Welcome to the Future!
If there is no public use in Kentucky, then a common carrier isn’t afforded eminent domain to build a pipeline in Kentucky according to a Court of Appeals Panel last week.
This growing trend in eminent domain litigation- is the public use occuring within the govenrmental entity that is granting the power of eminent domain.
Over the last year, court rulings have impacted pipelines and transmission lines.
The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain is now in print.
10 years after the epic eminent doamin case, we get…the book. Polls show 80% of Americans oppose Kelo. Justice Scalia talks about how bad it is to this day & predicts it will be overruled.
As a reminder that it’s really just your bad local governments that use eminent domain, the Department of Justice has put up a series of delightful photos detailing the history of eminent domain use by the federal government.
The History lesson:
Robert Henneke, newly hired as the head of TPPF’s Center for the American Future, will belitigating government overreach and 10th amendment issues, including:
It’s like a Texas version of Institute for Justice, the group of attorneys that represented Kelo in Kelo v. New London, the preeminent eminent domain case of the last 20 years.
Appraisals that continued to lower the price of land in dispute were deemed “strong arm tactics” designed to force settlement, and were the basis for a pro-land owner ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court.
The state supreme court found all the appraisals must be presented to the fact finder to determine value.
The difference in appraisals: $150,000. The legal fees for the state’s outside counsel: $140,000.
This week ISD Trustees voted to use the power of eminent domain to obtain 46 acres of undeveloped land to build a highschool.
The ISD statement: “…we were unable to have successful negotiations. We are going about it in a professional manner. We have hired a top-flight appraiser and we are making a very fair offer.” The ISD streses that it only wants 6.7% of the landowners 677 acres.
To use eminent domain in Georgia, a pipeline company must have approval from the Governor and the Department of Transportation. In this case, a pipeline company wished to build a 210-mile pipeline to move gasoline and ethanol across Georgia to terminals near Augusta, Savannah and Jacksonville. For this pipeline, wishes and dreams did not come true.
What stopped the pipeline from getting eminent domain?
17 states have passed laws concerning drones. The Feds say, who cares- we control air space, not the states. It’s the perennial states right fight.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police says they have few tools to protect citizens from drones.
The Wall Street Journal points us to a 1946 the US Supreme Court established that property owners have exclusive control of the area immediately above their land, which is estimated to be 83 feet.
Its harder and harder to build insfrastructure in Texas. Tollroads, high speed rails, pipelines are greeted by protestors, private property rights activists, and lawsuits.
The Midwest has responded with the Midwest Alliance for Insfrstructure Now. It is a coalition of:
Willing buyers, a hot topic in eminent domain. No one wants to be forced into selling their property. So, who doesn’t like this idea?