I don’t think environmentalism is public use
Long-time Collier County land owner Jesse James Hardy has a showdown with a state judge early next month to determine whether the government can force him off his 160 acres of mosquito-infested property.
Last year, the state filed court papers for eminent domain to force Hardy to take a lump-sum buy out. Eminent domain allows states to take a person’s property for the public good, giving them fair market value.
Actually, it’s for public use not public good.
For the last three years the government has been trying to get Hardy to sell his land to make room for its $8 billion Everglades restoration project, which will flood land from Lake Okeechobee south to the ocean, artificially turning it into wetlands and, theoretically, restoring a pollution-free water flow.
Having failed, the state filed for eminent domain.
So, they want to take a man’s property and turn it into unusable land? I really don’t think environmentalism constitutes public use. As Hardy says:
”It’s my home and it’s where I run my business and where I raise my family,” said Hardy. “Why should I leave just so the government can conduct its billion-dollar science project?”
