Panel Sides With Gas Firm in Kansas Condemnation

A court-appointed panel of petroleum engineering experts has sided with Omaha-based Northern Natural Gas over what it should pay for condemning nearly 9,200 acres in southern Kansas.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot on Wednesday gave the parties until Sept. 16 to file objections to the recommendations in the panel’s 85-page report.

The panel’s findings stem from 19 days of trial on compensation for gas producers and owners of land surrounding the company’s underground gas storage facility.

That trial was marked by conflicting testimony by experts for the company and experts for affected property owners in Pratt, Kingman and Reno counties.

The panel is recommending the company pay $7.3 million for storage rights and for gas underlying the land, far below the more than $100 million property owners wanted.