Bill > H3309

This bill mandates that any natural gas pipeline company, when acquiring land rights for natural gas extraction or transport through eminent domain (a "taking" under section 7 of chapter 79), must pay property owners a royalty of at least 12.5% of the wholesale price of any natural gas sold for export to foreign countries. This royalty payment is in addition to any other damages already awarded for the land acquisition. The collected royalty will be distributed among all affected property owners in the Commonwealth based on the proportion of pipeline length situated on their respective properties. This provision applies only to future land takings and does not require any retroactive adjustments to past compensation.