Louisiana Homeowner Left to Hold Bayou Bridge Pipeline Accountable for Damaging her Home

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Melinda Tillies learned about the controversial Bayou Bridge pipeline the day its construction began next to her home a couple months ago.ย As workers prepared the site for the pipeline, the activity made it feel like an earthquakeย hadย struck her home, she said, waking her family as their home shook on its foundation, crackingย walls and dislodgingย tiles.

Tilliesย livesย in Youngsville, Louisiana,ย a suburb of Lafayette. She purchasedย her dream house just over a yearย ago, but now she regretsย buying it.ย โ€œThe pipeline is way too close to my house for comfort.ย If I had any idea there would be a pipeline built next to my house, I wouldn’t have bought it,โ€ย she toldย me.ย 


Tillies uses her cell phone to document the installation of the pipeline next to herย home.

The pipeline, owned by Bayou Bridge Pipelineย LLC, a subsidiary of Energy Transferย Partners, runsย the length of Tilliesโ€™ property on her neighborโ€™s land, about 25 feet away from her home.ย The 162.5-mile pipeline is an extension of an existing one that originates in Nederland, Texas, and ends in St. Charles,ย Louisiana. Because it crosses state lines, the Bayou Bridge pipeline is subject to federal pipeline regulations. The project will serve as the last leg of a transportation network to moveย oil fracked in North Dakota (and potentially Canadian tar sands) via theย Dakota Access pipeline to Louisianaโ€™s coast forย export.

View from Tillies' kitchen of construction of the pipeline
View from Tilliesโ€™ kitchen as the Bayou Bridge pipeline isย installed.

I visited Tillies on June 2 as workers were buryingย the pipeline. She documented the work, gathering whatever evidence she could in case she has to sue theย company for the damages to her home.ย โ€œI bought this house a year ago and have a report that tells how everything was fine,โ€ sheย said. โ€œNow the doors and window donโ€™tย close right and there are a lot of cracks in theย walls.โ€

After talking toย Steven P. Flynn,ย Bayou Bridge Pipelineโ€™sย lead right-of-way representative,ย Tillies thought the company would take care of the damage. Sheย says Flynnย told her to get a contractor to give her an estimate and thenย the company would pay to have her houseย fixed.

Screen door not lining up
Screen door that no longer lines up to the door frame in Tilliesโ€™ย home.

Crack between ceiling and wall
Crack that opened between the ceiling and the walls in Tilliesโ€™ livingย room.

Once she got a quoteย for theย repairs, which came to $15,050, she gave it to Flynn. He told her he wasnโ€™t authorized to cover that amount.ย Tillies was shocked by Flynnโ€™s attitude, which she found rude and dismissive. โ€œI did what he asked me to do,โ€ she said, โ€œand all he could offer is to tell me I should get anย attorney.โ€

Tillies fears the damages will be even more costly than the initial quote because she received it before the company began digging and laying the pipe. โ€œThings have gotten worse since they put the pipe in the ground,โ€ she said. Once the ground has settled, she plans to have a structural engineer check on the house.ย ย 

I asked Energy Transfer Partners, the principal owner of the Bayou Bridge pipeline, how it plans to deal with the damage the pipeline installation caused toย Tilliesโ€™ home and how it deals with damage done to property along the pipeline route inย general.

โ€œConversations with this particular landowner are ongoing,โ€ Energy Transfer Partners spokespersonย Alexis Daniel told me.ย โ€œI would reiterate that we take all landowners claims seriously, and we remain committed to treating all landowners fairly andย respectfully.โ€

Aย commentย Tillies finds laughable.ย โ€œI askedย Flynn for the number of his boss when he told me to hire a lawyer, and he wouldnโ€™t give it to me. Does that sound like a company that is working with landownersโ€™ issues?โ€ she asked.ย โ€œThey were rude to me from theย start.โ€ย 

Living Next toย Pipelines

Though the installationย is done, the stress the project has caused Tillies hasnโ€™tย dissipated.ย Once the pipeline is operational, she says she will live in constant fear of an oil spill. Though sheโ€™d like to move, having a pipeline 25 feet from her kitchen window makes her doubt her ability to sell the house for the price she bought it, if she could sell it at all. โ€œI would never buy a house this close to a pipeline,โ€ sheย said.ย 

Construction crew at work
A construction crew removes water from the ditch around the pipeline across from Tilliesโ€™ home before filling it withย dirt.

Herย statementย echoed one made in 2013 by Bill Lowry, aย Communityย Liaisonย Service Managerย with theย U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA),ย one of the federalย agencies that regulates oil pipelines. Whileย at aย Public Safety Trust conference, Lowry was asked how heโ€™d feel if the Keystone XL pipeline was being built in hisย backyard.

He answered:ย โ€œHere is what I did when I bought my house โ€” I looked on all the maps, I looked for all the well holes. I found there is nothing around me but dry holes and no pipelines. And it’s not because I’m afraid of pipelines, it’s not because I think something will happen. It’s because something could happen โ€ฆ Youโ€™re always better off, if you have aย choiceย โ€ฆโ€ย 

He trailed off before finishing his sentence, but added, โ€œIf I was building a house, I wouldn’t build it on a refinery โ€ฆ I wouldn’t build it on a pipeline, because they’re all industrial facilities.ย Thatโ€™s just theย reality.โ€


PHMSAโ€™s Bill Lowry at a 2013 Pipeline Safety Trustย conference

Tillies' house near the Bayou Bridge pipeline
Tilliesโ€™ house in Youngsville, Louisiana, near the Bayou Bridge pipelineย easement.

Limited Information for Affectedย Communities

PHMSA is responsible for setting federal policies and rules for transporting oil and other hazardous materials, with the goal of preventing spills, and investigating spills once they happen. Education is also part of the agencyโ€™sย mission.

Tillies had never heard of PHMSA orย receivedย anyย information about pipeline safety from anyone. Nor didย anyoneย else I have spoken to that lives near the Bayou Bridge pipeline. That fact didnโ€™tย surpriseย Rebecca Craven, Program Director for theย Pipeline Safety Trust,ย an organization with a stated mission toย promote pipeline safety through education andย advocacy.ย 

โ€œUnfortunately, the regulatory requirements for operators to provide community members some basic information about pipelines in their vicinity does not apply until the pipeline is operational,โ€ she wrote via email. And in a situation like Tilliesโ€™ โ€œwhere a home is very close to, but notย onย a right of way, there is no PHMSA regulatory requirement that they provide any information at all until they start moving product through theย line.โ€

A landownerโ€™s guide created by the Pipeline Safety Trust doesnโ€™t mince words. โ€œEveryย pipeline comes with certain risks of failure. As a landowner or resident with aย pipeline nearby, you inevitably assume a portion of thatย risk.โ€œ

Asย landownersย along pipeline routes find out, whether they have an agreement with the pipeline operator, have their land taken byย eminentย domain,ย or, in Tilliesโ€™ case, happen to live adjacent to the pipeline right-of-way, they are on the hook for resolving conflicts with the pipelineย operator if something goesย wrong.ย 

โ€œThere is no governmental assistance for landowners whose property is damaged by a pipeline operator, even if that operator is licensed or certificated by a governmental agency,โ€ Craven explained. โ€œThey all view that as a civil matter between the operator and the landowner and leave it to landowners to pursue damages against theย operator.โ€

How Close Is Tooย Close?

โ€œThe federal regulations say nothing about any minimum distance away from homes that pipeline installation must occur,โ€ย according to the Pipeline Safety Trust.ย 

And thoughย PHMSAย created theย Pipeline Informed Planning Allianceย (PIPA) to recommend guidelinesย forย how close construction of new structures should be to existing pipelines, it didnโ€™t task the Alliance with recommending how close pipelines should be installed near existing structures.ย ย 

The Pipeline Safety Trust finds itย โ€œpuzzling how the industry can see the importance of these types of recommendations, and not see the importance of turning them around to apply to the development of new pipelines near existingย buildings.โ€ย 

How close a pipeline operator chooses to build its pipelines next to existing structures is up to the operator, unless there is a local or state regulation in place, andย few local rules exist because states generally follow the federal guidelines set by PHMSA.ย This reality has created more than one opponent toย pipelines.

Growing opposition to the rush of oil and gas pipeline projects is coming not only from the โ€œKeep it in theย groundย movementโ€ that aims to stop newย fossilย fuel infrastructureย projects but also fromย โ€œDemocrats and Tea Party typesโ€ who opposeย usingย eminent domain for pipelines exporting oil andย gas, andย NIMBYโ€™s (Not in My Back Yard)ย likeย Tillies.ย 

According to Tillies, dealing with the Bayou Bridge pipelineย representatives has also left a bitter taste in the mouths of her neighbors. โ€œThat is one nasty company,โ€ย Tillies said. โ€œThey turned my dream into a nightmare.โ€ She wants other property owners to know that โ€œif it can happen to me, it can happen toย you.โ€

Millies documenting construction
Melinda Tillies diligently documenting work on the Bayou Bridgeย pipeline.

Pipeline installation
Installation work on the Bayou Bridge pipeline next to Melinda Tillies home in Youngsville,ย Louisiana.

Main image: Melinda Tillies in front of her house as the Bayou Bridge pipeline is buriedย nearby.

Julie-Dermansky-022
Julie Dermansky is a multimedia reporter and artist based in New Orleans. She is an affiliate scholar at Rutgers Universityโ€™s Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. Visit her website at www.jsdart.com.

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