NEAT helps you develop the best practices for dealing with pipeline company calls, letters, and visits and helps you understand their typical tricks and tactics.

A big benefit is the sharing of information from folks like you across the state and the region so everyone has a better idea of what the truth of the project is as opposed to what pipeline companies may lead you to believe. A common statement pipeline companies use early on is “all your neighbors have signed easements.” We have yet to hear of a case where this turned out to be true.

Once you obtain legal representation, pipeline companies should not contact you further unless you want to receive information from them. This can help reduce or eliminate the high-pressure phone calls.

Our goal is to best protect your land and property rights by resisting these projects that seek to go on, under, and through your property and helping you develop the tools to navigate the challenges of these project.

NEAT will keep landowners abreast regarding if, and when, it may eventually be necessary to negotiate with pipeline companies over easement terms. This would occur only if and after all other efforts at legal protections have failed.

If a pipeline is approved and an easement is unavoidable, NEAT will work to negotiate the best uniform terms for all NEAT landowners using expertise from decades of easement negotiations so that landowners can have the best protections possible.

Any easement is a legal right usually reduced to writing in an Easement Agreement that spells out how the pipeline company will use your land for their profit while you continue to pay taxes and insurance.

It spells out what the pipeline company can do and therefore what you can’t do and establishes restrictions on your land.

The proposed easements are “perpetual” which means forever. The pipeline company proposes to pay you one time and you can never go back and obtain more easement compensation in the future.

The pipeline company can sell or assign their easement on your property to any person, company, or country in the world at anytime and you can’t do anything to stop that.

Not only do you not have to sign the pipeline company’s easement, you do not have to talk to them or interact with them.

We encourage you NOT TO SIGN ANYTHING until and if you completely understand all the risks and ways the easement and having the pipeline on your property will affect you forever.

If you join up with NEAT and become a part of our legal co-op – you never have to directly interact with these companies or their agents ever again.

Not only do you not have to sign the pipeline company’s easement, you do not have to talk to them or interact with them, including requests to survey your land.

We encourage you NOT TO SIGN ANYTHING until and if you completely understand all the risks and ways the easement and having the pipeline on your property will affect you forever.

If you join up with NEAT and become a part of our legal co-op – you never have to directly interact with these companies or their agents ever again.

It is lawful to enter onto private lands to examine or survey before the Pipeline Company actually has condemned the land IF all of the following are true:

1. The Pipeline Company either has eminent domain rights OR is the entity surveying is a representative of such a Company with eminent domain rights, and

2. Negotiations have failed, and

3. After they have identified themselves to the landowner or person in possession of the land, and

4. Informed landowner or person in possession of the land of their contemplated actions

If you believe any of the above are not true, then you are encouraged to call your local law enforcement and report the trespass.

Also, it is best practice to document actions of Pipeline Company or their agents with photos and video. You have the right to follow them anywhere on your property and document what they are doing. Photograph any damages of any kind you believed they caused.

If such “survey” is done by drone or by air – the law is less clear as to the exact amount of feet they must be above your property to not constitute a trespass and the law looks more at the type and severity of the intrusion on your solitude or seclusion – essentially your free enjoyment of your property.

The law allows for civil action against such a trespasser:

Any person, firm, or corporation that trespasses or intrudes upon any natural person in his or her place of solitude or seclusion, if the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, shall be liable for invasion of privacy.

Neb Rev Stat: 20-203

Naturally the way you prevent this is by preventing the pipeline on your land. Short of that, by showing the Hazardous Pipeline Company you are serious about your land and defending your property rights you can often negotiate some deviations in the proposed route. The last thing the Hazardous Pipeline Company wants is a long drawn our legal battle but if you are willing to start down that path you can often negotiate modifications along the way.

Many landowners lease their land to others. The questions are – do you have a written lease, do you have a clear understanding with your tenant/landlord as to how eminent domain will be handled if it occurs on leased land, who will get what monetary proceeds if any are paid, does the tenant deserve reduced rental payments during this process be it for survey disruptions, pre-construction, construction or post-construction activities?

These are just a few of the items you are both now confronted with. If you join the NEAT legal coop we help you through these challenges.

NEAT is a landowner property rights organization. Our goal is to assist you in your ultimate goals. In any large group there are folks at different points in the spectrum from not wanting the pipeline to cross your ground and willing to fight all the way to those more focused on obtaining the best deal, price and terms, that they can – assuming the project is crossing all the legal and regulatory hurdles is must.

What we have found is resisting on the front end leads to better leverage in the long run. Are you more likely to get the best deal if you jump at the first offer they provide or wait it out? These proposed projects are in their infancy and there is absolutely no rush to accommodate them in any way and certainly no reason to sign any of your rights away.

No. At this time NEAT is accepting folks confronted by the Summit, Navigator, and the Tallgrass proposed conversion projects. One great benefit of this is that there is a lot of work that can be spread across all persons regardless of which project confronts you but when it comes to direct legal action only to a particular project then only those specific landowners divide that cost.

If you have a previously established relationship with an attorney (e.g. for your will, estate, etc.) it is reasonable to let them know you are joining NEAT and why. Having your own attorney work with you, rather than NEAT, is your decision of course, but we encourage you to work with an attorney experienced in these matters and who has been battled large pipeline companies before.

If you have already contacted an attorney for the express purpose of having them deal with CO2 Pipelines, it is reasonable to have a forthright conversation with them about your interest in NEAT.

You will be placed on our landowner email list and receive frequent updates about the pipeline projects, invitations to expert ZOOM training session, monthly calls where your questions can be answered, and you can share stories with others around the state and region.

There are also rallies, town halls, and events we organize in which you can participate.

Information is provided about current state agency proceedings and how to become involved in those hearings as well as what you can do to effectively voice your opinions.

You will receive updates on legal actions related to the pipeline projects and learn how that affects you and we also discuss best practices and strategies around pipeline resistance, including how to get involved locally and what your county and township boards can do to help protect you.

You will receive periodic email updates on the latest news and as well as urgent updates.

Once you sign up to become a NEAT member, you do NOT have to speak with them in person or by phone, nor invite them into your home. You should ask for the representative’s name and position with CO2 Pipelines, ask them for identification if in person, and politely state that you do not wish to speak to them.

You should advise them to call your lawyer, Brian Jorde, and provide his information to them. You do NOT have to give them ANY other information.

Condemnation is the name of a legal proceeding that occurs when an entity (usually a governmental entity) who has the power of eminent domain uses that power to condemn or take all or a portion of another’s property for the condemner’s use and purpose.

Condemnation is a process by which the landowner whose property is being taken can present evidence in Court to jurors from the county were the land is located who will determine the value, or the monetary compensation, that the taker must pay the landowner.

Often before Condemnation litigation starts, there is a period of negotiation with the taker, here potentially a Carbon Pipeline company, and you can negotiate the terms or fine print of the contract, called an Easement, and you can negotiate price or the financial compensation that will be paid.

If negotiations fail, condemnation often starts where you can go all the way to trial and/or continue to negotiate along the way if you think it is likely you can reach an agreement.

N.E.A.T. will have the most impact for landowners and tenants who own or farm land the pipeline will cross and we urge you to become a N.E.A.T. Supporter and tell your neighbors to as well. As a tenant you also have property rights and interests in the land you rent - these rights are compensable if and when affected.

If you have signed an agreement to let a pipeline company on your land to survey you can still join N.E.A.T.

If you have voluntarily signed an Easement already N.E.A.T. may be able to assist you in rescinding that easement or getting more money for it. Call or email today to learn more about this.

If you are someone who thinks "I will never voluntarily sign anything with a pipeline company" - we respect your opinion and option to exercise your Constitutional rights and force them to take you to Court and want you to know you can still join and become a Supporter of N.E.A.T. and benefit from our efforts! To learn more about Condemnation options Contact Us.

If you believe in what N.E.A.T. stands for and want to support N.E.A.T. but don’t have any land affected you can still join and support our efforts.

N.E.A.T. (Nebraska Easement Action Team) is a project of Bold Education Fund, a Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation. It was organized in May 2012 for the singular purpose of providing education and support to Nebraskans who confront demands by pipeline companies, or others, for easements, other rights, or interests in title to their land through condemnation. N.E.A.T. d/b/a Bold Education Fund operates as a nonprofit corporation under § 501C(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Tom Genung serves as chair of the NEAT board. He may be reached at 402-784-9548 or tom@nebraskaeasement.org.