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House Bill Blocks Eminent Domain for Electric Transmission Lines

Rural landowners and utility companies, among others, debated personal property rights and the Grain Belt Express at a House committee hearing Monday afternoon.

The House bill proposes that private entities, like for-profit companies, cannot have eminent domain for the purpose of constructing electric transmission lines.

Marilyn O’Bannon is a landowner in Monroe County who suppo

rts the bill.

“I want you to think about the farmer out here. You’re not gonna lose just that easement, you’re gonna lose production of all the ground they come across.”

Opponents cited the need for cheaper energy in smaller, rural communities and the burden that is the current reliance on other peoples’ transmission lines.