Welcome to the Future!
What bill wants to limit eminent domain power in power line cases? Congressmen Boozman & Womack each filed the Assuring Private Property Rights Over Vast Access to Land, or APPROVAL, Act, which would rewrite Section 1222 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act
What is it they want to limit? Federal government eminent domain authority in power line construction.
Why do they want to limit federal eminent domain power? They want to shift leverage to the states in interstate power line…
Move-On.org, home to online petitions, has 44 eminent domain petitions, the overwhelming majority oppose development.
The most popular anti-eminent domain sentiments:
What project wanted eminent domain authority? A transmission line for the Grain Belt Express which was set to run through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois & Indiana.
How was eminent domain authority denied?
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…
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…
New Jersey has the State Farmland Preservation Project. Farms that are active in the project are armed with information including:
“The Assuring Private Property Rights Over Vast Access to Land (APPROVAL) Act (H.R. 3062) directs:
The trend that keeps on growing: regulators denying eminent domain authority for private entities.
In this case, Missouri regulators denied eminent domain authority for an electricity transmission line that would run through Missouri but would supply electricity to the benefit of Kansas.
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
“The Missouri Public Service Commission’s 3-2 vote to deny the Grain Belt Express project’s route stalls the entire line, which already won approval from Kansas and…
Building a project that crosse state lines or involves transmission lines or pipelines?
U.S. Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton have a bill for you. It will grant states veto power over electric lines. It has a cute name: Assuring Private Property Rights Over Vast Access to Lands (APPROVAL) Act.
Posted inlegislation trend, transmission lines
Other states have reigned in eminent domain authority by denying eminent domain when there is no public use. Their actions have been via court action, legislation, and regulatory denial of permitting. The classic example has become a pipeline or transmission line that does not provide service or use to any part of the state through which it passes. Joining the legislative trend to reign in eminent domain standard of public use. President of the Cattle Raisers writes,”In m…Cattlemen Sieze Trend: Public Use Standard has run amuck