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Board to discuss Semco pipeline easement, timber harvest

MARQUETTE — The Marquette County Board of Commissioners at its meeting Tuesday will decide upon the harvesting of timber in county forestland along a proposed easement route for Semco Energy Gas Co.’s Marquette Connector Pipeline. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday in room 231 of the Henry A. Skewis Courthouse Annex along Baraga Avenue in Marquette.

While the easement for around 5 miles of the pipeline has not yet been approved by the county or the state — pending determination of the value of the easements and timber — this item is being brought to the board at this time due to the time-sensitive nature of timber harvesting in the area, officials said.

“Really what it’s boiling down to is a discussion on the value of the easement and timber, and finalizing those numbers,” Marquette County Administrator Scott Erbisch said. “Once those are finalized, then from the county’s perspective, we would take it back to the board and have a final authorization from the board to finalize the easement.”

The portion of the pipeline on county forestlands would run parallel to the western side of the Canadian National Railroad tracks in Sands Township before briefly running parallel along the west side of M-553 in Sands Township. Then, at the Forsyth Township border, the pipeline would angle west, intersecting with the East Branch of the Escanaba River.

While the county initially “encouraged Semco to pursue a license or means other than a permanent easement with the Marquette County Road Commission” to try to limit some of “the encroachment into county forest lands adjacent to the road commission property,” county staff “is now accepting of the entire route” after further discussions with Semco, board documents state.

In these further discussions, Semco accepted the county’s proposed increased in easement valuation from $50,500 to $75,775, as well as indemnity language proposed by the county and agreed to provide funding for replanting and future reharvesting trees in temporary work areas.

“We’ve worked through the initial concerns that we had with that,” Erbisch said.

However, after these initial discussions with Semco took place, county officials were advised that state approval will be needed for the easement, which made the financial component more complicated due to the state’s fee structure for easements and timber.

“The question is what values will be determined for the county and the state of Michigan,” according to board documents. “The state of Michigan has a standard fee structure for easements and timber value. Based on discussion with all three organizations, the plan is to submit to Semco a revised value for the easements and timber value.”

State approval is needed because the county forestlands were given to the county by the state, and can only be used by the county for specific purposes, such as forestry and public use. If the lands were used for other purposes, they would revert back to state ownership, Erbisch said.

“Per the Municipal Forest Act, the county is not authorized to grant easements solely through these lands,” board documents state. “The state noted that it would also collect the payment for the value of the easement. (Public Act) 217 lands were given to the county for forestry use. If the use changes, then the reverter clause kicks in.”

Due to this, the state proposed Marquette County approve the entire easement route “rather than transferring land back and forth with the state of Michigan,” and the state would then approve the easement(s) within the PA 217 lands, according to information provided to the board.

County staff, Michigan Department of Natural Resources representatives and Semco officials are in discussions regarding the aforementioned changes for the PA 217 lands, Erbisch said. The county staff, as well as DNR officials, are in agreement with the proposed easement route. Furthermore, the state has approved the timber harvest in the PA 217 areas, Erbisch said.

According to board documents, the state of Michigan would collect payments for the easement through the PA 217 lands, but the county would retain the timber value of the trees harvested, funds for replanting and all easement payments for fee simple land.

Once the board makes a decision on the timber harvest and further discussions about the financial aspects are completed, Erbisch said the proposed easement request will come before the county board for a final decision.

Cecilia Brown can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. Her email address is cbrown@miningjournal.net.

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