In a recent post, “Transmission Lines and Electricity Imports,” I wrote that I wouldn’t have a big problem with regional electric transmission lines if Dominion (or any other electric power company) purchased its rights of way through voluntary negotiations with the landowners whose land the transmission line crossed. My problem was Dominion’s use of eminent domain to compel people to settle.
Jim Norvelle, director of media relations for Dominion Resources Services, responds as follows: “We negotiate with individual property owners all the time. In fact, we have been successful 96 percent – 97 percent of the time in reaching an agreement with those landowners on transmission line rights of way. We only use our eminent domain authority as granted by the state as a last resort.”
I also stated that eminent domain recompenses the landowner for the right of way only, not the loss in value to the surrounding land, such as a farm or estate, when its viewshed is wrecked.
Norvelle responds: “True, the compensation does not cover what someone may perceive to be ‘visual blight.’ But in many hearings before the State Corporation Commssion on previous transmission lines we have successfully presented witnesses and studies that have shown any loss of property value is limited to about the first four years after the line is built. After that time the value returns to its pre-line level.”
Fair enough. Here are my follow-up observations.
(1) Negotiations may appear to be voluntary, but the threat of government-backed coercion lurks in the background. Surely, the power of eminent domain shifts the negotiating advantage to Dominion. I would hypothesize that many landowners would settle for less than they think they deserve knowing that Dominion can acquire the land through eminent domain anyway. They know they can push only so hard on price before the case gets turned over to the eminent domain litigators.
Furthermore, I would surmise, the burden of legal costs weights heavily. Landowners must pay the legal expenses spent negotiating or fighting eminent domain out of their own pockets. To them, the payments represent a dead loss. For Dominion, legal expenses are a cost of business. If the enterprise is regulated — Jim Norvelle, please tell me if I’m wrong — Dominion can incorporate the legal expenses into its rate base and be recompensed by rate payers.
(2) I’d like to see those witnesses and studies regarding visual blight. I can imagine that some properties — woodland, remote farm fields — may well return to pre-line level in time. But it’s hard to believe that properties where a line crosses the viewshed of a home or estate would ever recover their value.
