There should be no eminent domain for private gain

“The main purpose for the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s approval process of the certificate of public convenience and necessity is to determine the need for American Transmission Company’s Badger Coulee Line. At the PSC’s hearing, it must be proven that the need for the high-tension power line is so great that it justifies granting ATC the authority to condemn private property and take the land it needs under “eminent domain.”

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, “No person shall be denied life, liberty or property without due process of the law …” And Wisconsin statute 32.06(5) states, “Right-to-take-Action, provides that a private property owner may challenge a taking for any reason other than just compensation.” In the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision of July 13, 2013, it states: “The challenge to ATC’s condemnation … ‘is not a meaningless exercise swallowed up in the compensation process,’ but a property owner’s assertion to protect his or her rights.””

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Conway, Pat. Jackson County Chronicle 5 February 2014.