Easements

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
is it standard proceedure to request a fee to grant an easement?

well, it's not unusual. The servient tenant will be essentially giving up part of his property yet will still pay taxes on it and since it is to benefit the dominant tenant, why would it not be proper to receive compensation for the easement?

as well, I would expect the beneficiary to pay for all associated costs.

I am always amazed at this question, which has been asked many times on this forum.

You must understand that an easement is (in most cases) a permanent right to use the property as if it was your own. Normaly you would have to purchase any property in order to use it as your own. If someone asked you to simply hand over your property, you would probably think they were crazy.

An easement has the same value (in many cases) as the raw land value, depending on whether you retain some value to yourself after granting the easement to others. You could, for example, grant an easement for vehicle access that also allows you to utilize the easement for vehicle access.

I don't know which side of the question you are on, but any easement should also spell out obligations and responsibilities of the grantor and grantee.