Republicans allow land grab by power companies

This story that came to us over the summer shows just how tied to Coprorate (sic) America the GOPoo is.

New York's 2 senators - Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, both Democrats - helped expose a federal land grab that was going on in their state. The land grab was made possible by a law passed by the Republican-controlled Congress in 2005 that allowed private property to be seized by the federal government and given to private electric companies to build power lines.

At issue here is a planned 200-mile stretch of electric towers 150 feet tall going through scenic sections of upstate New York. I visited the Adirondack Mountains in 2005, and I was assured that New York state law protects the Adirondacks forever. Until the sun expands and forces us earthlings to resettle on another planet, the Adirondacks were supposed to be forever free from further construction. Although the power lines aren't planned for the Adirondacks, it makes me wonder whether they're safe anymore from the Bush regime's meddling, stinking arm.

In effect, the new law legalizes what would otherwise be an illegal abuse of federal eminent domain powers.

Not only would it allow land to be taken from private citizens but it also encroaches on land protected as scenic. The new power line is supposed to go up the Catskill Mountains and along the Delaware River, which is supposed to be under federal protection as a wild and scenic river.

The planned power line is not a government project for public use but is being built by New York Regional Interconnection, a private for-profit company.

To add injury to insult, the Department of Energy opted to hold its meeting about the new law way over in Rochester, some 130 miles from the nearest point along the proposed power line. Schumer criticized this as "bizarre and unfair."

Then again, probably everything about the new law is bizarre and unfair. It smacks of power companies being allowed (ooh...) to do what they want just because they're bigger than everyone else.

And there's also the story of a 60-year-old woman in Georgia who was strip-searched by police because she disagreed with power company goons who tried to put a power line on her farm. The woman's lawyer pointed out that power companies want people's farmland without having to pay for it. The attorney said of the power companies, "If anybody gives them any lip, they'll put you in jail." Georgia laws (like those in many states) give unfair preferential treatment to private utility companies who want to seize land.

In the Georgia case, the power company had hired its own deputy from the sheriff's department to intimidate local residents. So the deputy was really serving the power company rather than the community.

Among major corporations, utility companies are some of the worst. (I'm allowed to say that because I worked for a phone company.) They're usually monopolies, yet there's not only almost no regulation of what they do, but they also get special privileges from the government to abuse eminent domain. Utility companies are like the villain in 'Elmo In Grouchland': If they see something, it's theirs. If they touch something, it's theirs. If they think about something, it's theirs.

(Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0825706020070609;
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14161104/detail.html)