3 Factors that Impact Eminent Domain for Transmission Lines.

According to SMU law professor James Coleman the following 3 reasons make eminent domain for transmission lines more challenging:

• “more environmental reviews
• more governments with veto power
• more restrictions on the use of eminent domain.”

Why does this matter?

• to move away from coal and natural gas, renewable energy has to be moved on transmission lines
• this requires new transmission lines to the site generating renewable energy 
• 2 major renewable transmission lines are in lengthy legal battles ( 780-mile Grain Belt Express that would connect wind energy-rich Kansas to Indiana, to the 520-mile SunZia line that would stretch from New Mexico to Arizona)

Are industry analysts concerned? Yes. “Power lines have actually provoked more political controversy than pipelines,” said Ryan Driskell Tate, an analyst at Global Energy Monitor, a non-governmental organization that catalogs fossil fuel infrastructure.

Forbes | Activists Not Only Slow Oil Pipelines, But Also Power Lines Needed For Renewable Energy