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Eminent domain issue draws six pre-files Four bills in House, two in Senate; all restrict use of power; one bill also would extend it for developing O&G resources Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Bills pre-filed for the second session of the 24th Alaska Legislature include six prohibiting exercise of eminent domain for economic development. Eminent domain is the power to take private property for public use by government with just compensation.
Four of the eminent domain bills are in the House and two are in the Senate.
One of the bills, however, would make a specific exception for development of the state’s oil and gas resources.
Current state law provides that right of eminent domain may be exercised for public uses including uses authorized by the U.S. government, public buildings and grounds for state use and other public uses authorized by the Legislature, public buildings and grounds for the use of organized or unorganized boroughs, cities, towns, villages, school districts or other municipal divisions. Eminent domain may also be exercised for canals, aqueducts, flumes, ditches or pipes conducting water, heat or gas for the use of local inhabitants, for raising the banks of streams, removing obstructions and widening, deepening or straightening channels, and for roads, streets and alleys.
Eminent domain may be exercised for facilities such as wharves, docks, piers, ferries, bridges, private roads, railroads, canals and pipes for public transportation or for supplying mines and farming neighborhoods with water, draining and reclaiming land, for floating logs and lumber on non-navigable streams and for reservoirs to collect and store water.
There is an extensive list of mine-related uses of eminent domain, which can also be exercised for private roads leading to highways, for telephone and telegraph lines, sewerage, tramway lines, electric power lines and for “location of pipelines for gathering, transmitting, transporting, storing, or delivering natural or artificial gas or oil or any liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons, including, but not limited to, pumping stations, terminals, storage tanks, or reservoirs, and related installations.” Economic development prohibited The bills pre-filed for this session would all prohibit use of eminent domain for “economic development,” an issue of concern since private property in the Lower 48 has been condemned to allow private development which benefits the tax rolls of the entity condemning the property.
House Bill 317, by Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage, would prohibit “the exercise of eminent domain by the state and by its home rule and general law municipalities for the purpose of economic development” and would also repeal “the authority of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation under the Slum Clearance and Redevelopment Act to exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire real property.”
Lynn’s bill provides that “eminent domain may not be exercised for the purpose of promoting economic development or to acquire land as part of an economic development project.” Economic development is defined as “an activity intended primarily to increase a municipality’s tax revenue, expand a municipality’s property tax base, create new jobs or retain existing jobs in a municipality, or improve the overall economic vitality of a municipality.” One proposal excludes parks HB 318, by Rep. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, and co-sponsored by Reps. Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage, Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak/MatSu, Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, Peggy Wilson, R-Wrangell, Vic Kohring, R-Wasilla, Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Kodiak, Nancy Dahlstrom, R-Anchorage and Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks, broadens the restriction by specifying that “the right of eminent domain may not be exercised for the purpose of promoting economic development or to acquire land as part of an economic development project,” but also says that if property is the “primary residence of the owner of the property, the right of eminent domain may not be exercised for the purpose of developing a recreational facility or project, including a park, natural resource use area, trail or pedestrian pathway, greenbelt, access to a wilderness area, amusement park, small boat facility, personal use fishery, sports facility, playground, or infrastructure or other facility related to or in support of an indoor or outdoor recreational facility or project.”
HB 337, by Rep. Jim Holm, R-Fairbanks, specifies that the right of eminent domain may not be exercised to acquire land for the purpose of “transferring the land to a private landowner; ... increasing property tax income or other revenue to the state or a municipality; ... creating jobs; or ... creating or expanding economic development.”
Senate Bill 221, by Sen. Ralph Seekins, R-Fairbanks, is the Senate version of HB 337.
SB 205, by Sen. Con Bunde, R-Anchorage, specifies that “the right of eminent domain may not be exercised for the purpose of promoting economic development or to acquire land as part of an economic development project.” Croft proposes use for oil and gas HB 319, by Rep. Eric Croft, D-Anchorage, while it would prohibit “the exercise of eminent domain to acquire property for transfer to a private person” would specifically authorize “the exercise of the power of eminent domain for the purpose of developing the state’s oil and gas resources.”
Croft’s bill proposes that gas and oil be added to existing rights for entry “and the right to take from the earth, gravel, stones, trees and timber as may be necessary for a public use.”
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