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northeastern Ohio | Steve,
My area is seeing the same thing. There is a good website called http://gomarcellusshale.com/ that has a lot of valuable info. Your county may even have a group on that website and you can make some connections that might help. Do a search for pipeline and you will find a lot at the other county websites there.
Here is an example of a more landowner friendly easement: http://www.alov.us/images/ALOV_Pipeline_-_Easement_and_Right_of_Way... There are other landowner friendly agreements floating around the net. Sometimes you can find public records of negotiations with state lands for pipelines that might also give you some ammo when you negotiate.
The ROW agents here are now making offers in $$ per acre instead of $$ per foot of pipeline. You can look at it either way. The most important thing is to limit the agreement to ONE pipeline. They always try to smuggle in a clause to allow unlimited pipelines.
You should also try to limit the size. If they are proposing a 42" line, then limit it to ONE pipeline that does not exceed 42". Many easements in the past did not limit size and the old pipe is now being replaced with a MUCH bigger line.
You also need clauses that give you access to the rest of your fields during the construction phase, which can and usually takes longer than they claim. You need to be able to harvest/plant/spray the other fields on your farm. A big open ditch can make it hard to get to the back 40 or 80 or 100 acres.
There are hundreds of other issues. I can almost guarantee that if you educate yourself on these issues you will either get a good agreement or they will go around you to a neighbor who is not as educated in pipelines. Just remember, these easements are forever and you should be compensated for the full value of your land up front before construction begins.
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What to do about underground gas line may come through my farm
