Taking land for fun and profit
Not only has Eminent Domain been used to take land from one private party to give to another private party for development, now an attempt to abuse it for natural resources is in the midst:
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this week asked a Senate committee for the power of eminent domain in the siting of liquefied natural gas facilities, a move which could potentially impact the city, Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. said Thursday.
Lambert said an LNG expert retained by the city believes the recommended vapor exclusion zone for Hess LNG’s proposed project is not large enough because a vapor cloud could extend beyond the property where the company hopes to build its LNG facility, meaning that the power of eminent domain might be needed to go forward.
More taking of property to make someone else money.
Also, here’s a case of a water district that is concerned about a bill that makes it harder for them to take land:
Beaver Water District officials are concerned about the implications of a bill making it harder for public water suppliers to use eminent domain to condemn private property to protect water quality.
The bill provides a voluntary alternative to condemnation and allows water utilities to use the power of eminent domain only as a last resort. Senate Bill 230 was filed Thursday and is assigned to the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.
In every case, ED should be used absolutely as the last resort.
January 31st, 2005 at 2:54 pm
Uncle –
This Arkansas case isn’t grossly offensive, since at least water quality can reasonably constitute a “public use” — I’m all for more administrative and procedural hoops for districts to jump through before using eminent domain, but this is pretty mild compared to most ED abuse these days.
January 31st, 2005 at 3:12 pm
I concur that the public use criteria is probably satisfied. But i think ED should almost always be a last resort.