user: Q: Keystone XL pipeline is issue of property rights for some ranchers

He doesn’t want it to, and he’s even fought to stop it. It’s not a question of how much TransCanada pays him. He just doesn’t want strangers and heavy equipment tearing a 110-foot-wide gash through his land, cutting down trees and burrowing under the sand hills and pasture.

He worries that it could take years for the land to recover. And the pipeline, buried four or five feet deep, will be sitting in water, the same water that is part of the vast Ogallala aquifer and which lies so close to the surface that his pasture does not need to be irrigated. He worries that a spill or leak will spread because the soil is so porous.

“I worry about what they will do to the tall cottonwoods and what they will do to this view,” he said, “and the beauty of it is irreplaceable.”

But Harter, like thousands of other landowners, doesn’t have much choice. Two days earlier, Harter had been in court trying to stop TransCanada, which had asked a judge to let it exercise eminent domain and force Harter to give it access to his land.

The Keystone XL pipeline has reignited the emotional issue of eminent domain — the taking of private property for public use — all along its proposed route. The vast majority of landowners have signed agreements with TransCanada, the pipeline owner. But where necessary, the Calgary-based company is busy going to state courts to exercise eminent domain and lining up rights to cross properties throughout the Great Plains — even though the State Department and Obama administration are still weighing whether to give TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline a permit to cross the U.S.-Canadian border.

The reason: The company has warehoused nearly $2 billion worth of steel pipe and other supplies. If the Obama administration gives it the nod, TransCanada wants to get to work quickly. Now Harter has a warehouse’s worth of anger and despondency.

“I found out that they have more rights to my property than I do,” he said. “It makes me very angry when I paid for it, paid the mortgage on it and take care of it.”

People across the United States have been forced to make way for power lines, sidewalks, telephone poles, pipelines and other projects. In a 2005 case, the Supreme Court in a 5-to-4 ruling said that local governments could even force property owners to sell out to make way for private economic developments if officials felt that it would benefit the public.

The case, Kelo v. City of New London, became a rallying point for conservatives and others who said the ruling violated the Fifth Amendment prohibition against the taking of property except for “public use.” In a dissenting opinion, then-Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote the ruling meant that the “specter of condemnation hangs over all property.”
What are the most important parts of this text?

A: The Keystone XL pipeline has reignited the emotional issue of eminent domain — the taking of private property for public use — all along its proposed route.


Q: I Got A Really Big One!

The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails Thunderbird RV Resort in Monroe, Washington. My scheduled departure date is July 20th.

Mary is dealing with her over-flowing to-do list plate which can only be handled by herself. The construction of Mary’s rental continues along…slowly. She now is hoping to rejoin me by early September.

Today’s subject…I Got A Really Big One!

While in town yesterday I stopped at Goodwill looking for used books. Because of their larger size and weight, I generally do not buy hardbacks unless they are unique and yesterday I found one. It’s 934, 8.5×11 pages, 2 1/8 inches thick and weighs in at a whopping 7.5 pounds!

I’m a Civil War history buff and have been to many of the battlefields back on the east coast. Here’s the cover indicating that it has nearly 4,000 images…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Here’s what the typical inside pages look like…

The book is absolutely the Civil War book I’ve ever read…and I’m only 67 pages into it! I just love the old black and white photos of times past that will never occur again.

The first 35 pages of the book tells the story of where the Civil War started…in Charleston, South Carolina…and the location of Forts Moultrie and Sumter where the first shot of the Civil War occurred. I was in Charleston on May 10, 2007. Here’s three photos…

To see the other 15 photos in my Picasa web album, click the below photo…

To read about Charleston, South Carolina, click this link…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston,_South_Carolina

Tomorrow I’ll show the Fort Moultrie photos and the following day…Fort Sumter.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

Yesterday was a cloudy/sunny and 73 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy with a shower and 77 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Washington. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2015
What are the most important parts of this text?

A:

assistant: The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails Thunderbird RV Resort in Monroe, Washington. My scheduled departure date is July 20th. Mary is dealing with her over-flowing to-do list plate which can on...