CommStock Report
“U.S. transportation and energy infrastructure systems were often built with use of eminent domain. The power to appropriate private property for purposes considered to be a public use was frankly, necessary in order to build the highways, bridges, pipelines and power transmission lines, ports and airports that commerce depends on today. It is a federal power stemming from the U.S. Constitution that has been adopted and implemented by all the states. In Iowa, the authority to grant eminent domain power to infrastructure projects rests with the Iowa Utilities Board. Now if the state of Iowa was building a new road, the power of eminent domain to acquire the property is a given. What we are seeing, however, is private companies who wish to build power transmission lines and oil pipelines seek use of public domain power to acquire the needed easements through private property.
The Register quoted Rob Hillesland, a spokesman for the Iowa Utilities Board who said, “Companies planning pipeline projects have the right to ask the board to approve the use of eminent domain for parcels where they have been unable to secure voluntary easements. The board says it typically asks a utility to secure as many voluntary easements as possible before submitting a formal petition seeking the right of eminent domain.””
Kruse, David. The Daily Reporter 11 September 2014.