Opinion ID: 1619439
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Necessity for Taking These Lands.

Text: Assuming that the Power Company has a right to condemn for the proposed facility, the owners claim that there is nevertheless no need for taking any interest in their land outside the exclusion area and that an easement is all that may be condemned as to lands within. In Czarnik v. Sampson Enterprises, Inc., 46 Wis.2d 541, 175 N.W.2d 487 (1970), it was said: [T]he general rule is that only such an estate in the property sought to be acquired may be taken as is reasonably necessary for the accomplishment of the purpose for which the proceeding is brought. In Klump v. Cybulski, supra, 274 Wis. at 613, the court said: . . . the company could take the fee title if it needed it. No reason is apparent why it could not take any interest less than that, as to which there is reasonable basis for a determination of necessity. The matter was put as follows at 26 Am. Jur.2d, Eminent Domain, sec. 133: In the absence of any definition of the estate which the grantee of the power is authorized to acquire or any limitations in the granting statute, no more property can be taken than the public use requires; this rule applies both to the amount of property and the estate or interest in such property to be acquired by the public. [14] It is admitted that under current plans no building, transmission line or other physical structure would be located on the Bauer and Falkner lands. A small corner of the Falkner property and a much larger part of the Bauer property fall within the exclusion area. The owners do not dispute here that the Company may condemn some interest in this property, but they claim an easement is enough. The Company contends, and the trial court found, that the Company needed complete control over the exclusion area, and that a fee interest was therefore appropriate. Exclusion area is defined by NRC regulation at 10 CFR, sec. 100.3 (a): `Exclusion area' means that area surrounding the reactor, in which the reactor licensee has the authority to determine all activities including exclusion or removal of personnel and property from the area. This area may be traversed by a highway, railroad, or waterway, provided these are not so close to the facility as to interfere with normal operations of the facility and provided appropriate and effective arrangements are made to control traffic on the highway, railroad, or waterway, in case of emergency, to protect the public health and safety. Residence within the exclusion area shall normally be prohibited. In any event, residents shall be subject to ready removal in case of necessity. Activities unrelated to operation of the reactor may be permitted in an exclusion area under appropriate limitations, provided that no significant hazards to the public health and safety will result. Neither the Bauers nor the Falkners reside within the exclusion area. Bauer testified that such part of his land as is within the exclusion area is used for growing hay and corn. Francis Falkner, a son of the Falkners who own the other land in question, testified that the part of it within the exclusion area is woods, used for no purpose other than gathering timber and so on. The trial court's basis for concluding that a fee interest rather than an easement was necessary within the exclusion area was some ambiguous testimony by Mr. Bauer to the effect that he would not voluntarily allow the Power Company to determine all activities within the area. The implication is that had Mr. Bauer evinced a more cooperative attitude on the witness stand a different result might have followed. We are of the opinion that the trial court rested its decision on an inadequate basis. The quantum of estate taken by the condemnor should not turn on the stated willingness of one owner to accede to the condemnor's unspecified future demands. Mr. Bauer was not the only owner of the property, and in any case, a mere statement by the owners that they would evacuate on demand is no guarantee that they would do so in fact. Nor could such a statement be expected to have any effect upon other persons who might be on the property at any given time with or without the owner's consent. Furthermore, if the owners' stated intent were controlling, every time the fee interest changed hands the utility would have to examine the new owners to learn their intentions and institute new proceedings to take the fee if their answers proved unfavorable. Nevertheless, we think the trial court's conclusion that an easement is insufficient should be sustained, but on a different basis. In the unlikely event that a serious nuclear accident occurred, the danger nearby might be extreme. Assuming that all persons on the land would comply with an order to evacuate, there still remains the problem of transmitting the order to them, and the question whether they could then leave quickly enough to avoid the danger which prompted issuance of the order. We think that the degree of control over the exclusion area contemplated by the regulation is such to make a fee interest therein appropriate. As evidence that an easement is sufficient the owners point out that 10 CFR sec. 100.3 (a) allows a fair amount of activity to go on within an exclusion area. However, these provisions follow the general requirement that the reactor licensee have the authority to determine all activities including exclusion or removal of personnel and property from the area. We have not found any administrative or judicial interpretation of this regulation. We think that under a reasonable construction of the rule, those of its provisions which permit certain activities in an exclusion area are not intended to detract from the utility's need for authority to determine all activities therein; the permitted activities are enumerated to identify what the utility may allow to be done within the area in the exercise of its authority. It is arguable that an easement literally complying with the requirement that the Power Company be given the authority to determine all activities in the exclusion area would leave so little right in the owners as to approach a fee title in the company. We conclude that as to the lands within the exclusion area the Power Company has a large measure of discretion in determining the area and estate of land it needs, and if it chose to fulfill the requirements of the federal regulation by acquiring the entire exclusion area in fee we cannot say that this discretion has been abused. As to lands outside the exclusion area, the only justification the Power Company offers is the detrimental effect thereon of operation of its cooling towers. The Company asserts that noise from the cooling tower fans and moisture released from the towers may result in complaints, and in claims that this was in effect a total taking of the property. Avoidance of such complaints and claims is offered as a reasonable basis for the taking. Francis J. Kripps. Northern States' Vice President of Power Supply, testified as to the adverse effects of cooling towers. He stated that the noise they produce would be a disturbance to people living or working nearby. The noise is from a large motor-driven fan in each cell of the towers, which pulls air through the cell and ejects it from the top. He testified that he has heard the noise from the towers at the Prairie Island (Minnesota) plant, that the noise drops off in intensity as one gets away from the tower, and that on a quiet night it would be a matter of two miles before one could not hear the noise at all. Kripps said the towers planned for the Tyrone facility could be compared to those at Prairie Island, but that you must necessarily make allowances for the difference in size of the towers. The Tyrone towers are to be approximately twice as large as those at Prairie Island. Kripps also testified as to the effect of moisture evaporating from the towers. About 650,000 gallons of water would evaporate per hour with one unit operating at full rated output. Kripps said that this moisture in some cases comes back down in the form of excess moisture other than would normally be in the atmosphere. During some conditions, this moisture actually freezes onto trees or structures or plants. He described a further effect: [T]hese droplets of moisture carry with them solids or salts and they deposit on the trees or buildings or plants on which the droplets fall. As to the range of the moisture effects, Kripps testified that at the Prairie Island plant he observed a vapor plume that arises from the towers and, under certain wind conditions, is carried back to the ground in the direction the wind is blowing. He testified that the plume does not extend to the same distance as the noise is audible. In his observations of the Prairie Island facility the plume disappeared within about a half mile of the tower, but approximately twice as much water will evaporate from the towers at the Tyrone plant. Kripps was then permitted to testify as to his opinion of the effects upon the Bauer and Falkner properties of the noise and moisture. Kripps' opinion was based upon his personal knowledge of the lands in question and the planned facility and his close observation of four other plants employing cooling towers, over the period since 1949. Kripps stated his opinion as follows: The effects will be an excessive amount of moisture on the property, on the trees, crops, buildings, under conditions of cold weather this will appear as ice formations. There will also be a certain amount of solids or salts deposited as this moisture is carried onto these properties, and there will be in my opinion an excessive amount of noise on particularly the Bauer property. [11] Although Kripps' testimony may be subject to challengeespecially as to the more remote sections of both the propertiesthe owners did not produce any contradictory evidence, and nothing in the record would render Kripps' testimony incredible as a matter of law. The probability of serious adverse effects upon the owners' property was sufficiently established to provide reasonable ground for the taking. The owners' contentions attacking necessity for condemnation of their lands cannot be sustained.