An ill wind blowing on windmills

— It appears that Clean Line Energy’s windmill power lines aren’t going to just blow through White County (or anywhere in the state) without a fight.

The Houston-based company and Department of Energy got an earful of landowners’ displeasure with the proposed route, which would pass through northern White County, at a public hearing last week. They also are meeting resistance from state legislators and Arkansas’ delegation in the U.S. Senate.

Clean Line Energy is seeking a path through Arkansas with its high-voltage lines to take wind energy from the Oklahoma panhandle to Tennessee.

The state and county might stand to benefit some from job creation, taxes and a new source of electricity being provided to around 160,000 Arkansans.

Some White County landowners made it clear, though, that those benefits are not worth the cost of allowing that route to go through their lands, either by granting an easement or eminent domain, which the company could be given by the Energy Department.

The threat of eminent domain is the biggest issue.

Several landowners strongly mentioned their opposition to it at the hearing at the Carmichael Center on Tuesday, and a bill filed Thursday by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Dardanelle) and John Boozman (R-Rogers) would prohibit the Department of Energy from using it without consent from the governor and state Public Service Commission. (The bill also would require federal land to be considered first for such projects as Clean Line Energy’s.)

The reason the bill was filed was in response to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which gave the Department of Energy the power to bypass the state when it comes to working with private companies on electric power transmission.

State legislators are not happy that Clean Line Energy has chosen to go that route after being turned away by the Arkansas Public Service Commission in 2011.

“Arkansans should have a say in any decision that affects our land,” Cotton says.

Now, Clean Line Energy Vice President Mario Hurtado says his company wants Arkansans to have a say. He says the company sees eminent domain as “a last resort” and plans to try to work with the landowners on purchasing easements and even proposing adjustments to the route if necessary.

However, it’s easy to make such gestures when you can ultimately just take what you want over the objections of the landowners, the state government and even our federal representatives.

Congress can stop that by supporting this bill that would return power to the states, which should return power to those who own the land.

There has been a place for eminent domain in the establishment of our country, but we need to carefully consider the limitations of its use by the government. Every possible measure should be pursued before stepping on landowners’ rights, even if that means the wind blows Clean Line Energy in another direction.

– The (Searcy) Daily Citizen

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