Technical change turns to eminent domain battle
“A bill that began as a simple, technical change to a 19th-century statute has turned into a much bigger battle over whether the state should grant eminent domain rights to oil and petroleum companies.
Sponsors of Senate Bill 13-021 claim the bill would merely make a technical correction in state law to add petroleum to the list of the kinds of things that can go through a pipeline.
But the state law that would be changed in the bill currently grants eminent domain rights for pipeline right-of-ways to companies that act in the public interest, such as utilities like natural gas and electricity. The rights of eminent domain have never been granted to oil and petroleum companies. The bill also seeks to overturn a 2012 Colorado Supreme Court decision.
Since 1963, Sinclair Oil has had an easement for a six-inch high-pressure oil pipeline on lands owned by Donna and Ivar Larson of Johnstown. The pipeline carries about a million gallons of petroleum a day from Sinclair, Wyoming to Henderson, Colorado and eventually to Denver International Airport.
Ten years ago, the company sought an additional easement to install a 10-inch line that would carry two million gallons per day, a request the Larsons turned down in part because of safety concerns. The company then attempted to use its perceived power of eminent domain to obtain the land, and that led to a lawsuit. The case went all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court.
The potential that SB 21 may grant eminent domain rights to oil and petroleum companies got a chilly reception from House Majority Leader Dickey Lee Hullinghorst (D-Boulder).
Hullinghorst said this week the bill deals with major policy, not a technical revision to state law.
“I would be surprised if even Republicans supported eminent domain rights for private companiesthat’s pretty standard [and] non-partisan. Eminent domain is granted to the state” and to utilities. “I can’t imagine that would meet with much favor in the House.”
The question is whether the process is fair to both parties, he explained. “We have to set up a system where the 800-pound gorilla has every incentive to play fair with the little guy; they have lots of capital and lawyers and the little guy has nothing.”
To the battle the bill might face in the House, Brophy said it’s an area where there needs to be compromise and leadership. “This is a problem that needs to be solved.”
Goodland, Marianne. The Fort Morgan Times 15 February 2013.
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