Electric transmission, gas, water and sewer corridors, the easements they take, and what they leave you with.
Utility acquisitions in Virginia are usually easements rather than outright purchases. The company takes the right to install and maintain its facilities across a defined strip, and you keep ownership of the ground subject to that right.
That distinction matters less than owners expect. A transmission easement that prohibits structures, restricts tree height and permits access at any time can remove most of the practical value of the land it crosses.
What the company acquires and what you keep.
Read morePermanent easementsRights that run with the land indefinitely.
Read moreTemporary easementsConstruction access that should end.
Read moreRemaining propertyDamage to the residue either side of the corridor.
Read morePartial takingA strip acquired across a larger holding.
Read moreAgricultural propertyFields, irrigation and equipment crossing a corridor.
Read moreA fixed width is one thing. A right to a corridor the company may later widen is another.
Restrictions on structures, paving, fencing, ponds and planting all narrow what the strip is worth to you.
A right of entry across the rest of your land, rather than along the corridor, spreads the burden well beyond the strip.
A non exclusive easement that lets you continue farming or crossing is materially less damaging than one that does not.
Interstate natural gas pipelines act under federal authority once they hold a certificate from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In May 2024 the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear a challenge concerning eminent domain for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, leaving the lower court position in place.
Yes, for utilities it regulates. In July 2026 the Commission rejected a request to pause the Loudoun Valley Estates matter, an illustration that its decisions shape the timing of these projects.
Generally yes. You retain the fee and the utility holds the rights described in the easement document. What those rights permit is the whole question.
Temporary construction easements should. Permanent easements do not, which is why their terms deserve close reading.
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