Iowa GOP lawmakers propose limits on eminent domain, Rock Island Clean Line
“Three eastern Iowa legislators say they will co-sponsor bills to strengthen Iowans’ private property rights by limiting the taking of private property through the use of eminent domain to “public use” purposes.
The target of their legislation is the Rock Island Clean Line, a $2 billion, 500-mile overhead direct current transmission line that would deliver electricity generated by wind turbines in northwest Iowa to deliver 3,500 megawatts of wind power from northwest Iowa to communities in Illinois and other states to the east that have little wind power potential but a strong demand for clean, reliable energy.
In proposing the legislation, Rep. Walt Rogers, R- Cedar Falls, called private property rights “critically important to our way of life.”
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Lynch, James. National WInd Watch 10 January 2014.
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