I talked to the Belmont county audits office this morning and they had no registered property titles from the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX)
At the meeting with REX that occurred at the Somerton Fire House, a Somerset Township meeting as called by the township trustees, Allen Fore the spokes person for REX said that REX would pay their taxes.
The REX pipeline covers a lot of ground in Belmont County, REX is not a utility company, they are just like any one for profit company, so they need to pay their taxes.
In attendance at this meeting were the Somerset township trustees, Representative Zack Space, Belmont County Commissioner Elect Matt Coffland, Barnesville School Board member Marilynn Lucas, a Representative of from the office of governor Ted Strickland and of course Erin from the Barnesville Enterprise. Plus many residence of the area that were concerned about the damages this pipeline may cause.
When asked if REX would pay their Taxes, Allen Fore, spokesperson for REX agreed that REX would pay their taxes.
This is a commercial venture, just like any other business, so they should be happy to pay taxes to Belmont County, as that this pipeline will produce billions of dollars in revenue with this for profit company. In the U.S. Supreme Court ruling concerning eminent domain in the Cleveland area, the local, state and federal governments can grant eminent domain to a private company if it is going to increase the local tax revenue.
So I am now asking for the governments that have land affected by this pipeline to start collecting taxes from REX.
We need the money, just ask the sheriff about much needed revenues.
Jerry Smith, PhD.
Somerton, Ohio
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