Jul 26 2009
North Carolina Attempting the Ultimate Property Grab
We talk a lot about annexation here and how in 21st century American such a draconian law can exist in any state anywhere. Welcome to North Carolina, home to what is becoming more and more like Chicago style corruption in the state government. In response to a growing outcry to forced annexation the state passed a very watered down provision earlier this week that was supposed to placate the shouting voices, but it doesn’t seem like most people were fooled and judging by the state’s recent actions, they shouldn’t be.
Senate Bill S967, sponsored by Fletcher Hartsell (R-Concord) would create what is called the Yadkin River Trust. The legislation would enable the state to seize the lands, dams, and other properties currently owned and operated by Alcoa Power Generating Inc. along the Yadkin River. Why? To keep this simple, the state thinks they can operate Alcoa’s hydroelectric plants to the benefit of North Carolinians better than Alcoa can. Alcoa just applied for a new Federal permit giving them another 50 year lease on the land and Governor Perdue along with Hartsell and others in the state legislature want to put a stop to that immediately. The state feels that Alcoa is “exploiting” the river.
Alcoa legally owns these lands and has since 1915 when they purchased them. Several environmental agencies in both the state and the Federal government as well as environmental lobbyists have approved of and worked with Alcoa to get their permit renewed. For the state to attempt to pass a law allowing them to seize the private property of a business in the name of the “common good” is Stalinist. They must have gotten their queue from the Federal government. If they can use this excuse to take Alcoa’s property who will be next? It sends the whole state and your own property down a road with an unknown destination.
I’m not the least surprised to see fatty Fletcher’s fingerprints on this either. He is a disgrace to the ideas of freedom and liberty and the Cabarrus and Iredell Republican parties would do well to rid them selves of that over bloated gas bag. Hartsell actually had the nerve to tell people that this wasn’t about government taking over a private business. Honestly, he actually made that claim:
Senator Fletcher Hartsell (R-Cabarrus), a primary sponsor of SB 967, reminded the committee members of the importance of the legislation and the fact that SB 967 has “absolutely nothing to do with taking over a private business.”
Nothing to do with it? Reading Hartsell make that claim reminded me of a quote from Baghdad Bob during the Iraq War several years ago regarding the American military.
“They’re not even [within] 100 miles [of Baghdad]. They are not in any place. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion … they are trying to sell to the others an illusion.”
If you would like to learn more about this government theft taking place in your own state the North Carolina Property Rights Coalition has a lot of information on this. Go to www.LeaveThatDamAlone.com for more information.
Update: The N.C. House of Representatives’ Water Resources and Infrastructure Committee rejected the bill today that would have allowed the state to take over Alcoa’s dams. Part of a press release from the North Carolina Property Rights Coalition is below:
ShareRALEIGH, N.C. – The N.C. House of Representatives’ Water Resources and Infrastructure Committee rejected a bill today that would have opened the door for the state to take over Alcoa’s privately owned dams, powerhouses and other facilities on the Yadkin River. A motion to move the bill, SB 967, out of the committee failed in a bipartisan 8-6 vote.
Gotta wonder what’s in it for “Fatty?”
[Reply]
[...] a comment » Hat Tip to this article on Carolina Politics online. Senate Bill S967, sponsored by Fletcher Hartsell (R-Concord) would [...]
Sure. Up until now Alcoa has been ‘free’ to polute the river with PCBs. And have made no effort at clean-up. They are not good stewards of the property although they do have ‘rights’ due to the purchase of the lands.
Is this more a case of eminent domain?
Maybe.
Water is now and will be a MAJOR concern in the future. Should private companies determine our water use? How much it should cost? Who can buy it? Whether a degraded environment should be cleaned up of toxic pollution or allowed to become a bigger and more costly problem (which will eventually become a ‘government’ problem later- think Love Canal)?
What ‘right’ does the state have in controling the resources within it? Especially those that would normally be considered part of the public domain?
[Reply]
Trust us people from Cabarrus when we tell you, fatty would be using this bill for his billion dollar developer friends, D. Murdock and B. Smith. He does nothing for the people here, and yet we continue to vote him in. Of course no one of any merit runs against him either. The Democrats need to get someone, the elected officials in Cabarrus, mostly Republicans, with the exception of a few, are all corrupt. They do not represent the people, the people are not first on their minds.
[Reply]
For a PRIME example of Cabarrus County government CORRUPTION and FRAUD against its citizens at its finest, as perpetrated by SENATOR Fletcher L. Hartsell, his brother, the Cabarrus County elected Registrar of Deeds and an elected Superior Court judge, look up this recent and ongoing civil complaint filed in the Cabarrus County courthouse where Hartsell and his brother STEAL, CONVERT and continue to KEEP an elderly couple’s assets for themselves with the “assistance” of the Registrar and the “blessings” of the Judge …. 08CVS3379.
[Reply]