Iowa legislators should act on eminent domain

We share the concerns of state lawmakers seeking to rein in the use of eminent domain powers to obtain the use of private land for a pair of high-profile energy projects. And we think there still is time to work out myriad details and take action before the 2015 session ends.

A bill awaiting debate in the Iowa Senate would place limits on using eminent domain for the proposed Bakken oil pipeline and Rock Island Clean Line projects, each of which would stretch more than 300 miles across Iowa. A similar bill is awaiting action in the Iowa House. The Iowa Utilities Board has yet to weigh in on either project.

Senate File 506, which cleared the Government Oversight Committee this month, would require companies to get voluntary easements from at least 75 percent of landowners along a route before eminent domain could be used to gain easements from holdouts. It would apply to companies that are not state-regulated public utilities, governed by the Utilities Board, and would add a requirement that the Iowa Economic Development Authority sign off on energy projects.

Republicans and Democrats, including state Sen. Rob Hogg, R-Cedar Rapids, and Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, are working on the legislation at the urging of Iowans who have concerns about the projects.

We think the bar for forcing landowners to provide the use of their land should be high. We're much more supportive of the Clean Line project, considering that it takes wind energy produced in Iowa and transports it to markets with demand for the product. We're persuaded that project would be a benefit to Iowa's important wind power industry.

We're far more concerned about the use of eminent domain for the Bakken pipeline, which will simply carry North Dakota oil through the state. The direct public benefit to Iowans is tougher to discern. And therefore, we feel it should be far tougher to force Iowa landowners to provide easements.

Ideally. we'd like to see legislation that acknowledges the differences between the projects' benefits. But with Utilities Board deliberations on the horizon, we think it's important for lawmakers to weigh in on these issues now.

These are important projects. But Iowans' property rights are more important, in our view. And they expect their elected senators and representatives to stand up for those rights. The Legislature shouldn't let them down.

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