Bills target utilities on eminent domain, open records
” land-rights coalition wants to curb the power of Virginia’s public utilities and open company records to the Freedom of Information Act.
At the urging of the Augusta County Alliance, Sens. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, and Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, seek to repeal a 2004 state law that allows utilities to go onto private lands to conduct surveys without permission of property owners.
The issue is a volatile one, as Dominion Energy plans to run a large-gauge natural-gas pipeline across Virginia — much of it on private land.
Travis Geary, a leader in the Augusta uprising, accuses the state’s largest utility of “corporate overreach” and “flaunting eminent domain.””
Ward, Kenric. Watchdog.org 19 January 2015.