Monday, September 17, 2012

Property Rights Trampled by iPhone!


In the article, “Keystone XL developer can run oil pipeline across northeast Texas farm, judge rules”, that is posted on the Blog, "Lone Star Strong",  the debate over property rights continues. A county judge makes a ruling (via iPhone) that condemns some private land in Paris, Texas, and states that TransCanada is a common carrier, thus giving them eminent domain over the land in order to build the pipeline on it. The landowner is appealing the decision with the state.

This article is a must read because it has to deal with the Bill of Rights, and specifically the Fifth Amendment. This is a tough one though, on one hand we want to respect ones property rights, and on the other hand, we need solutions to high fuel prices; plus this project would employ many people. We import most of our oil from Canada, and it would be more efficient to transfer it for refining, via this pipeline. We want to be fair with respect to property rights, and the article doesn’t say how much money the landowner is being offered for the property in question, but the landowner wants to keep the property, so it sounds like this landowner may be getting treated unfairly.
 
What do you think?

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