Eminent Domain threatens Missouri
Donation protected
Eminent Domain Abuse & Corporate Greed Threaten Missouri Farmers.
If Missouri family farmers don't want to sell their land, does that give Ameren and its shell corporations the right to just steal it? Over 350 farmers don't want to lose their land, their living, their way of life, and--quite literally--their roots. Eminent domain is a power that government has used to buy up blighted areas with boarded-up buildings so that they can be revitalized--
This is not a teardown in an abandoned neighborhood--it's family land. It's a way of life. And if it's not for sale, greedy corporations shouldn't be able to get the government to "condemn" it with cronyism, back room deals, and phony promises of jobs & progress.
Over 350 Missouri Farmers face losing the right of self-determination on their land and over 55,000 acres of productive land are at risk of being destroyed by Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI), an out-of-state shell company created by Ameren Corporation.
ATXI plans to profit by chopping through our privately-owned properties with a transmission line.
Your donation will enable us to save our homes and farms that are currently at risk. Help stop the corporate use of Eminent Domain.
The transmission line would cut straight through this productive family farm.
Who We Are
Neighbors United is a grass-roots community group of concerned citizens and landowners in Northeast Missouri (Adair, Schuyler, Marion, Knox, & Shelby counties) whose communities are being affected by ATXI’s blatant abuse of eminent domain.
What We’re Fighting
ATXI is abusing the principle of eminent domain by claiming this project would benefit Missouri while in fact nearly 100% of the power will be sent out-of-state.
ATXI is pushing this unnecessary project to earn 12.38% on the $224 million cost to build the line as part of a federal incentive program (Federal Energy Regulation Commission Order 1000). The project is unnecessary as existing lines could have been used with minimal impact to landowners and to the environment.
Why We’re Fighting
ATXI has been misrepresenting the facts in writing and during public meetings to take advantage of a rural community with limited resources. While ATXI would profit by destroying our land to build a new line, they would not make nearly as much money by simply upgrading existing lines to do the same job. The easements offered by ATXI grant the company exclusive rights to the entire parcel of land as well as all adjoining parcels, taking advantage of the principles of eminent domain for private greed - and giving them freedom to use our farms as they please - indefinitely. Profit to be made from exploiting our land drives this project.
YOU CAN STOP OUR LAND FROM BEING DESTROYED
Missouri has weak landowner protection legislation, which means that it is up to our community to protect this land. Winning this battle will set an important precedent for landowners everywhere when it comes to corporate greed and eminent domain. This is our farmland. If ATXI takes it - we will never get it back. A farmer’s land IS his 401K. The route viciously cuts through 55,000 acres of land that some families have owned for over 100 years.
We are currently caught up in an expensive legal battle to keep what is rightfully ours. We need to raise $40,000 to be able to keep fighting ATXI. Our small community has raised over $120,000 on our own and we need this last bit to get us to the next stage of the fight. Please help us in any way that you can.
Your contribution - whatever size - would send the message: “No, ATXI, you can’t walk over Missouri Farmers to make your profits.”
This productive persimmon grove on a family Century Farm in Shelby County is in the path of the line.
This affects YOU
ATXI and other companies within the energy corridor add the costs for these unnecessary projects to your electric bill. In this case, Missouri ratepayers will pay for this and other lines, along with users from Wisconsin to Louisiana, with an increase in charges on their monthly bill. An upgrade to existing lines would cost much less and will save our farms.
Right now it’s Missouri, but tomorrow they could come for your land.
Emissions from the lines that would be forced onto our properties are classified by the World Health Organization as a (Class 2B) carcinogen - in the same class as lead.
A multitude of studies link these lines to an increased risk of childhood leukemia (citation at end).
The line will interrupt farming practices by draining batteries underneath in farm equipment, eliminating weed control options on some farms, and rendering large areas of productive land completely useless. The route dissects farms when existing rights-of-way are mere feet away. It was designed without legitimate input from residents or lawmakers.
Emissions from these lines interfere with the operation of pacemakers. Many affected landowners are elderly and depend on these life-saving devices.
Farmers’ life savings are tied up in their land. The transmission line would diminish property values significantly, undermining a lifetime of hard work.
Only 180 temporary jobs would be created by building the transmission line. The majority of these jobs will be filled by specially trained, out-of-state laborers - meanwhile permanently destroying the jobs in and viability of over 350 area farms.
Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the regulatory agency that approved this line, is comprised of the 98 energy agencies that they are meant to be regulating!
We believe that under the MO Right to Farm Act, ATXI does not have the authority to take productive farm land out of use. 58% of the proposed route diagonally cuts farms and crosses over ponds. In their home state of Illinois, however, ATXI minds property lines.
ATXI’s transmission project was in-part justified by compliance with the EPA Clean Power Act - an Act that was blocked by the Supreme Court in February, 2016.
Please support us as we fight this horrible injustice and help us to save our farm land.
The line would uproot all these trees and make this land useless.
—————
OTHER WAYS TO HELP
Join our Facebook Page and share our story with your online community.
Contact the Missouri Public Service Commission and let them know you oppose ATXI’s “Mark Twain” Transmission Project. Contact: [email redacted].gov. Reference case # EA-2015-0146.
Call Missouri Legislators to voice your opposition to ATXI’s “Mark Twain” Transmission Project and the use of eminent domain for corporate gain, and ask for landowner protection legislation to be passed.
Spread the Word about what is going on by writing a letter to your newspaper or television station and informing your community.
If you line in an affected county, Meet with your County Commissioners to let them know why you oppose this project. Commissioners in all five affected counties (Adair, Schuyler, Shelby, Marion and Knox) have written formal resolutions opposing ATXI’s “Mark Twain” Transmission Project. Call and thank them for their support!
Join Our Group by emailing [email redacted] to receive updates as the fight unfolds.
Make a Donation Through this Site or by Mailing a Check in any amount to:
Neighbors United
PO Box 583
Kirksville MO 63501
Thank you so much for your support.
——————
Citations
Draper, G. British Medical Journal, June 4, 2005; vol 330: pp 1290-1295. Dickinson, H.O. British Medical Journal, June 4, 2005; vol 330: pp 1279-1280. Heather Dickinson, PhD, principal research associate, Center for Health Services Research, University of Newcastle, England. John E. Moulder, PhD, professor and director of radiation biology, department of radiation oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
Childhood leukemia and personal monitoring of residential exposures to electric and magnetic fields in Ontario, Canada. Green LM1, Miller AB, Agnew DA, Greenberg ML, Li J, Villeneuve PJ, Tibshirani R. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10454069
Adult Cancers Near High-voltage Overhead Power Lines.
Elliott, Paul a; Shaddick, Gavin b; Douglass, Margaret a; de Hoogh, Kees a; Briggs, David J. a; Toledano, MireilleB. aEpidemiology. 24(2):184-190, March 2013.
AN: 00001648-201303000-00002.
Background: Extremely low-frequency magnetic fields are designated as possibly carcinogenic in humans, based on anepidemiologic association with childhood leukemia.
If Missouri family farmers don't want to sell their land, does that give Ameren and its shell corporations the right to just steal it? Over 350 farmers don't want to lose their land, their living, their way of life, and--quite literally--their roots. Eminent domain is a power that government has used to buy up blighted areas with boarded-up buildings so that they can be revitalized--
This is not a teardown in an abandoned neighborhood--it's family land. It's a way of life. And if it's not for sale, greedy corporations shouldn't be able to get the government to "condemn" it with cronyism, back room deals, and phony promises of jobs & progress.
Over 350 Missouri Farmers face losing the right of self-determination on their land and over 55,000 acres of productive land are at risk of being destroyed by Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI), an out-of-state shell company created by Ameren Corporation.
ATXI plans to profit by chopping through our privately-owned properties with a transmission line.
Your donation will enable us to save our homes and farms that are currently at risk. Help stop the corporate use of Eminent Domain.
The transmission line would cut straight through this productive family farm. Who We Are
Neighbors United is a grass-roots community group of concerned citizens and landowners in Northeast Missouri (Adair, Schuyler, Marion, Knox, & Shelby counties) whose communities are being affected by ATXI’s blatant abuse of eminent domain.
What We’re Fighting
ATXI is abusing the principle of eminent domain by claiming this project would benefit Missouri while in fact nearly 100% of the power will be sent out-of-state.
ATXI is pushing this unnecessary project to earn 12.38% on the $224 million cost to build the line as part of a federal incentive program (Federal Energy Regulation Commission Order 1000). The project is unnecessary as existing lines could have been used with minimal impact to landowners and to the environment.
Why We’re Fighting
ATXI has been misrepresenting the facts in writing and during public meetings to take advantage of a rural community with limited resources. While ATXI would profit by destroying our land to build a new line, they would not make nearly as much money by simply upgrading existing lines to do the same job. The easements offered by ATXI grant the company exclusive rights to the entire parcel of land as well as all adjoining parcels, taking advantage of the principles of eminent domain for private greed - and giving them freedom to use our farms as they please - indefinitely. Profit to be made from exploiting our land drives this project.
YOU CAN STOP OUR LAND FROM BEING DESTROYED
Missouri has weak landowner protection legislation, which means that it is up to our community to protect this land. Winning this battle will set an important precedent for landowners everywhere when it comes to corporate greed and eminent domain. This is our farmland. If ATXI takes it - we will never get it back. A farmer’s land IS his 401K. The route viciously cuts through 55,000 acres of land that some families have owned for over 100 years.
We are currently caught up in an expensive legal battle to keep what is rightfully ours. We need to raise $40,000 to be able to keep fighting ATXI. Our small community has raised over $120,000 on our own and we need this last bit to get us to the next stage of the fight. Please help us in any way that you can.
Your contribution - whatever size - would send the message: “No, ATXI, you can’t walk over Missouri Farmers to make your profits.”
This productive persimmon grove on a family Century Farm in Shelby County is in the path of the line.
This affects YOU
ATXI and other companies within the energy corridor add the costs for these unnecessary projects to your electric bill. In this case, Missouri ratepayers will pay for this and other lines, along with users from Wisconsin to Louisiana, with an increase in charges on their monthly bill. An upgrade to existing lines would cost much less and will save our farms.
Right now it’s Missouri, but tomorrow they could come for your land.
Emissions from the lines that would be forced onto our properties are classified by the World Health Organization as a (Class 2B) carcinogen - in the same class as lead.
A multitude of studies link these lines to an increased risk of childhood leukemia (citation at end).
The line will interrupt farming practices by draining batteries underneath in farm equipment, eliminating weed control options on some farms, and rendering large areas of productive land completely useless. The route dissects farms when existing rights-of-way are mere feet away. It was designed without legitimate input from residents or lawmakers.
Emissions from these lines interfere with the operation of pacemakers. Many affected landowners are elderly and depend on these life-saving devices.
Farmers’ life savings are tied up in their land. The transmission line would diminish property values significantly, undermining a lifetime of hard work.
Only 180 temporary jobs would be created by building the transmission line. The majority of these jobs will be filled by specially trained, out-of-state laborers - meanwhile permanently destroying the jobs in and viability of over 350 area farms.
Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the regulatory agency that approved this line, is comprised of the 98 energy agencies that they are meant to be regulating!
We believe that under the MO Right to Farm Act, ATXI does not have the authority to take productive farm land out of use. 58% of the proposed route diagonally cuts farms and crosses over ponds. In their home state of Illinois, however, ATXI minds property lines.
ATXI’s transmission project was in-part justified by compliance with the EPA Clean Power Act - an Act that was blocked by the Supreme Court in February, 2016.
Please support us as we fight this horrible injustice and help us to save our farm land.
The line would uproot all these trees and make this land useless. —————
OTHER WAYS TO HELP
Join our Facebook Page and share our story with your online community.
Contact the Missouri Public Service Commission and let them know you oppose ATXI’s “Mark Twain” Transmission Project. Contact: [email redacted].gov. Reference case # EA-2015-0146.
Call Missouri Legislators to voice your opposition to ATXI’s “Mark Twain” Transmission Project and the use of eminent domain for corporate gain, and ask for landowner protection legislation to be passed.
Spread the Word about what is going on by writing a letter to your newspaper or television station and informing your community.
If you line in an affected county, Meet with your County Commissioners to let them know why you oppose this project. Commissioners in all five affected counties (Adair, Schuyler, Shelby, Marion and Knox) have written formal resolutions opposing ATXI’s “Mark Twain” Transmission Project. Call and thank them for their support!
Join Our Group by emailing [email redacted] to receive updates as the fight unfolds.
Make a Donation Through this Site or by Mailing a Check in any amount to:
Neighbors United
PO Box 583
Kirksville MO 63501
Thank you so much for your support.
——————
Citations
Draper, G. British Medical Journal, June 4, 2005; vol 330: pp 1290-1295. Dickinson, H.O. British Medical Journal, June 4, 2005; vol 330: pp 1279-1280. Heather Dickinson, PhD, principal research associate, Center for Health Services Research, University of Newcastle, England. John E. Moulder, PhD, professor and director of radiation biology, department of radiation oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
Childhood leukemia and personal monitoring of residential exposures to electric and magnetic fields in Ontario, Canada. Green LM1, Miller AB, Agnew DA, Greenberg ML, Li J, Villeneuve PJ, Tibshirani R. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10454069
Adult Cancers Near High-voltage Overhead Power Lines.
Elliott, Paul a; Shaddick, Gavin b; Douglass, Margaret a; de Hoogh, Kees a; Briggs, David J. a; Toledano, MireilleB. aEpidemiology. 24(2):184-190, March 2013.
AN: 00001648-201303000-00002.
Background: Extremely low-frequency magnetic fields are designated as possibly carcinogenic in humans, based on anepidemiologic association with childhood leukemia.
Organizer and beneficiary
John Leunen
Organizer
Kirksville, MO
Neighbors United
Beneficiary
