My Son, the Doctor...

Taking back NIMBY...

I know I promised new writers (and they are coming), but I have to take one more whack at eminent domain. This is why…

So, a banker, an energy industry worker, and a land agent stumble onto a post…

I confess. A few days after ribbing Clean Line for “sponsoring” ads on Facebook, we boosted a post for our petition with the help of the Arkansas Citizens Against Clean Line Energy page. I know, I know… but we thought it would really help us reach more people. We were right. And out of the many, many people who viewed our post, we only got negative comments from three.  The land agent was by far the most entertaining. I’m blocking out his name and picture here on the off chance that he actually works for Contract Land Staff and used some bad judgment in breaking Clean Line’s Code of Conduct.  It’s his job… He’s defensive… We get it. We’re all human.

Of course, as a rule we don’t remove comments. People sometimes, but comments never. Why? Because that’s playing pretty dirty (cough, cough) and because if we can’t defend our position, publicly, we don’t really have one.

Aside from pointing out the obvious irony in his statement, I want you to pick up on the essence of what he’s saying… No, not that we don’t know what we’re talking about. See if you can guess…

Got it? It’s essentially the same thing we got from the other two people… And what I’ve heard from a couple more as well, members of the Sierra Club specifically... 

“We all have to make sacrifices and it’s not like they take the land for free. It’s just NIMBY.”

Now, aside from the fact that the people who say that most often aren’t the ones being asked to make the sacrifice, I have a real problem with anyone who dismisses another person’s situation out of hand because of what they judge it to be. That denotes a rather disturbing lack of empathy and almost seems like a kind of defense mechanism to keep the dismissor from having to think too long and hard about what they’re suggesting. It’s like people who tell other people that they’re going to Hell without the slightest real consideration of what they are so flippantly condemning someone to. Whether you’re a believer of not, especially if you are, that’s not cool.

But how do you really wrap your head around what eminent domain does? How do you explain a taking to someone who’s never experienced it? Because really, there is no other area in our lives where something like eminent domain is acceptable. Yes, we pay taxes… but we all pay them. Some more than others, but still. This gets into why it is so important that eminent domain be so carefully guarded... Used so sparingly and with such thought and consideration. It’s hard to answer the question, “When is eminent domain okay?” It’s almost easier to identify when it isn’t. But rather than get into all that… again, let’s do this…

I propose a thought experiment. An exercise in empathy. C’mon… It’ll be fun and I’ll get to show off my babies.

Babies! What kind of warped mother compares her babies to property?

Ugh, I know! But stay with me through this part and then you can bail if you want… because this is gonna be long.

First of all, there is nothing more precious to me than my kids. For a lot of people on this line, and the others, the same is true… but their land is a close second. Why? Because it’s what they live off of. It’s their retirement plan. It’s what they’ll leave for their children. It’s their past, present, and future. And, like our children, we only get to nurture it for a little while. We are the stewards. The protectors. We are responsible for what it becomes.

Second, children are what is most precious to most of us. At this point, I can’t think of any other group of beings so universally adored and for whom most of us have some kind of connection. So, no, children are not the same as land, but windmills are not the same as transmission lines and goodness knows Clean Line has enough pictures of turbines on their literature, so here we go…

This is my son. He’s in disguise to protect his privacy. He’s nine and he’s brilliant. Not in a “River Tam before the Alliance summer camp” kind of way, but brilliant. He reads at an eleventh grade level. Math comes easy. So does science. Getting dressed, not so much. He comes out of his room with his undershirt over his flannel on a regular basis. His shoes are always untied… or knotted beyond belief with the loose ends trailing behind him. He’s incredibly sensitive to the needs and emotional temperature of other people. He has a deep sense of justice… a regard for the dignity of others.

This is my daughter… burping. You can’t tell from this picture how incredibly beautiful she is. We call her “The General” because, from infancy, she has had a remarkable ability to shape her environment (and the people in it) to suit her needs. She is also brilliant, but where my son is less concerned with the temporal, she has a common sense that is frighteningly efficient.

This is my baby. I’m not sure who he’ll be quite yet. He’s musical. He rocks the harmonica and sings all the time. He’s also a snuggler, apt to run up and hug a stranger’s legs. He likes to grab my face, a tiny hand on each cheek, look deep into my eyes, and nod. I don’t know what he’s nodding at, but he says, “YES!!” with his whole little being.

So, during this experiment you are going to be me. My family is your family… And I am going to come for your son...

I work for a company partnering with the government to find children we think will make excellent doctors. There’s a shortage of doctors, especially primary care physicians, and while we think you are doing a perfectly adequate job of raising your son, if we take him now and turn him into a doctor, the public will benefit in the long run.

How will they benefit? Well, the school we plan to use to train him will benefit from the influx of resources. Eventually, his patients will benefit. And, of course the company will make a profit. And we can’t forget about the nurses. Don’t you care about the nurses? They need jobs. How selfish of you not to give up your son for the nurses. Don’t you care about other people?

Besides, it’s not like you won’t see him. There will be a video feed. Everyday you’ll be able to see him. You can’t kiss him, you can’t hug him, and you certainly can’t make any decisions about his future. You will be required to pay for his room and board, but we’re going to give you a puppy to make this easier for you. Don’t you want a puppy? Fine, we’ll give you two puppies and some cash. There, aren’t you happy now?

No? I don’t understand why not. No offense, but it really doesn’t matter that he wants to be a paleontologist. All nine year olds want to be paleontologists. This is better. This is about a better future. If we want a better future, we all have to make sacrifices. People have been sacrificing their children since Mayan times, why should you be treated differently. This is the way it’s always been done. We can’t change it.

I understand your concerns, but if we wait a few more years, it’ll take him longer to graduate and we’ll lose the income he could have been producing (besides, advances in tele-medicine could make this program obsolete by then). Physician’s assistants? Nurse practitioners? No, those things don’t work. It has to be this way. This is the only way that makes sense for us. And, frankly, you can’t afford to take us to court. We have more money, connections, and expertise than you do, and when it’s all over we’ll just take him anyway. The most the court will give you is more cash and puppies. You don’t get to argue whether it’s fair for us to take him in the first place. Don't bother, you’ll just be giving money to the lawyers. Hey, everybody’s got to have a doctor.

Oh, goodness, no. He won’t come back here to practice. There aren’t enough patients here. He’ll be in Charlotte, or maybe Richmond… We’re not really sure. We don’t have any places set up for him to work yet, but it won’t be here. Maybe he can come back for Christmas, but we can’t guarantee anything. We’re not going to commit to that yet, that’s just one of the alternatives we’re looking at.

Can you have him back if it doesn’t work out? No, you don’t get him back. We’ll just sell him to another firm… Which we might do anyway, in which case, they’ll have different rules for you, but no more cash or puppies.

Why, no... We’ve never done a project quite like this before, though we’ve been in the medical industry for years. We’re brand new. Isn’t that innovative? Don’t you trust us? Here, look at this art deco sculpture of a doctor. Doesn’t that make you feel better? See, I’m smiling. I’m nice, right? You can’t be upset about this if I smile and act nice.

I don’t understand why you say you’ve never heard of us before. We sent you a postcard. No, it didn’t say that we wanted to take your son, but it said we were thinking about starting a school. I don’t know why you wouldn’t have seen it. We’ve been very active in the community-- We’ve been talking to literacy campaigns and state/federal officials about this for years. We took out ads in the paper. You don’t read the newspaper every day? Oh, well. I guess you don’t deserve to have a say in what happens to your kid if you’re not going to read the paper every day.

Now, before I leave, I have to tell you… I’m looking at your daughter. I’m not really sure if I’ll be back for her yet. I have to see how things pan out, but she’s a very smart young lady. Why are you crying? You’ll get another puppy! And you still have your baby. But you should know that I can come back for him at any time also. If fact, I, or someone from another company, can come back for any child you have or may ever have. There’s no requirement that we stop taking them after we’ve taken so many. We may have to eventually pay for you to have another if we’re using the federal government to do it, but not if we’re using the state. Anyway, we can take that child away, too.  It just makes more sense, don’t you see? It's for the public good. You’ve already given up a child. In some vague way here, I’m acknowledging the damage I’ve done to you, but only in the sense that since the damage has already been done, it’s easier to hurt you more than to start fresh with someone else. You don’t want anyone else to be hurt do you? Though I still don’t understand why you’re upset. Puppies! Cash! Yay!

Ugh, I’m so tired of people like you, you know that? All you NOOMK’s. That’s what it is you know, you’re just a NOOMK—Not One of My Kids. You don’t have any real objections to this project. No real justification for not wanting to give him to us. Nothing you’ve said tonight meets our criteria for a real concern. You’re just rationalizing your NOOMK-ism. It’s sad really, that you are so very selfish.

Whew! Okay. Well, I hope that gives someone a little perspective. Now obviously there are going to be some people who are really okay with, or even want, the transmission line (or at least I hope there are since Clean Line seems to think they’ll be able to “negotiate” the majority of the line—with eminent domain at their back of course), and that’s their prerogative (though it may suck for neighbors not hosting the line who'll lose property value). This exercise is about those people who don’t want it. Of course, I've used a touch of hyperbole, but I’m not quite sure how else to get through. I feel a bit like the guy in Whoville trying to find that one last “yip” or “yop” to break through the atmosphere.

We are not unaware of the world around us. We’re not oblivious to climate change. We’re not blissfully revving our engines (at least not most of us). We live the land. The drought that Diana Rivera referred to in her Congestion Study comment… we lived it. All we are saying… Well, all I’m saying... is that there has got to be a better way than this. And if we don’t stand up and say it now, the future of our energy industry is going to work a lot like the past… except meaner and more streamlined, with even less local control.

Let me be clear, the responsibility for the opposition that is blossoming in every state in which Clean Line is proposing a project falls directly on their own shoulders. It has a lot less to do with NIMBY than it does with Clean Line’s failure to effectively and proactively engage the people who will be most directly impacted by their projects. And the people out there, few as they have been, who feel so smug in throwing out the NIMBY label, need to pull their heads out of Clean Line’s pretty, glossy brochures and think hard about what that acronym really means.

Voices from the Route

When Dave and I started our Facebook group, one of our main objectives was to give people a place to discuss the effects the threat of Clean Line's proposed line had on their own lives. We wanted a space where people could come and realize that they are not alone. To that end, we have a guest post tonight from a gentleman local to our corner of Arkansas.

In the coming weeks, Block Plains and Eastern Clean Line will be hosting a series of Neighbor Hours in our area in an attempt to enable meaningful discussion in the community, and to provide easy access to the Draft EIS to the many folks out here without an internet connection.  Danny, who wrote the following, has generously offered to present new material at our next Dover meeting-- "Potential issues with watershed erosion and herbicide management of right-of-ways". 

Danny makes a lot of good points, but I hope that readers will pay special attention to parts about the tradition of bartering we have in these hills. As Danny mentions, it is a way of life... I trade fresh, free-range eggs for locally caught fish. There is a family whom we allow to bow-hunt on our family's land in exchange for helping us optimize the area for wildlife and for a portion of the venison they take. We trade. We share. We give when someone needs something, or when we just happen to have extra and think they might like it. I can't tell you how much okra I got this summer... Along with a cabbage the size of a turkey and a cantaloupe almost as big. This is not the kind of socio-economic impact you'll read about in the draft (unless I somehow skipped over that part), but it is important. It is real. 


Danny's Story

I am in the primary/preferred easement for the proposed Plains and Eastern Clean Line Project.

I am James "Danny" Taverner and have moved back to this region to be close to my family. I have a Master's Degree from Louisiana State University in Plant and Soil Systems. I conducted research for the university that included levee erosion control projects and herbicide maintenance of right-of-ways.

A supposed environmental survey was scheduled to be done across my property, I made sure to be home the day of the survey. No persons ever showed up on my 40 acre property. I wanted them to understand the sensitivity of the site through which they planned the line. The steepness of the grade on the region intended is severe. The grade is impractical to log and if the timber were to be removed, a cascade of environmental issues would follow.

I have about 2 to 3 acres of arable (farmable) land. I have a small fruit tree orchard with peaches, apples, pears, and cherries. I have raspberries, blackberries and muscadines as well. In addition to the orchard is an extensive vegetable garden and a large plot rotated between sorghum cane and corn. This small farm is irrigated by a pond which is directly within the easement and is fed by the watershed consisting of the very steep area which is also within the easement.

The produce from this farm is not sold for money but bartered which is a unique cultural identity of this region. Produce had been traded for beef, pork, eggs, labor, lumber, and even dog-sitting favors. My family has a grist mill and corn produced on the property is ground into cornmeal. We also have a sorghum mill and cook down the cane into sorghum using the same family technique passed down for generations. My grandmother used to go around and cook other people's cane for "shares". This is a cultural product that has been maintained by the production from my farmland which is irrigated by the waters from the watershed within the proposed easement.

So what would be the big deal if the line went through across the property? 

The pond will receive significant amounts of silt even with standard erosion control measures. This would reduce the volume of water available for irrigation by making the pond more shallow. Having worked on levee stabilization projects around New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, I am we'll aware that there is no way to fully mitigate erosion especially when the pond and watershed slope is many times more steep and rocky than a levee. 

The herbicide maintenance of the right-of-way poses another significant impediment to the continuation of my farming lifestyle. I am intimately familiar with herbicides and their positive and negative attributes. My thesis research involved cultural and herbicide management techniques. I was involved in countless herbicide trials while working at Louisiana State University. The proposed herbicides commonly used in right-of-ways have the potential to be sprayed into or wash into the pond killing fish and rendering the water unusable for irrigation purposes. This would render all the hard work and money in getting a garden established and cut off an entire system of trade for the many families with which I barter.

My current home is at the edge of the easement and the aesthetic value of the beauty of an Ozark sunset will be lost. All of my out-buildings for tractors and equipment and shop are directly under the route. The shop and buildings are not visible on the satellite maps for they are within a forested area and must be seen from the ground. All of the time and expense of building the shops and having electricity and water run to the site would be undone since the buildings would have to be removed  for the line. There is no other rational area for these several buildings to be placed and the years spent acquiring material and constructing them could not be duplicated.

There is no compensation for the destruction of all that I have mentioned. The thought of a private company forcing eminent domain and taking all of the aforementioned blood, sweat, and tears from my family is unfathomable.

I am but one small landowner that was never contacted until this year about this project. One small landowner in an over 700 mile line across the entire state of Arkansas. A landowner with so much to lose that there can be no reasonable compensation made for the damage to be caused. I will not stand for wealthy, out-of-state private businessmen to use the threat of eminent domain to further line their pockets under the guise of "clean energy". 

I am all for renewable energy. I am a fan of wind, solar, and hydrothermal energy. This is not an attack on these resources. This is a transmission line, by a private company, willing to condemn land  across two entire states and disrupting the landowners from western Oklahoma all the way to Memphis.

James "Danny" Taverner