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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTransCanada Is Seizing People’s Land To Build Keystone, But Conservatives Have Been Dead Silent
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/01/3625804/keystone-kelo-eminent-domain-property/Crawford, who lives in Direct, Texas, had been trying since 2011 to keep the pipeline company off her property. But she ultimately lost, the portion of her land needed for the pipeline condemned through eminent domain a process by which government can force citizens to sell their property for public use, such as the building of roads, railroads, and power lines. Crawford cant wrap her head around why TransCanada, a foreign company, was granted the right of eminent domain to build a pipeline that wouldnt be carrying Texas oil through the state of Texas.
That question how eminent domain can be used in a case like Keystone has some anti-Keystone groups stumped too. But the groups that usually are vocal proponents of property rights, including the Institute for Justice, have been silent when it comes to the controversial pipeline.
I have not seen a single group that would normally rail against eminent domain speak up on behalf of farmers or ranchers on the Keystone XL route, said Jane Kleeb, founder of the anti-Keystone group Bold Nebraska.
Thats surprising to Kleeb, whose organization is supporting the efforts of a group of Nebraska landowners along the pipelines proposed route who have held out against giving TransCanada access to their land. She had thought that at least a few conservative or pro-lands rights groups would have voiced their general support for Keystone XL, but still denounced the use of eminent domain to get it built. That hasnt happened, Kleeb said not among property rights groups nor among most pro-Keystone lawmakers.
Turbineguy
(37,386 posts)"Freedom Isn't Free"
As long as it happens to you and not me.
liberal N proud
(60,349 posts)Sounds like a private company to me!
Wella
(1,827 posts)The rationale is "economic development"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London
dumbcat
(2,120 posts)Gov't uses eminent domain to obtain the right of way for the tracks and hands it over to a private Railroad Company. That's the way it always has been done.
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)It's estimated that after construction, the Keystone XL pipeline might provide as much as eighty full time jobs. Eighty! Happy days are here again, am I right?
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)Wella
(1,827 posts)It seems to have already been being built for quite some time. This means the Keystone votes are all window dressing.
Chimeradog
(83 posts)until it happens in their own backyard, "conservatives"
are completely blind to reality.
80 jobs to destroy the Ogallala aquifer, water supplies in western PA contaminated, cancer on the rise....yeah great deal.