Republican Ryan Binkley is not shying away from the public fight over property rights and abuse of eminent domain facing Iowa landowners. We asked Binkley for his thoughts about whether eminent domain should be used for such a project during the Iowa State Fair.
“I don’t think so, I don’t think that’s what it’s for,” he said. “In fact, when I look at the Constitution, I believe it’s Amendment 5 — it talks about property rights and you need to be given those. I’m going to stand with the farmers here. I’ve only met one person who was really in favor of the CO2 pipeline and they were leading an ethanol plant. I’ve talked to hundreds of farmers and nobody is in favor of it.”
Binkley said concerned landowners must make their voices heard now.
“They’re afraid that they’re not going to get the chance to vote on it,” he said. “I would say let your voice be heard now. I’m telling them all it is ‘We the People.’ Those three words in our Constitution were saying this — the government works for the people, not the other way around. They need to stand up and make sure they are heard.”
Binkley is hosting an online event on Sept. 7 at 4 p.m. called “Fighting for the Heartland.” He encourages those concerned to attend.
