Farm groups in Kansas are urging the state legislature to adopt a bill to stop utilities from using the power of eminent domain for construction of solar farms in the state.
Some opponents want legislators to go even further by prohibiting utilities using eminent domain to build huge transmission lines. The Kansas Senate Utilities Committee heard the bill this week, a measure that wants to copy how eminent domain cannot be used to build wind farms.
One farmer who testified, Rochelle Smart said her family’s land is being taken by eminent domain for a transmission line and she wants such a power to be banned as well. She charged that companies have been allowed to “bully” landowners.
“These power lines go directly through the middle of our farms and ranches,” Smart said. “This is vital land to our operations.”
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