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Sherman Denounces Power Line Condemnation Bill Giving private company power to condemn public land "disgraceful"
Madison – Rep. Gary Sherman (D – Port Wing) today expressed anger and disgust at the introduction of a bill that would allow the American Transmission Company to condemn public land along sections of its proposed right-of-way.
"It is bad enough that we let this private company exercise the power of eminent domain at all," Sherman said. "Now it is proposed that we overthrow the constitution altogether and give this company direct power over the government itself. Surely, our very notion of representative government is under attack."
The Arrowhead-Weston Power Line was approved several years ago by the Public Service Commission despite overwhelming evidence that it was not in the public interest. The expert analysis of the PSC staff itself demonstrated that such a massive public works project was not an appropriate approach to Wisconsin's future energy needs, which could easily be met by far less radical means.
"As a result of enormous public opposition to this boondoggle, local units of government have done what they appropriately should have done, which is to have the courage to exercise their legitimate governmental power to disallow the use of their land for this project," Sherman noted. "Now, powerful special interests propose to destroy our most basic governmental structure just to get their way over a single selfish issue. This is disgraceful."
If the bill were to pass, it would likely be subject to attack in the courts as an unconstitutional delegation of governmental authority to a private party. There is already substantial litigation over the power line and this additional issue could greatly complicate the process. The additional litigation could well keep the project bottled up in the courts for years.
"Are we going to continue to have elected government in this country," Sherman asked, "or are we going to turn it over to the corporations altogether? It is high time we stood up and said NO to these Enron-style scams."
- end -
From: Rep.Montgomery
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 2:11 PM
To: *Legislative All Assembly; *Legislative All Senate
Subject: Co-Sponsorship of LRB 2145/3 - Condemnation of county or municipal land for electric transmission lines, payment of certain environmental impact fees to municipalities and counties -
DEADLINE 4/22/05
TO: All Legislators
FROM: Representative Montgomery
DATE: April 18, 2005
RE: Co-Sponsorship of LRB 2145/3 - relating to: condemnation of county or municipal land for electric transmission lines, payment of certain environmental impact fees to municipalities and counties, and making an appropriation.
The Douglas County Board voted 15-11 in February to continue refusing to negotiate with American Transmission Company (ATC) regarding the construction of the state-approved Arrowhead-Weston transmission line across county owned property.
The failure of the Douglas County Board to even come to the table and negotiate the sale of county property has shifted the focus from purchasing the use of county land to building on private land. The actions of these board members will only increase the cost of the project which will ultimately be passed to utility customers.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the Arrowhead-Weston line to run through 13 miles of property owned by Douglas County, the majority of which already has an existing line present. The PSC has asked American Transmission Company (ATC) to re-route the line through private property, potentially escalating the cost and affecting more private landowners.
I am introducing to LRB 2145/3 to protect these landowners, protect ratepayers, restore power to state government and to ensure electric reliability can't be held hostage in Wisconsin any longer.
LRB 2145/3 does the following:
1. Authorizes the condemnation of property owned by a county, city, village, or town for the purpose of constructing or locating transmission lines if the parties cannot agree on a purchase price within 180 days.
2. A county, city, village, or town will not be eligible to receive their one-time environmental impact fee if their property has to be condemned for the purpose of constructing a high-voltage transmission line.
3. Fees that counties, cities, villages, and towns are not eligible to receive under the bill are used as an additional source of funding for grants made by DOA under current law for low-income energy assistance.
4. If a county, city, village, or town sells land intended for the construction of a high-voltage transmission line at a price that exceeds the fair market value of the property, DOA must reduce the one-time environmental impact fee distributed to the county, city, village, or town by an amount equal to the amount by which the acquisition price exceeds the fair market value.
Anyone interested in co-sponsoring LRB 2145/3 should contact Adam in my office (6-5840) by Friday, April 22, 2005.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Current law generally prohibits the condemnation of real property owned by the state, a municipality, or a county. This bill authorizes a public utility or foreign transmission provider (a foreign corporation that operates electric transmission lines in this state and other states) to condemn real property owned by a county, city, village, or town, but only if the property is condemned for the purpose of constructing or locating transmission lines and only if the parties cannot agree on a purchase price within 180 days.
Also under current law, before any person, including a public utility or foreign transmission provider, may construct certain high- voltage transmission lines, the Public Service Commission (PSC) must issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) for the line. If the PSC issues a CPCN to a person, the person must pay a one-time environmental impact fee that the Department of Administration (DOA) distributes to the cities, villages, towns, and counties that are affected by the line. (The person must also pay annual impact fees that DOA distributes to cities, villages, and towns, but not to counties.)
This bill provides that, if a person (such as a public utility or foreign transmission provider) condemns real property owned by a county, city, village, or town for the purpose of constructing a high-voltage transmission line, the county, city, village, or town is not eligible to receive the one-time environmental impact fee. Instead, the fees that counties, cities, villages, and towns are not eligible to receive under the bill are used as an additional source of funding for grants made by DOA under current law for low-income energy assistance.
The bill also provides that if a person acquires real property owned by a county, city, village, or town, other than by condemnation, for the purpose of constructing a high-voltage transmission line, at a price that exceeds the fair market value of the property, DOA must reduce the one-time environmental impact fee distributed to the county, city, village, or town by an amount equal to the amount by which the acquisition price exceeds the fair market value. Under the bill, the reductions in the fees are used as an additional source of funding for the low-income energy assistance grants mentioned above.
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