Your land

An easement is a written right to use part of someone else's land. The paper can limit what you build. Lines this size often need a strip about 150 feet wide. Ask for the width on your land in writing.

Before you sign anything, have a local lawyer read it. If you stay quiet, the process keeps moving without you.

Missouri has rules about old papers and about offering another spot on the same farm after notice. The dates on those rules matter. A lawyer should match them to your deed.

For your lawyer

• Missouri 523.282 and 523.283: rules on using an old easement for a bigger use. The dates matter.
• Missouri 523.265: offering another spot on the same land after notice.
• Missouri 523.039: extra pay in some cases for homesteads and long-held land.
• Missouri 229.100: county permission to use county roads.
• Oklahoma: the company generally needs Oklahoma Corporation Commission approval before it can take land for a 345,000-volt line.
• Kansas: a state siting permit comes before any taking.
• Tribal land: 25 U.S.C. 357 covers some allotted land. Check with the tribe, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and a lawyer.

A nearby creek does not prove who the power is for. Tribal land status depends on the record for that parcel. County road permission is a written county act, if it exists.