Mexico-Texas Border Pipeline Has Both Sides of the Border Concerned about Eminent Domain

Property Rights advocates know no international borders. Property owners on both side of the border raise concerns about the Trans Pecos Pipeline. Here’s what people are saying:

  • “It is not only illegal but profoundly discourteous. It’s just not done out here.” Val Beard a rancher in Brewster County. 
  • “You can’t drop $760 million in a 150-mile corridor without all the businesses doing well,” said Brad Newton, economic development director in Presidio, Texas.

  • “I won’t lease my land for the pipeline. I’ll defend it.” Rancher Epidio Bonilla in Mexico.

Precondemnation access to ranch land is not popular on either side of the border. The Texas rancher forced a surveyor off her land and received an apology letter from the pipeline. The Mexican rancher did not receive an apology but was equally adamant about defending his land from the pipeline.

Fronteras

 

Bill Action: Civil Forfeiture is the New Eminent Domain

This week House State Affairs Committee heard testimony from Matt Miller, of the Institute of Justice. He drew comparisons between eminent domain and asset forfeiture.

He compared the government’s ability to take property from innocent Texans without charging them of a crime with the ability of the government to take property from innocent Texans for a public use under eminent domain. 

Refreshing our Recollection: The Institute for Justice is the the group of attorneys that represented Kelo, the property owner, in the infamous U.S. Supreme Court case, Kelo v. New London. 

HB 3171 by Simpson

Legal Trend: A Supreme Court Limits Public Use for Water

The Iowa Supreme Court halted eminent domain power for a drinking water project. The Supreme Court opined that since the drinking water project also included recreational water use, the water district had no authority to use eminent domain. 

The moral of the story: public use means only a public use, no extra bells and whistles. 

KNIA Knoxville Osceola Sentinal  AP

Legal Trend: City to Use Eminent Domain to Acquire Private Water Company

Ojai California is using eminent domain to condemn the water utility that serves its community. Fed up by high water rates, the city opted for eminent domain.

Eminent Domain and the judicial system go hand in hand. The private company that operates the private water utility in Ojai, sued. The Second Court of Appeals sided with Ojai that eminent domain allows the taking of the utility so that the the utility can be operated by the local government. 

The Court went so far as to state: ” The Act facilitates the purchase of property regardless of whether the seller consents to the sale or is compelled under force of law. Moreover, financing the acquisition of intangible property incidental to the real or tangible property being purchased is consistent with the Act’s text and purpose.”

Central Valley Business Times  California Special Districts Association

Transmission Lines Incite Eminent Domain Fears. County Denied & Retracts Consent.

Missouri is grappling with the Grain Belt Express Clean Line, a transmission line to move wind energy. The majority of county governments and land owners have not approved the transmission line.

Right now the transmission line is tied up in the Missouri version of the PUC, and the drama is rising.

Ralls County has become engaged in the statewide regulatory approval of the transmission line. The county went so far as to make clear that it has never consented to the the transmission line and it “retracts and denies” consent until  ““[u]ntil such time that Grain Belt Express Clean Line LLC has utility status in Missouri and the approval of the Missouri Public Service Commission.”

Hannibal Courier Post

Pre-condemantion Access: 100 Landowners Block Pipeline Access. Pipeline Sues. Law Sides with Landowners?

In the West Virginia mountains, a fight is brewing between a pipeline and 100 landowners over access to land.

The pipelines say they need access to the land to comply with federal requirements. 

The landowners say that the access the pipeline wants exceeds what is allowed under West Virigina Law in at least 3 ways:

  • West Virginia code is limited to  examining, surveying, and laying out lands for easement
  • Only a governmental body may enter and bring machinery, equipment, or tools upon the property.
  • Eminent domain can only be exercised in West Virginia if the private property is going to be put to public use and a pipeline with no access polints for West Viriginians is not a public use.

Courthouse News Service

What not to Say at a Public Meeting in Houston: We Will Take The Property By Eminent Domain

Houston Metro plans to sell a closed park and ride to the Houston Housing Authority. HHA wants to build a 300 unit development. 

In a public meeting about the sale and development of the vacant park and ride, HHA said that if the property is sold in a private sale, HHA would use eminent doamin to acquire the property. Property owners reaction was predictability not thrilled, who prefer a private sale of the property. Houston Press