Opinion ID: 1619439
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: authority to condemn for stated purpose

Text: [2] The owners claim that no statute authorizes Northern States Power to condemn their land for construction of its power plant. The power of eminent domain is an attribute of sovereignty which no private corporation may exercise except to the extent that the right has been delegated to it by the legislature. Wisconsin Water Co. v. Winans, 85 Wis. 26, 39, 54 N.W. 1003 (1893). The Northern States Power Company bases its power of condemnation on sec. 32.02, Stats. 1973: The following . . . corporations may acquire by condemnation any real estate and personal property appurtenant thereto or interest therein which they have power to acquire and hold or transfer to the state, for the purposes specified, in case such property cannot be acquired by gift or purchase at an agreed price: . . . (6) Any Wisconsin corporation furnishing gas, electric light or power to the public, for additions or extensions to its plant. It is undisputed that we are dealing with a Wisconsin corporation furnishing electric power to the public. However, the owners claim that plant as used in the statute refers to a single existing facility for generating electricity and that the statute allows condemnation only to expand or extend that facility, not to construct an entirely new unit at a different location. The statute applies, they say, only to properties abutting a present plant. The owners point out that condemnation statutes are to be strictly construed. Herro v. Natural Resources Board, 53 Wis.2d 157, 171, 192 N.W.2d 104 (1971), and cases cited. The Company argues that the plant of any utility is its entire physical plant consisting of dams, generating stations, transmission lines and all of the complex network of property, both real and personal that becomes the entire system. [3] Where non-technical words used in a statute are not specifically defined they are to be given their ordinary and accepted meaning, and this meaning may be ascertained from a recognized dictionary. Town of Lafayette v. City of Chippewa Falls, 70 Wis.2d 610, 619, 235 N.W.2d 435 (1975); Edelman v. State, 62 Wis.2d 613, 620, 215 N.W.2d 386 (1974). Webster's New International Dictionary (3d ed.) lists a number of definitions of the word plant. Some are supportive of the owners' position: a factory or workshop for the manufacture of a particular producta piece of equipment or a set of machine parts functioning together for the performance of a particular operation. Other definitions are more consistent with the Company's argument: the land, buildings, machinery, apparatus, and fixtures employed in carrying on a trade or a mechanical or other industrial business. the total facilities available for production or services in a particular country or place. the physical equipment of an institution. In ascribing a meaning to the word plant as here used, it is settled that the word is to be considered in its context within the statutory section as a whole. Omernik v. State, 64 Wis.2d 6, 11, 12, 218 N.W.2d 734 (1974). A court will always reject an unreasonable construction of a statute where a reasonable construction appears, and this is so notwithstanding that the statute is to be strictly construed. Id.; Volunteers of America v. Industrial Comm., 30 Wis.2d 607, 616, 617, 141 N.W.2d 890 (1966); Guse v. Industrial Comm., 189 Wis. 471, 476, 205 N.W. 428, 208 N.W. 493 (1925). [4] We think the owners' construction cannot be maintained. The wording of the statute suggests either that plant is used in the broad sense, or that all electric utilities have but one generating facility. The latter is obviously incorrect. Nor does any rational basis appear for allowing condemnation to expand existing plants but not to create new ones. The result contended for by the owners would be unreasonable, and we find no indication in the statute that it was intended. Sec. 32.02 (6), Stats. 1973, empowers public utilities to condemn land for construction of an electrical generating station whether or not such station abuts any of its existing buildings or facilities.