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Archive | 2023

June 8, 2023

The War Over Wind Farms

Wyoming has a range war going on.  It’s something out of a Zane Gray novel.  The problem is wind farms and transmission lines.  Wind and solar farms require exponentially more land than conventional power plants, and require an extensive buildout of thousands of miles of transmission lines to transport energy from wherever it is being produced at any given moment to where it is being consumed. A ranch owner described the experience of receiving a letter telling him that a company told him they were going to build a pipeline… read more

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Posted in Eminent Domain, Transmission Lines, Wind Farms
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June 1, 2023

Waters of the United States? Don’t Bet on It!

The United States Supreme Court handed down Sackett v Environmental Protection Agency on May 25, 2023. We had written about the case in Bulldozers at Your Doorstep several times. On May 2, 2023, we wrote, the question presented in Petitioners’ brief is, “Did the Ninth Circuit set forth the proper test for determining whether wetlands are ‘waters of the United States’ under the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1362(7)?” The logic of the designation is difficult to follow.  The property is across the street from Priest Lake, Idaho.  The… read more

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Posted in CWA, Navigable Waters, WOTUS
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May 30, 2023

We Are Taking Your House and Keeping the Change

Sometimes you truly wonder why a case has to be decided by the highest court in the land.  I mean the facts are so compelling; can there really be a legal issue? The Supreme Court handed down Tyler v Hennepin County, ____ US ____, (No. 22-166, May 25, 2023) last week.  The facts were that Geraldine Tyler, who was 94, owned a condominium that accumulated about $15,000 in unpaid real estate taxes along with interest and penalties.  Actually, the amount of unpaid taxes was $2,300.  The interest and penalties were… read more

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Posted in Fourteenth Amendment, Takings Clause, Tax Seizure
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May 16, 2023

You Can Move Your Team to Another City. But Good Luck with the Stadium.

So, the Oakland A’s are moving out of Oakland to Las Vegas.  The team’s owner also owns a half-interest in the in the Oakland Coliseum.  This is not good for the City of Oakland since he could block the future redevelopment of one of Oakland’s most valuable parcels. Meanwhile, Oakland officials, who want to see new housing and commercial development on the Coliseum property, in January entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement with African American Sports and Entertainment Group to eventually sell it the city’s half-interest in the site. AASEG… read more

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Posted in Eminent Domain, Sports Teams, Stadiums
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May 11, 2023

The Dodgers May Have Stolen More Than Second Base.

The New York Times wrote a story on May 7, 2023, “The Land Beneath This Stadium Was Theirs.  They Want It Back.” The article written by Jesus Jimenz states: Long before the Dodgers won their first World Series at Dodger Stadium in 1963 and Sandy Koufax tossed the team’s first perfect game in 1965, the land the ballpark was built on was home to hundreds of families living in communities called Palo Verde, La Loma and Bishop. Those neighborhoods and their residents were displaced in the 1950s by the city… read more

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Posted in Dodgers, Eminent Domain, Land-Back-Movement
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