HB2086 Summary

• Pipeline companies must obtain verification from the Arkansas Public Service Commission that they will operate as a common carrier facility before exercising eminent domain, with limited exceptions for natural gas public utilities and municipal utilities.

• Pipeline companies must provide at least 30 days advance notice to affected landowners by certified mail and file pipeline route maps with county clerks, including width of land needed, location, and depths to be laid.

• The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality must issue a permit before pipeline construction, requiring environmental assessments, hearings within 60 days, and consideration of alternative corridors, local zoning ordinances, and public comment.

• Pipeline companies are liable for damages to property that is surveyed, accessed for maintenance, or damaged by the pipeline route but not acquired through eminent domain, with disputes resolved in circuit court.

• The bill exempts replacement or expansion of existing pipelines in substantially the same location and rebuilding or upgrading that does not increase easement width, and declares the act to be immediately effective as an emergency measure.