Old Easements May Never Die, Or Even Fade Away

Easements are important to most public utility systems. On occasion, a question may arise concerning the continued validity of an old easement that may never have been used, or an easement in which a main has been constructed but subsequently has been removed or abandoned in place.

According to the courts opinion, a fuel supply company acquired the easement in question in 1916 and installed a buried natural gas pipeline in the easement that year. The pipeline was used for transportation of natural gas from 1916 until 1986, when its owner capped off portions due to deterioration. That owner later conveyed the easement and pipeline to the current easement owner. Subsequently, the current owner notified the underlying landowners of its intentto replace the pipeline with a modern liquid petroleum pipeline, that it would remove all trees within seventy-five feet of the pipeline and would maintain a fifty foot clearing for maintenance. The landowners sued to enjoin the project.

The court set forth what it deemed to be the applicable general principles in construing easements, including the following.

 "An easement is an interest in the land of another, created by prescription or express or implied grant, that entitles the owner of the easement, the dominant estate, to a limited use of the land in which the interest exists, the servient estate." Id. at 334.

 "When an easement is created by an express grant, the extent and limitations upon the dominant estates use of the land depend upon the language in