SENATE BILL NO. 461
INTRODUCED BY B. GLASER
A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT REVISING THE POWER OF EMINENT DOMAIN FOR PIPELINES AND OTHER DELIVERY SYSTEMS; AND AMENDING SECTIONS 69-13-104 AND 70-30-106, MCA."
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
Section 1. Section 69-13-104, MCA, is amended to read:
"69-13-104. Use of power of eminent domain. Every Subject to 70-30-106, a person, firm, corporation, limited
partnership, joint-stock association, or association of any kind mentioned in this chapter, which shall have that has filed
with the commission its acceptance of the provisions of this chapter, is hereby granted has the right and power of eminent
domain and, in the exercise of which he, it, or they the power, may enter upon and condemn the land, rights-of-way,
easements, and property of any person or corporation as necessary for the construction, maintenance, or authorization of
his, its, or their a common carrier pipeline. The manner and method of such condemnation and the assessment and payment
of the damages therefor shall be the same is as is provided by law in the case of railroads."
Section 2. Section 70-30-106, MCA, is amended to read:
"70-30-106. Eminent domain not to be used for coal mining or for pipelines and other delivery systems in certain
cases -- policy. (1) For the following reasons the state's power of eminent domain may not be exercised to mine and extract
coal owned by the plaintiff located beneath the surface of property where when the title to the surface is vested in others:
(1)(a) Because of the large reserves of and the renewed interest in coal in eastern Montana, coal development is
potentially more destructive to land and watercourses and underground aquifers and potentially more extensive
geographically than the foreseeable development of other ores, metals, or minerals and affects large areas of land and large
numbers of people.
(2)(b) In many areas of Montana set forth in subsection (1)(a) hereinabove, the title to the surface is vested in an owner
other than the mineral owner, and the surface owner is putting that surface to a productive use, and it is the public policy of
the state to encourage and foster such the productive use by such the surface owner, and to permit the mineral owner to
condemn the surface owner is to deprive the surface owner of the right to use his the surface owner's property in a
productive manner as he the surface owner determines and is also contrary to public policy as set forth in subsection (4)
(1)(d).
(3)(c) The magnitude of the potential coal development in eastern Montana will subject landowners to undue
harassment by excessive use of eminent domain.
(4)(d) It is the public policy of the state to encourage and foster diversity of land ownership, and the surface mining of
coal and control of large areas of land by the surface coal mining industry would not foster public policy and further the
public interest.
(2) (a) The power of eminent domain may not be exercised for a pipeline or other system for conducting water, heat, gas, petroleum, electricity, or communications services for the use of the inhabitants of a county, city, or town that would parallel or roughly parallel the route of an existing pipeline or other system already conducting the same item to those inhabitants.
(b) The owner of an existing pipeline or other system conducting any item referred to in subsection (2)(a) on property taken by eminent domain, or a person or entity that has taken an interest in property by eminent domain for the purpose of installing a pipeline or other system to conduct any item referred to in subsection (2)(a), may not allow any other person or entity to install another pipeline or other system conducting any item referred to in subsection (2)(a) on the taken property unless the owner of each parcel of the condemned property consents and is compensated in an amount demanded by the owner. There is no power of eminent domain for the additional pipeline or other system."
- END -
Latest Version of SB 461 (SB0461.01)
Processed for the Web on February 11, 1999 (4:24PM)
New language in a bill appears underlined, deleted material appears stricken.
Sponsor names are handwritten on introduced bills, hence do not appear on the bill until it is reprinted. See the status of the bill for the bill's primary sponsor.
Status of this Bill | 1999 Session | Leg. Branch Home
This bill in WP 5.1 | All versions of all bills in WP 5.1
Prepared by Montana Legislative Services
(406)444-3064