Real Estate & Property Law

Kentucky Board Treats City Government Better Than Local Farmers

By Alan Ackerman

In Henderson, the city government objected to the planned construction of a power transmission line near a fire station. The transmission company purchased the fire station, allowing the city to build a new one elsewhere. Local farmers did not get such a good deal. The Kentucky State Board on Electric Generation Siting refused to consider the effect on farmers' operations. Thus, while farmers will get some compensation, they will have to grant the company easements on their fields, which will make farming much more difficult.

Evansville Courier & Press  

The planned line initially met stiff opposition from the city of Henderson, including Henderson Water Utilities and Henderson Municipal Power and Light. They were concerned with how the high-voltage line could affect a nearby planned city wastewater treatment plant expansion, two cemeteries and a HMP&L electrical substation.

Vectren and the city settled the dispute in October with a deal that involves slightly rerouting the transmission line, requiring Vectren to purchase the city's Fire Station No. 4 on U.S. 41-Alternate to make room for it. The city will build a new fire station to replace that facility.

Some farmers voiced concerns about the permanent hazards that transmission lines present to large-scale row-cropping operations, such as poles presenting new physical obstacles in their fields; the overhead high-voltage wires posing electrical safety concerns when 100-foot-wide crop sprayers enter fields with their booms folded upright; and disruption of tractors' GPS systems.

The siting board, in its order, acknowledged those concerns. "However, the effects of the transmission line siting on their ability to farm their properties is not a factor which the board may consider in determining whether to grant or deny the application for a non-regulated transmission line," it stated in its order Tuesday.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on January 17, 2011 (boomark / email).