Editorial presents distorted view of eminent domain
“The Register’s editorial, on Dec. 7 [“Some must forefit land for utilities”], contending that some must forfeit land for utilities, and referencing the Bakken pipeline, presents a distorted view of eminent domain. You acknowledge that both the U.S. and Iowa Constitutions provide for the government to “take property for public use.” But it is quite a stretch for the Iowa Utilities Board to give the power of eminent domain to a private, for-profit, company that wants to move oil through Iowa on its way from North Dakota to Illinois. We are just a conduit along the route. Why should Dakota Access, LLC have government authority to “take” private property, even for just compensation? There is no “public use” for Iowa or Iowans. Dakota Access, LLC relies on the argument that we have money and will spend some of it in Iowa, including some good jobs for a year while we dig up your fields –some public benefit, perhaps, but hardly a public use.”
Hunter, Robert. The Des Moines Register 14 December 2014.