TX woman having property taken by foreign company, eminent domain.

[madfloridian]

Run time: 03:21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0ZzOkRU48Y   Posted on YouTube: March 08, 2011 By YouTube Member: NWFblogs Views on YouTube: 511   Posted on DU: January 10, 2013 By DU Member: madfloridian Views on DU:

 
That's seems to be what's happening in Texas right now. That's what Eleanor Fairchild was doing in October when she was arrested on her own property for protesting TransCanada’s construction of its Gulf Coast tar-sands pipeline.

But she had been fighting this intrusion on her property for a while. This video was uploaded March 2011. Here is more from October this year when she and Darryl Hannah were arrested.

http://grist.org/news/texas-grandmother-arrested-for-trespassing-on-her-own-land-to-protest-keystone/">Texas grandmother arrested for trespassing on her own land to protest Keystone

Who’s Eleanor Fairchild? No one you’ve heard of. The important part isn’t who she is, it’s why she was arrested and where she was when it happened. Fairchild was arrested for trespassing. And when it happened, she was standing on her own property.

.."The pipeline being built is the last stretch of a connection from Alberta to the Gulf Coast. After the government signed off on construction, TransCanada moved quickly to secure right-of-way. In the process, it has faced strong resistance from landowners. Even some who signed lease deals with TransCanada believe the company misrepresented its intent. And when landowners wouldn’t sign deals, TransCanada successfully persuaded Texas to seize private land for the project.

That’s exactly what happened to Fairchild. According to TarSandsBlockade.org, Fairchild “never signed a contract with the Canadian pipeline company, who, in turn, proceeded to expropriate her ranch through Texas’ lax eminent domain legal proceedings.” In the eyes of the state of Texas, the land, condemned, isn’t Fairchild’s. Fairchild seems justifiably inclined to disagree.

Please note the company's statement about their arrest. They referred to out-of-state activists who were choosing to break the law.

“It is unfortunate Ms. Hannah and other out-of-state activists have chosen to break the law by illegally trespassing on private property,” David Dodson, a spokesman for TransCanada, said in an email. He also said protesters were “putting their own safety and the safety of others at risk.”

I know this has been written about here before, but I ran across this video of Eleanor Fairchild and her fight to keep her land. She mentions that 87 acres of her land will no longer be accessible to her.

Kudos to her for trying.

There is a good post in the comments section. Seems once again the world is watching.

We read about you in the big national papers in Sweden, Europe, and I think that you are such a brave woman!

[Divine Discontent]

1. brave lady, indeed. very aggravating what she's had to endure.

getting arrested for protesting, on your own land, is laughable! more power to her!

[No Elephants]

2. The power of government to take private property by eminent domain is older than the U.S.

Once it is taken, it belongs to government, not to the former owner.

The concept is that government would not take it for any reason but the common good; and would pay a fair price for it. Neither of those things is still true, if they ever were true in any way other than pure theory.

BTW, the most famous eminent domain case in the U.S., Kelo v. New London (Connecticut) involved a taking for purposes of allowing a pharmaceutical company to take land in a blighted area to build something new there. The property owner challenged on the ground that is not taking land for a public purpose, for which eminent domain is supposed to be used, but a taking for a private purpose. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London

The majority opinion was written by one of the most liberal Justices ever to sit on the Supreme Court, Stevens (appointed by a Republican President to whom Stevens was a great disappoint, much as Eisenhower rued nominating Earl Warren). Joining Stevens in the majority were Justices Kennedy, David Souter (another disappointment to a Republican President), Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

Not what I would have expected.