Eminent Domain, Condemnation, Appropriation and Takings: A Company Is Cramming a Pipeline that I Don’t Want Down my Throat
The above terms are frequently misused by both landowners and industry insiders. While their specific meanings are often misunderstood, the situation presented is usually as follows: “a pipeline company is trying to force me to have a pipeline that I don’t want.”
This issue is generally covered by the umbrella term of “eminent domain.” Eminent domain is the government’s power to take your property. The government derives their ability to take your property from the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” In lay terms this means that if the government pays you appropriately, they may take your property for public use.…