Gas company tries abusing eminent domain

Eminent domain refers to the power of government to force a property owner to sell property to make way for public projects like roads. As controversial as this practice is, it's worse when governments force you to sell property just so it can be turned over to a developer for a private project.

But now powerful corporations are using eminent domain outright - as if they're the government.

A for-profit natural gas company has filed an eminent domain suit against 77 landowners in Ohio to take their property for a new pipeline. The pipeline will be run by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, an Enron spinoff involved in over 30 major pipeline accidents nationwide, including explosions in which passersby were burned alive.

So now corporations get government powers? BushAmerica really is the complete model of corporatism, isn't it?

I'd think that under any real legal theory, what the (ppphh!) gas company is trying to do would be viewed as illegal. Under the Constitution, the government has to provide just compensation to take property even for public use. Many states have tried to reform the abusive practice of government taking property for private use. (Reportedly, Ohio passed new laws to this end, but these laws are ignored.)

While the Constitution says public agencies may take land for public use if they provide fair compensation, where does it say private corporations can take land for private use at all? Even if statutes give corporations this right, I don't see how it can pass constitutional muster.

When an unelected corporation can come along and take your property, that's a sure sign the laws have gone too far in Big Business's favor.

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story.aspx?content_id=3e1e6e7a-6a33-44eb-b5e9-5f3e5aa6e7a0)