Why haven't I heard more about this before now?
Of course the Keystone XL pipeline will need to rely on Eminent Domain to site the pipeline along its alignment. Where the path crosses private land, if the landowner refuses to grant an easement, the easement will need to be taken (condemned) by eminent domain.
I thought those right-wing types HATED eminent domain! The taking of private property for a PRIVATE benefit - the benefit of TransCanada in this case, a FOREIGN corporation, and BigOil, who own the processing and shipping facilities in Houston.
The New York Times:
A Canadian company has been threatening to confiscate private land from South Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico, and is already suing many who have refused to allow the Keystone XL pipeline on their property even though the controversial project has yet to receive federal approval.
Randy Thompson, a cattle buyer in Nebraska, was informed that if he did not grant pipeline access to 80 of the 400 acres left to him by his mother along the Platte River, “Keystone will use eminent domain to acquire the easement.” Sue Kelso and her large extended family in Oklahoma were sued in the local district court by TransCanada, the pipeline company, after she and her siblings refused to allow the pipeline to cross their pasture.
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In addition to enraging those along the proposed pipeline’s 1,700-mile path, the tactics have many people questioning whether a foreign company can pressure landowners without a permit from the State Department — the agency charged with determining whether the project is in the “national interest.”...
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Mr. Thompson said he intends to fight to keep the pipeline, 36 inches in diameter, off his land. Eminent domain laws generally allow for the confiscation of private property if taking it is judged to serve a larger public good. These kinds of laws differ slightly from state to state as do the processes by which pipelines are approved and licensed. As a result, there is both debate and confusion over whether TransCanada has the right to use the courts to demand easements from property owners in advance of final approval for the project.
Of course the project has now NOT received federal approval. And Boehner and the US Chamber are screaming bloody murder about it for the purpose of making political hay.
Nebraska, Texas - these ultra-conservative states are going to tolerate their private landowners being strong-armed by a FOREIGN corporation? They are going to tolerate private property being seized for corporate benefit? After all, there is no reason to believe that ANY of the oil from Keystone will be set aside for the US, or sold to the US at any sort of discount. TransCanada will cut the US in half with a giant pipeline in order to ship oil from Canada to China and other non-US markets. How does Keystone serve the public good? How is it in the national interest?
Remember - eminent domain is decidedly NOT ok with the righties. Just remember their response to the Kelo v. New London SCOTUS decision:
Redstate: suffice to say that this was a bad day for those who hold property rights in high regard. A very bad day indeed.
Reason: Scott Bullock: It was an outrageous decision. It was rather shocking that a majority of the Supreme Court would permit this type of abuse. We're in an America where, as former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor pointed out in her dissent, church property can be taken for a Costco, a farm can be turned into a factory, and a neighborhood can be leveled for a shopping mall. Most people cannot believe that this can happen in this country and that the Supreme Court gave sanction to that with their decision.
Hotair:Did the first stirrings of the Tea Party begin five years ago today? On June 23, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in its Kelo decision that government could seize private property through eminent domain and hand it off to another private entity, putting the private property of all Americans at the mercy of local and state governments. The decision created outrage, and then grassroots activism to protect private property rights in the face of a grasping and avaricious government, arguably setting the stage for the all-out eruption of Tea Party activism a few years later.
Call your Reps and Senators and tell them you want this eminent domain issue exposed.
Write letters to the editor.
Spread this info via twitter.
Let's hoist them on their own Kelo-backlash petard.