National Eminent Domain Blog : Eminent Domain Lawyer & Attorney : Ackerman Ackerman & Dynkowski : Michigan and Washington, DC

Las Vegas Sun

Even snippets of comments by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can make big news. Entire stories are written from sentence fragments grunted in a hallway.

But Friday morning, Reid had time to expand on his thoughts for nearly an hour at a breakfast with more than 30 journalists. It was a fresh opportunity for the nation’s reporters to see Reid unplugged.

He put on quite a show. As his autobiography reminds, Reid offers flashes of wit, impatience and steeliness. Friday, he touched on the war in Afghanistan, AIG bonuses, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts’ truthfulness and his own reelection in 2010.

He also told the journalists they should eat healthier breakfasts.

Here are highlights, condensed and occasionally paraphrased for clarity:

Eminent domain for electrical transmission lines.

We need to have a public highway for electricity. We’re going to have to have eminent domain — that’s condemnation.

U.S. Senator and Majority Leader Harry Reid is blunt. Eminent domain will be used to construct the power lines for the grid. The problem remains who decides where it goes....should it be decided on the State or local level or by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission?

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CQ Politics

Moving electricity generated by solar or wind power from sun-drenched deserts and windswept plains to energy-thirsty cities and towns will require thousands of miles of new power lines, many of which could cut across private property.

That, advocates say, will require strong direction from the federal government — including seizing land through the government’s “eminent domain” power.

“Renewables without eminent domain will not get to market,” said James Rogers, chief executive of Duke Energy Corp.

Planning electric transmission has traditionally been a state and local function, leading to a national grid that critics describe as a conflicting patchwork of regional systems.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., has introduced legislation (S 539) that would authorize the federal government to supersede state and local authority in siting for thousands of miles of new power lines, as part of a broader effort to boost renewable-energy production.

This article discusses the issues related for the need to national coordination and construction of power lines. One has to wonder how to balance the rights of individual communities and citizens in the path of the proposed lines against the notion that the only good grid is determined in Washington.

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