The National Energy Board will soon launch a $7.2-billion fund to pay for the cost of abandoned pipelines in an effort to keep landowners from footing the bill.

The board held hearings in January on how fast pipeline companies have to fill the kitty and through what mechanism the money will actually be set aside, said NEB spokesperson Stacey Squires in an email.

An answer on how the collection of funds and their setting-aside is likely in this quarter, said Squires. Companies will have to begin reporting on the fund's progress by 2015.

While Canadians may be more accustomed to hearing about new pipeline proposals like the Northern Gateway project and Keystone XL, the NEB has been piecing together a policy for abandoned pipelines over the past five years.

The aim is to keep the price of removal and contamination from falling on the backs of people whose land the pipelines traverse.

Among those pipelines regulated by the NEB, there are those classified as Group 1, which are big enough to charge tolls on their shippers. The other, smaller category are called Group 2.

According to Squires, about $6.7 billion of the $7.2 billion will be set aside for the larger pipeline systems in Group 1 and the rest will be saved for Group 2.

The pipeline system with the largest abandonment cost is the TransCanada Mainline at $2.1 billion, a system that will be part of the new Energy East pipeline if that project goes ahead. The pipeline with the smallest cost is the Kinder Morgan Cochin at $24 million.

According to the NEB's "Canadian Pipeline Transportation System -- Energy Market Assessment" report released last week, many firms have proposed a trust fund be arranged to save money.

The NEB arrived at the $7.2 billion figure in February 2013 after extensive hearings with pipeline firms and landowner associations.

During those hearings, the associations fought to have buried pipelines removed once they're abandoned.

Companies like Trans-Northern Pipelines Inc., TransCanada Pipelines Ltd., Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC , Kinder Morgan Cochin ULC, Enbridge Pipelines Inc., WestCoast Energy Inc. and Alliance Pipeline Ltd. all initially submitted that pipelines in cultivated and non-cultivated agricultural land should be left in the ground in a exercise designed to determine what amount of money should be saved.

But groups like the Canadian Association of Energy and Pipeline Landowner Associations and the Manitoba Pipeline Landowners Association fought against the practice.

"In MPLA's view, landowners are only protected from future liability associated with pipeline abandonment when pipelines are either removed or maintained in perpetuity," says the NEB's decision document from February 2013. "Any other option leaves landowners open to the risks associated with pipeline corrosion."

The board agreed that pipelines buried on those types of lands would likely have to be removed.

James Munson covers energy and politics for iPolitics, where this article first appeared.