In their haste to draw maps and broker power deals that would link Wyoming to electrical markets throughout the West, state energy officials so far have failed to bring private landowners to the table, according to a private property advocate.

On Tuesday, the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority released maps of strategic electrical transmission corridors in Wyoming. Laurie Goodman of the Landowners Association of Wyoming, a political action committee, noted that the maps do not depict private lands. She said the mapping was done without asking for input from the private landowners who will likely host the facilities.

"We own 47 percent of the land in this state. Our land is an integral part of how many of your projects will go forward, and we're not even treated as being a part of that," Goodman said.

Goodman said she wants landowners, power developers and state officials to coordinate their efforts so that ambitions to increase Wyoming's electrical exports can be mutually beneficial.

In the meantime, an interim legislative committee is looking at several proposals to reform Wyoming's eminent domain laws. Landowners Association of Wyoming wants state government to extend the same rights it enjoys under eminent domain to its private landowners, which includes the right to prior notice and planning, annual payments and a 30-year limit on contracts to provide an opportunity for renegotiation.

Wyoming Infrastructure Authority board members said they want to take the issue under advisement before the agency outlines its position on the issue. Infrastructure Authority executive director Steve Waddington said he's been instructed to gather witnesses who can tell "the other side of the story," and present testimony before the Legislature's interim committee meeting in September.

Eminent domain usually describes the power of a government to force access to private land through easement, lease or sale for public use. In Wyoming, eminent domain powers have long been extended to private companies that require easements for water facilities, oil and natural gas pipelines and electrical power lines and substations.

Dave Ditto, a Cheyenne attorney, warned that changing the state's eminent domain laws could have "unintended consequences" against the very landowners who think they would benefit from eminent domain reform.

For example, if the Legislature were to add a statute that payments be based on appraised value, then a landowner might not have any bargaining power, Ditto said.

"I think landowners want to take a long, hard look at those laws, because it could cause them more heartache," Ditto said.

Goodman said landowners in Wyoming seem to be reaching a boiling point when it comes to energy issues on their lands. Adding to the frustration was a recent District Court ruling that said crossing private land with power lines to avoid public lands is a public benefit justification for the use of eminent domain.

Don O'Shei, a member of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority board and managing director of TriLateral Energy LLC in Wilson, said private industry finds it difficult to work through the federal government's bureaucracy.

Speaking as managing director of TriLateral Energy, O'Shei said, "The reason why we negotiate on private land is because BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and the feds are absurd to deal with, and I don't mind saying that publicly."

Still, O'Shei said folks in the power industry are wary of any proposed changes to eminent domain laws.

"In the Western U.S. there's a feeling that things need to be less problematic and not more," O'Shei said.

For the related story please click on the link below.

Wyo maps energy corridors

http://casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/07/12/news/top_story/a732e70a12d1fa37872571a8007f13ee.txt

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or dustin.bleizeffer@casperstartribune.net.