Is hidden agenda showing?

We were surprised last week to receive a press release from the Department of Environmental Quality announcing that Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. was going to be able to reroute its proposed transmission line in order to avoid an old Indian tepee site as well as to skirt a mapped wetland.

This change made perfect sense, of course, so why were we surprised?

Because back during the 2011 legislative session, when the governor was pushing for approval of House Bill 198 to expand corporate powers of eminent domain, the people of Montana were told that this was the ONLY way to keep the job-producing project alive.

We were told that the owners of the tie line could not change the route to accommodate the landowners’ requests for minor adjustments because it would have required them to start the DEQ permitting process all over again, at great cost to themselves and possibly resulting in loss of the project altogether.

This argument persuaded enough Republican legislators that the expanded authority for eminent domain for private companies passed the Legislature and was signed into law. HB-198 granted “public utility” status to companies like Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. that are actually operating in their own private interest, thus freeing them to condemn any private property (and private property rights) that stood in their way.

As we noted in our last editorial on this topic, it is easy to understand the motives of those who supported the bill. The mandate in Montana, just as in D.C., has been for politicians to create jobs. With limited tools to do that, this probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

But now we find out that — despite what we were told — the transmission line COULD be rerouted, after all. And no, it DIDN’T mean that Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. had to go back to square one and start the permitting process all over again.

It makes us feel that maybe someone was playing with a hidden agenda in Helena. Do you think that is possible?

Keep all this in mind, because it is likely that you will have a chance to vote to repeal House Bill 198 in November 2012. Signatures are being gathered now for Initiative Referendum 125. They only need to get 24,337 signatures to get the referendum on the ballot.

It should be easy to find that many supporters of property rights among Montana’s common-sense voters.