First Energy Will Have Survey and Drilling Crews Out again In Frederick County, Loudoun County and Jefferson County Within The Next Couple Of Weeks
Know Your Property Rights / Ensure you have a no trespassing sign on your property.
At this time, neither Valley Link nor NextERA have any easements and do not have the right to enter private property without permission.
First Energy / Potomac Edison / AEP do own easements along the route, deeds are specific to the property. There are multiple transmission projects in the works and there are multiple variants in the deeds.
You can (politely) challenge the subcontractor's authority to access the easement for their stated activities and ask them to leave and come back with documentation.
If there is no easement on your property you do not have to allow access to your land at all.
If there is an easement on your property : Ensure you have the easement deed and understand what is allowed. In general you will want to verify the easement language allows the work they plan on performing for the transmission company they are working for. Also that they will be marking the easement and that all work will be done within in the easement. Usually the easements specify vegetation management and allow maintenance activities. Drilling bore holes is not generally a maintenance activity, nor is surveying outside the easement. The easement deed also names the company owning the easement and the width of the easement.
Filing / Sending / Handing Out No Trespassing Notices
1) Create a No Trespass Notice
If you have an easement on your property you will want to write a letter to describe what is allowed and what is not allowed per your deed. See the sample and modify it appropriate to your property, deed and the work they have stated they want to do.
If there is no easement on your property (or the transmission company is not the one on the deed), fill out and print multiple copies of the standard no trespassing notice from the Sheriff's office for your county.
2) Print multiple copies of the filled out form or your letter.
3) Send the letter certified US Mail with a return receipt to the point of contact on the letter you received in the mail, and/or on your door and/or the point of contact obtained from the crew that attempted to access your property.
4) Retain a copy with the return receipt for your records which can be presented to a deputy if a violation occurs.
5) Keep copies handy and hand the letter to the individuals that stop by.
If you have questions, consult a property attorney.
Questions to ask if a subcontractor is on your property:
- What transmission project is this for?
- What Company are you working for?
- What transmission company hired your company (NextEra, Valley Link, FirstEnergy ...) ?
- What are you planning on doing?
- Please provide documentation that the easement grants the activities, described to the transmission developer you are working for.
- Ask for a business card and a contact card.