Energy Sector Abuses Individual Property Rights

Evidence suggests the U. S. Department of Energy misused eminent domain to accelerate the construction of a transmission line project. Authorized by Section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Department of Energy published a Request for Proposals in June of 2010 and quickly accepted $100,000,000 from Clean Line Energy Partners to push its Plains and Eastern transmission project forward. The project just completed its Public Scoping Period and is now in the process of preparing an Environmental Impact Statement as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.  

Clean Line Energy has already begun the right-of-way acquisition process in Oklahoma. Private landowners in the transmission line’s path can expect to have a strip of land about 150 to 250 feet wide claimed for “public use”. Though the project’s expected cost is approximately $2 billion, Clean Line Energy and the project’s other investors can expect a major payoff, considering that the line will provide energy to much of the Southeastern United States. National Grid, one of the largest international energy companies, recently invested $40 million in Clean Line Energy, confident in the company’s future growth.

The controversy surrounding the Plains and Eastern Clean Line deals with the use of eminent domain for economic benefit which has increasingly become an issue in the U.S. In the same year that the Energy Policy Act was passed, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the Kelo v. City of New London case which arose when the city of New London, Con., condemned privately owned land and gave it to another private corporation to construct a pharmaceutical research center. The case expanded the constitutional definition of “public use” to include economic benefit, even if corporations are the primary benefiters.

Bill Murray of Kingfisher, Okla., is one such landowner dealing with the effects of condemnation for economic public use. In 2009, OG&E built an overhead transmission line across his property.

Of the public scoping meetings, he says, “There were different tables that explain the power lines, the poles that are going to be used, some of the adverse health effects that are to be expected, which they claim is none. But these guys are here to sell us a product. I know they’re going to be one-sided.”

Clean Line Energy claims that after construction is completed, the land under the line will still be useable for crops and livestock grazing. They claim that there are no harmful effects to exposure to the transmission line. The company claims that they take land use into account as they negotiate with individual landowners.

Murray claims that his and other right-of-way cases that he has heard of are rarely ever fair.

“Never take their first offer. We got an attorney out of Madill and took OG&E to court, but they didn’t pay us even close to [a fair market price], not even half of that. It’s just ridiculous what [private corporations] are allowed to do.”

Clean Line Energy is currently entering into negotiations with private landowners across Oklahoma and is still waiting to receive public utility status in Arkansas. While this line is a step toward cleaner, wind-generated energy for the U.S., Oklahoma property owners’ rights are taking another hit for the sake of the energy sector’s expansion.