Legal Center intervenes in Power Siting Board to stop eminent domain for Meta Data Center Pipeline  

Columbus, OH – The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law today moved to intervene in the Ohio Power Siting Board to stop a Meta affiliate from using eminent domain to force its pipeline to an under-construction Meta data center through the middle of Wood County farms.

The action is filed on behalf of farmers Jon and Ken Luidhardt, who refused to sell to Meta’s pipeline affiliate.  Meta and “Will-Power” now seek to use the force of the Power Siting Board to run that pipeline through the Luidhardts’ farm.

In its Motion to Intervene, the 1851 Center contends that Ohioans’ private property cannot be taken simply to benefit purely private corporate projects, which includes the private pipelines fueling those projects alone:

• The Ohio Constitution protects private property rights more than the federal constitution, requiring that all doubts be strictly construed against those seeking to seize Ohioans’ properties.
• The taking of land through eminent domain must be for “public use,” and economic benefits to private interests are not public uses.  Here, the public will not own, control, or use the Apollo South Pipeline as it journeys underground directly to the Meta data center from a preexisting natural gas pipeline.
• The taking of land must be a “public necessity.”  But no private business is a necessity, Meta and its pipeline affiliate are free to purchase any land from those willing to voluntarily sell, and the project is solely to fuel a single private business, rather than to heat Ohioans’ homes are fuel their cars.

“This is redistribution of wealth of the worst sort:  taking property from regular Ohioans and giving it to California billionaires for their own benefit, under the false pretense of progress,” explained 1851 Center Executive Director Maurice Thompson.  “The State and Meta are seeking to use force rather than persuasion to decide the debate on whether trading longstanding farmland for data centers is a wise investment.  We, like this state’s founders, prefer a state where property owners retain dominion over their property, and private industry stands on its own feet, without special handouts or privileges coming at the expense of others.”

While public utilities may exercise eminent domain to provide service to Ohioans’ homes, and certain oil and gas pipelines may even possess eminent domain authority, the Appollo South Pipeline serves only the Meta Data Center.

Read the 1851 Center’s Petition to Intervene HERE.

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The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law is a non-profit, non-partisan legal center dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights of Ohioans from government abuse. The 1851 Center litigates constitutional issues related to property rights, regulation, taxation, and search and seizures.