Representative Mitchell,
You say that you cannot support blocking the use of eminent domain for these CO2 pipelines because “it’s extremely unfair to switch up the rules in the middle of a process”. Except for landowners it is not the middle of the process. Landowners just found out about this a few months ago and ever since we have been loudly saying NO. We too are in the “middle of our process.” We are building our businesses and the difference is that we or our ancestors paid for our land to build our business on. We pick up the rocks, we cut the trees out of the fence lines, we work our fields when we gauge that the time is right. We plan for each field to produce enough yield to get us through another year.
These massive developers with their government subsidies see our land as “undeveloped” and they know that with rural America’s declining population that we are vulnerable.
The People always hate eminent domain. No one wants to see their hard work torn up, no matter the “compensation”. The government should be delicate with the use of eminent domain, it should strictly limit its usage. It seems like rural America is fighting Big Business every time we turn around. We fight pipelines of all kinds, power lines, wind turbines, solar panels and hog confinements.
The government is building a case for federal eminent domain. This idea has been on the table for decades. The more the government pushes eminent domain, the more landowners push back and our pushback helps build the case for just forcing us to do what the government and its subsidy-driven partners want.
We are tired of fighting these swarms of land agents. We are tired of paying for the onslaught. It was decisions in our government that made us once again energy-dependent. It was our government that gave these companies direction by picking winners and losers. It is our government that forces eminent domain. Who is it that stands for the People?
Author: Janna Swanson
Janna Swanson helps her husband Paul farm in NW Iowa with their two young daughters. Since 2013 Janna has volunteered her time and energy for her community. She was a key member of the Preservation of Rural Iowa Alliance that protected landowners from the Rock Island Clean Line. From there she helped start and facilitated the grassroots group, The Coalition for Rural Property Rights to help protect community members from industrial wind installations. She is also a board member of National Wind Watch, a 25-year online collection of information of the industrial wind opposition from around the world. Most importantly Janna is a follower of Christ and seeks to help others to know and understand Him. Yet because she is also seeking deepening her own knowledge and understanding she welcomes critical, constructive debate. No one has the corner on truth, we all see “through a glass, darkly”. (I Corinthians 13:12)
