I Don’t Want the Government to Take My Property
I’ve received multiple notices from the government in recent months saying it wants to take a portion of my property to build huge, ugly electric transmission lines and towers. Can it take my property without my consent? What are my rights in this situation?
The government seeks to exercise its power of eminent domain by condemning your property for electric transmission lines. Under certain circumstances, eminent domain allows the government (and other entities authorized by the government) to condemn and force the sale of private property for public purposes.
While the government’s power to take private property has always generated discussion, the recent news coverage of the border fence, the Trans-Texas Corridor, and the popular and legislative responses to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London have fanned the flames of the eminent domain debate and made private property rights and condemnation hot topics.
The current attention on eminent domain issues is likely to continue. As Texas’ population grows, the government’s desire to build infrastructure – highways, roads, rail lines, electric transmission lines, and pipelines – to accommodate population growth will continue. Add in federal stimulus funds, which provide immediate money for projects that stalled in previous years due to lack of government funding sources, and it becomes evident that the number of Texas landowners impacted by condemnation will increase in the coming years.
Central Texas landowners are being affected by many recent condemnation projects. For example, the state’s road projects (Highway 130 and Highway 45) required government acquisition of private property from hundreds of landowners. The Lower Colorado River Authority and Oncor are currently acquiring private property to build a major electric transmission line that will also impact hundreds of Central Texas landowners. And due to the development of West Texas wind energy, electric companies (including the LCRA and Oncor) are planning to build hundreds of miles of electric transmission lines through the Hill Country and West Texas that will negatively impact the private-property rights of thousands of landowners.
If you are a landowner who could face future condemnation, be sure to read the next few weeks of “The Common Law,” as upcoming columns will address the condemnation process and protecting landowners’ rights.
This article appears in October 9 • 2009.