5 ms·

Correct. It's also not just about the money, it also takes a lot of time and adds a large amount of uncertainty to a project. Not every owner is willing to comp

Correct. It's also not just about the money, it also takes a lot of time and adds a large amount of uncertainty to a project. Not every owner is willing to comply, causing an entire route to have to be reconsidered, which takes a lot of time. Eminent domain is pretty much never used, because judges (in my country) will pretty much always side with the property owner, unless the utility can proof that there's really no other way (which they almost never can). So on a 10km+ route with hundreds of properties, multiple municipalities or other public organizations and other utilities, this gets really complicated really quickly.

cmmeur01 4y ago
Eminent domain being “pretty much never used” is a bold face lie in the US. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2023/04/04/bullitt-county-judge-rules-against-bernheim-in-lge-pipeline-case/70080827007/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2023/04/04/bullitt... Here’s a story from this week where a gas company took land from a forest to build a pipeline that the previous and current landowners had no interest in selling to the gas company.
- donkeyd 4y ago
  I'm not in the US, hence me explicitly writing 'in my country', because I'm aware that more countries exist and that things aren't the same everywhere.
- markdown 4y ago
  That's so bizarre. In my country only the government can force you to sell them your land under eminent domain. Insane that in the US, companies can use eminent domain as well.
  - 1123581321 4y ago
    Much of the activity stems from a disastrous Supreme Court ruling a couple decades ago. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London A lot of farmland and lovely homes have been unprotected since. Many Americans wish for this case to be revisited (if they know about the case.)
    - ghaff 4y ago
      While Kelo was IMO a bad decision, it's also not the case that eminent domain is routinely exercised at low cost and effort in the US. Private property owners routinely block many types of development on their land and adjoining land. People like to decry NIMBYism all the time. I suspect building an interstate highway system in the US today would be effectively impossible. ADDED: And, in general, exercising eminent domain should be hard. One can simultaneously believe it should exist and have a lot of safeguards against exercising it.
      - eppp 4y ago
        Eminent domain for a public road is one thing. Forcibly taking land for a private company to make profits on is entirely different and not comparable. That is the part I object to the most.
      - markdown 4y ago
        > I suspect building an interstate highway system in the US today would be effectively impossible. The government should be able to take whatever land it needs for a highway, railway, etc. When we're talking about public infrastructure, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one landowner.

cmmeur01 4y ago

Eminent domain being “pretty much never used” is a bold face lie in the US. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2023/04/04/bullitt-county-judge-rules-against-bernheim-in-lge-pipeline-case/70080827007/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2023/04/04/bullitt... Here’s a story from this week where a gas company took land from a forest to build a pipeline that the previous and current landowners had no interest in selling to the gas company.

donkeyd 4y ago
I'm not in the US, hence me explicitly writing 'in my country', because I'm aware that more countries exist and that things aren't the same everywhere.
markdown 4y ago
That's so bizarre. In my country only the government can force you to sell them your land under eminent domain. Insane that in the US, companies can use eminent domain as well.
- 1123581321 4y ago
  Much of the activity stems from a disastrous Supreme Court ruling a couple decades ago. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London A lot of farmland and lovely homes have been unprotected since. Many Americans wish for this case to be revisited (if they know about the case.)
  - ghaff 4y ago
    While Kelo was IMO a bad decision, it's also not the case that eminent domain is routinely exercised at low cost and effort in the US. Private property owners routinely block many types of development on their land and adjoining land. People like to decry NIMBYism all the time. I suspect building an interstate highway system in the US today would be effectively impossible. ADDED: And, in general, exercising eminent domain should be hard. One can simultaneously believe it should exist and have a lot of safeguards against exercising it.
    - eppp 4y ago
      Eminent domain for a public road is one thing. Forcibly taking land for a private company to make profits on is entirely different and not comparable. That is the part I object to the most.
    - markdown 4y ago
      > I suspect building an interstate highway system in the US today would be effectively impossible. The government should be able to take whatever land it needs for a highway, railway, etc. When we're talking about public infrastructure, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one landowner.