President Bush’s energy plan is expected to recommend that the federal government be allowed to use eminent-domain authority to seize private property for electric transmission lines. Guess who isn’t very excited about this idea? It’s your old anti-enviro buddies — Mr. and Mrs. Western Republican Leader and their friends, the property-rights movement. The amount of land in dispute could be huge; Western governors have been notified by the Bush administration that the electric grid will have to be expanded by as much as 55,000 miles. Sarah Berk, spokesperson for Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), said, "Private property is sacred property. Sen. Craig definitely feels this issue is best left up to the states." Govs. Michael Leavitt (R-Utah) and Dirk Kempthorne (R-Idaho) agree.
