry's use of "eminent domain" to seize ...
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