The Missouri Legislature's likeness to a murderous Roman senate took on new significance as the session expired on Friday. It also served to unmask a bunch of legislators with hidden agendas. Uncle Sigmund would be so proud!
Do the legislators who abandoned their constituents to carry the water of a Chicago-based company really think they can slip back into their sheep costume so quickly and nobody will notice? Not at all. The unmasking was effective and complete.
We all know that the senate "Conservative Caucus Republicans" rose up against the eminent domain bill for inexplicable reasons. Why? Nobody knows (but be sure to check campaign contributions and lobbyist reports later this summer). They stabbed it with their steely knives and they killed it dead.
But yet they still want their constituents to believe they are against eminent domain. Instead of explaining their actions, they choose to try to get back into character as a supporter of "property rights." Perhaps this will stick in your throat a bit, like it sticks in mine. Senator O'Laughlin seems quite proud that she prevented the use of eminent domain for the "Hyperloop." Because the hyperloop is experimental, highly expensive, uses private money, and is for benefit of people who want it, not everyone.
So let me get this straight... the hyperloop should not be granted eminent domain authority because it is experimental, highly expensive, uses private money, and is an elective project for benefit of voluntary customers.
What is Grain Belt Express? It's a first of its kind (experimental) interregional HVDC merchant transmission project. It's going to cost more than $2B to build, and will use money from private investors who will earn a healthy return on their investment. Its customers would be voluntary and rates would be negotiated in a free market.
Same thing. Exactly the same thing. GBE is an unnecessary, private-use highway that will be a huge money-maker for its owner.
Why should eminent domain be allowed for GBE when it is prohibited for the hyperloop? Hypocrites feel free to explain...
And now for the unmasking... while some Senators liked to pretend they were for private property rights and landowner interests, they flipped the heck out when they found out they had passed legislation requiring Invenergy to pay a 50% "heritage" premium on strips of land taken by eminent domain for the overhead transmission project. Slipped into a senate transportation bill, the legislation allowed county governments to make "heritage" designations of farms. Any so designated farm required an extra 50% premium on fair market value if it was taken by eminent domain. Consider this... GBE isn't taking entire properties, it's only taking a 200-ft. wide linear strip of land. It wants to pay for the "value" of just that strip of land, and not for the value lost on the entire farm. What GBE pays to take an easement is chump change. Why shouldn't it have to pay 50% more to compensate the owner for the compromised heritage value of the entire property? It actually sounds reasonable.
But the senate flipped out and called the bill back, squashing that idea. They called it "sneaky." Honestly, I think it's a lot sneakier to pretend you're for private property rights when you're actually working for an out-of-state company that wants to help itself to private property for the least cost. These legislators actually disrespect landowners so much that they can't make GBE pay a small premium to confiscate their property. They will let NOTHING get in the way of GBE taking your property cheaply so that it can build an extraneous transmission line for its own enormous profit.
When push came to shove, Missouri legislators chose Invenergy, instead of landowners, citizens, voters. Remember that in the voting booth.
So, what's next? Plenty of hurdles left on the field. Time to circle the wagons.
We all know that the senate "Conservative Caucus Republicans" rose up against the eminent domain bill for inexplicable reasons. Why? Nobody knows (but be sure to check campaign contributions and lobbyist reports later this summer). They stabbed it with their steely knives and they killed it dead.
But yet they still want their constituents to believe they are against eminent domain. Instead of explaining their actions, they choose to try to get back into character as a supporter of "property rights." Perhaps this will stick in your throat a bit, like it sticks in mine. Senator O'Laughlin seems quite proud that she prevented the use of eminent domain for the "Hyperloop." Because the hyperloop is experimental, highly expensive, uses private money, and is for benefit of people who want it, not everyone.
So let me get this straight... the hyperloop should not be granted eminent domain authority because it is experimental, highly expensive, uses private money, and is an elective project for benefit of voluntary customers.
What is Grain Belt Express? It's a first of its kind (experimental) interregional HVDC merchant transmission project. It's going to cost more than $2B to build, and will use money from private investors who will earn a healthy return on their investment. Its customers would be voluntary and rates would be negotiated in a free market.
Same thing. Exactly the same thing. GBE is an unnecessary, private-use highway that will be a huge money-maker for its owner.
Why should eminent domain be allowed for GBE when it is prohibited for the hyperloop? Hypocrites feel free to explain...
And now for the unmasking... while some Senators liked to pretend they were for private property rights and landowner interests, they flipped the heck out when they found out they had passed legislation requiring Invenergy to pay a 50% "heritage" premium on strips of land taken by eminent domain for the overhead transmission project. Slipped into a senate transportation bill, the legislation allowed county governments to make "heritage" designations of farms. Any so designated farm required an extra 50% premium on fair market value if it was taken by eminent domain. Consider this... GBE isn't taking entire properties, it's only taking a 200-ft. wide linear strip of land. It wants to pay for the "value" of just that strip of land, and not for the value lost on the entire farm. What GBE pays to take an easement is chump change. Why shouldn't it have to pay 50% more to compensate the owner for the compromised heritage value of the entire property? It actually sounds reasonable.
But the senate flipped out and called the bill back, squashing that idea. They called it "sneaky." Honestly, I think it's a lot sneakier to pretend you're for private property rights when you're actually working for an out-of-state company that wants to help itself to private property for the least cost. These legislators actually disrespect landowners so much that they can't make GBE pay a small premium to confiscate their property. They will let NOTHING get in the way of GBE taking your property cheaply so that it can build an extraneous transmission line for its own enormous profit.
When push came to shove, Missouri legislators chose Invenergy, instead of landowners, citizens, voters. Remember that in the voting booth.
So, what's next? Plenty of hurdles left on the field. Time to circle the wagons.
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