Welcome to the Future!
A new documentary details the plight of landowners that oppose the Bluegrass Pipeline. Top 5 complaints from landowners:
What was the end result?
Who: Joint forces of private property rights advocates & environmentalists
What: Protesting the Constitution Pipeline in New York
Why does this matter? Because this trend was started by Texans. Willie Nelson headlined a concert protesting Keystone XL Pipeline.
What they’re saying:
Watershed Post: Scores protest pipelines at rally in…
Kentucky Legislature is debating whether to permit a proposed repurposing of an existing natural gas pipeline. The debate has brought to light 70 year old easements.
Clearly thoughts have changed in 70 years. The safety of the types of fluids that traverse the pipes, plus recent safety issues are weighing on legislators.
Here’s what one Kentucky legislator said publicly:
“I say that there should not be a legal argument that you have the right to take someone’s property to put a…
Dr. Mark Miller, the 2014 Libertarian nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, and announced his candidacy for Texas Railroad Commissioner in 2016. From his statement:
“Among them were appropriate regulations for wastewater wells that trigger earthquakes and eminent domain abuse by common carrier pipelines. Sadly, regulations promulgated by the Commission under Porter’s watch turned out to be nothing more than window-dressing, resulting in additional bureaucratic busy-work, but with no…
Pipeline protesting proliferates the Northern Plains. The most recent rally cry is a purchase of billboard ad space along the proposed route of a pipeline.
Dakota Rural Action purchased the billboards to get citizens engaged. The determination whether to award eminent domain to the common carrier in the permitting process.
Considering the string of recent denials of eminent domain authority to private entities, like a pipeline, in the last few months, the billboard ad buy is a smart…
Mississippi State Senator Mike Seymour entered the race for his seat due to his opposition to eminent domain and China…. In his words:
“”The thing that separates us from Russia and China and all is our property rights. I understand eminent domain for transportation and stuff like that but when it comes to economic development, it shouldn’t be the government taking your property and selling it to another entity to generate more tax revenue. That’s not America. It’s something that…
He said/She said/They Said abounds with the TransPecos pipeline. Its like a love triangle with the drama of a telenovela:
Trans Pecos is building the international pipeline through Big Bend and ranch lands. One of those ranches believes pipeline representatives entered to survey without permission. This trespass included sinking stakes into the land.
As a result of the pipeline trespass…an impending lawsuit. Its a case of landmen gone wild, threatening cease and desist orders against land owners.
A brewing legal dispute in Iowa highlights the momentum away from allowing eminent domain authority for pipelines, transmission lines, and other utilities that are privately owned.
An Iowa Attorney:
“The larger issue — what it really comes down to — is whether these guys have the power of eminent domain. this is not a utility, it is not public, it is not providing any necessary public service. A number of other cases have rejected such eminent domain arguments — the Bluegrass Pipeline…
Iowa- home the Presidential state fair and its fair share of pipelines. One Iowan expressed these views of the Ames Tribune:
“I see only corporate greed, trampling of private property rights and a threat to Iowa’s environment. Here’s my beef: show me the public good. “
His comments reflect tw growing eminent domain trends: