Latest / Commentary - TJ Meadows / New Deal for Landowners

Transcript

New Deal for Landowners · Commentary - TJ Meadows

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: An interesting idea emerged during a few conversations on TalkLine
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: this week. Not a fully developed proposal, but a thought
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: worth exploring. If America is undergoing an energy revolution, shouldn't
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: we rethink how landowners are compensated for infrastructure built on
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: their property? Traditionally, when a transmission line or pipeline crosses
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: private property, the landowner receives a one-time payment for an
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: easement that may last forever. But what if there's a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: better way? Washington Times columnist and friend of TalkLine Mike McKenna, who,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: like me, spent much of his career in the energy industry,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: offered a provocative suggestion this week. Make landowners owners. Give
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: them equity in the companies building infrastructure, stock, dividends, a
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: chance to share in the prosperity their land helps create.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: After all, ownership has a way of turning opponents down.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Here's another possibility. Transmission line companies recover their costs and
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: earn a return through a federally regulated rate. What if
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: regulators authorized additional revenue dedicated specifically to ongoing landowner compensation?
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Think of it as a royalty, much like mineral owners
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: receive for oil and natural gas production. Instead of one
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: check for a perpetual easement, landowners could receive payments for
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: as long as that infrastructure occupies their property. There are
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: already examples of alternative approaches. A proposed transmission project in
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Illinois offered annual payments for towers on private property. Wisconsin
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: and North Dakota also have provisions allowing certain landowners to
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: receive compensation over time. But equity and profit sharing could
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: go considerably further. Look. I spent much of my professional
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: life advancing the energy industry. I believe energy development is
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: overwhelmingly good for America. But I also believe the people
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: whose land makes that development possible deserve a meaningful share
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: in the prosperity. Would everyone embrace such a model? Of
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: course not. But if we're serious about building the infrastructure
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: necessary to meet America's seemingly insatiable demand for electricity... Perhaps
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: it's time to think differently. A new energy revolution may
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: require a new deal for landowners.