Eminent domain

The public has grown wiser to abuses of eminent domain, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s outrageous Kelo decision and the initiative petitions and reforms the ruling spawned in Nevada and many other states.

The electorate has sent an unmistakably clear message over the past six years: Eminent domain is acceptable in limited circumstances when private property is needed for a public purpose, but it must not be used to transfer private property to another private entity.

So it makes sense that the Nevada Legislature would take steps to erase a 130-year-old state law that allows mining companies to use eminent domain to gain property for mineral exploration and excavation.

Rural Nevada residents testified Monday that they fear being forced to move because mining companies want their land. One company documented the need for the “relocation of certain landowners” as part of a Storey County project.

The mining industry has used the power a handful of times over recent decades, and one case found its way to Elko County District Court this summer before being settled.

It’s fundamentally wrong that a private industry holds this kind of power. The concept of property rights means little if a business can take what is rightfully yours.

Lawmakers appear supportive of Senate Bill 86, sponsored by Sheila Leslie, D-Reno. Good.

Mining industry officials, rightly concerned about being targeted for punitive, job-killing tax increases, should pick their battles carefully. They don’t have the moral high ground on this issue.