Ameren receives eminent domain authority to install major power line
“State regulators have granted Ameren Tranmission Co. eminent domain authority on two sections of a major power line planned across central Illinois.
A third request is pending, and others seem likely.
Members of the Illinois Commerce Commission voted 5-0 Thursday to allow use of eminent domain for about two dozen properties still needed along the proposed route between Meredosia and Ipava, west of Springfield.
Commissioners granted the authority for a similar number of parcels near Quincy by the same 5-0 vote in May. In each case, commissioners concluded Ameren Transmission had made a good-faith effort to acquire the power-line easements through negotiations.
Earlier this week, the company asked commissioners for the same authority on 10 properties for a standalone section near Champaign.
The $1 billion Illinois Rivers transmission line, www.ilriverstransmission.com/, would carry power from the Mississipi River near Quincy to the Indiana border at Terre Haute.
“When you have a project this big, there’s an increased likelihood you’re not going to reach agreement with a few landowners,” company spokesman Leigh Morris said. “It’s an option we’d prefer not to use if we don’t have to.””
Landis, Tim. State Journal Register 27 June 2014.