Oklahoma landowner Vic Bruns has filed suit seeking the removal of the idled 1,100 mile Magellan Midstream Partners LP’s anhydrous ammonia pipeline. The suit, which was originally filed in the Tulsa County District Court, was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma late last month, with the plaintiff seeking class action status.
Magellan gradually halted ammonia shipments on the pipeline in 2019-2020 (GM Aug. 9, 2019; Feb. 1, 2019).
The plaintiff alleges that Magellan filed documents with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration saying that it had abandoned the pipeline and filled it with salt water or inert gas, and that it had been permanently disconnected and sealed. The plaintiffs added that the pipeline was permanently abandoned from Texas to Minnesota, effectively abandoning easements across the properties of landowners in five states.
Magellan’s position is that the easement was forever and did not address easement removal.
Bruns is seeking actual damages, comprising the cost to remove the pipeline and remediate the land, including placement of fill dirt, as well as the decrease in property value and the fair market value based on its use for the storage of the abandoned pipeline and related property.