Recent events reinvigorate the “No Eminent Domain For Private Gain” campaign.
A moratorium on land grabbing
By
Sandy Lyon
I recently attended an “open house” in my hometown church only to learn that is was not open to me. Disconcerting though this was, somehow the experience and other recent events make me more optimistic than ever that people understand that we need more control over our electricity and our land, not less.
Here’s how I see it.
The American Transmission Company (carpet baggers, I call them) and its public relations firm, Wood Communications from Madison, put on the open house. These two profiteers are hell bent on justifying the construction of a 14-story tall, 345 kilovolt electric transmission line, slicing across the beautiful face of northwest Wisconsin to light up ugly car lots in Chicago. In order to build this monstrosity, the state must condemn the private land that lies in the line’s path with the use of eminent domain laws. The state takes the land and gives it to the company, paying landowners whatever the state deems suitable.
American Transmission Company (ATC) and Wood Communications had commandeered the Methodist Church in Spooner to hold its dog and pony show to convince the locals that the line would be “good for them.” My family has lived here for three generations; I’m definitely one of the locals. So when slick Wood Communications displays were set up in my church basement showing smiling Dr. Marcus Welby types, I came to set up a little card table with a checkered table cloth and a simple sign pronouncing "Arrowhead is Dead."
The transmission line would be 250 miles long and was not originally proposed by companies in Wisconsin. Canadian giant Manitoba Hydro first brought the plan to the drawing board back in 1997. Manitoba government documents show the connection between Manitoba Hydro’s flooded Cree Indian lands (the local people from up there) and Wisconsin’s proposed Arrowhead line. Those documents predate the forming of ATC and the “Power Up Wisconsin” slogan. They predate the so-called “energy crisis” in Wisconsin. Those documents show that the idea to sell large amounts of electricity to more profitable markets in southeast Wisconsin and Chicago came from Canada. Private, for-profit transmission line companies and politicians eager for bulk bucks now cast the idea as the only thing standing between blackouts and us.
I had read Citizens Utilities Board and Save Our Unique Lands (SOUL) testimony showing that there are cheaper, less damaging alternatives to supplying Wisconsin’s energy needs. I also knew ATC was trying to prevent real public hearings from being held on the “Wrong Line in the Wrong Place, Arrowhead.” As soon as I walked into the church basement, the head ATC carpetbagger, Mark Williamson, muttered, "Oh, Gawd, Sandy's here, we’ve got trouble!"
In addition to the poster, I was carrying paperwork from Canada showing how Manitoba Hydro had flooded Cree land there. I set up near the SOUL booth. SOUL had been invited to have a table but not to participate in a meaningful way. You remember: “Go sit in the corner and be quiet.”
Williamson charged over, waving his hands around, and raging about how there was not enough room for my information. He tried to keep me from setting up my display and then tried to throw me out.
I raised my voice while backing towards the Eau Claire TV camera. I even picked up my confirmation Bible and said, "Mark Williamson, you're not going to toss me out of my own church, now are you?"
For a moment it looked like some steadfast locals might tackle Williamson. Recognizing a PR loss, a Wood Communications employee jumped into the fray, getting Williamson to back off. The local press snatched up the story on my exchange with Williamson.
So, one person with a sign and Bible was able to mess up a press event that had cost ATC and Wood Communications a lot of time and money. Holding such an event is a sign that their project is in trouble. That the event could not withstand the pressure put on it by such a mild protest is a further proof that Arrowhead really is dead.
All of this has me thinking that it is time for a statewide moratorium on the use eminent domain for private gain, not just where the Arrowhead line is concerned, but one that applies to all homeowners and corporations throughout Wisconsin.
When the lights went out in New York, maybe a match was struck in Wisconsin.
Good, hardworking landowners all over the state are beginning to understand that private-for-profit transmission line companies will move onto anyone’s backyard in any neighborhood. A “No Land Grab Moratorium” movement now has a better chance than ever.
“No condemnation of our lands for private gain,” we say. It is time to stop this land grab and make the connection and mess up the power companies’ plans for all of our backyards. It is time for the people to give the power back to themselves.
August 31, 2003
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Sandy Lyon lives in Springbrook and is executive director of Anishinaabe Niijii/Protect The Earth.
