Landowners Association of Wyoming: About Us

About Us

The mission of the Landowners Association of Wyoming is to provide private property owners in towns and rural areas with a focused and committed voice to help protect their private property rights from potential takings, and to advocate for stronger protection of private property rights in the state legislature.

LAW began in 2002 as a grass-roots organization made up of property owners across the state who support the protection of private property rights during oil and gas development, especially in cases where the surface land owner is not the owner of the underlying minerals. These efforts resulted in the 2005 Wyoming Surface Owner Accommodation Act. In 2007, members of LAW achieved statutory reforms to the State Eminent Domain law that strengthen the rights of private property owners, particularly when threatened with takings by other private parties for their own economic gain.

Private property rights have three fundamental components:

CONTROL over private property.
RESPONSIBILITY for private property.
EQUITY RETURNS for private property.

LAW considers the impact that current laws and regulations have on each aforementioned component of private property rights, and evaluates the potential need for legislative or regulatory reform to protect or strengthen any or all elements. Wyoming’s constitution and statutes allow a private entity to take a person’s private property for purposes of economic development that provides a public benefit.

Constitution:

Section 32: “Private property shall not be taken for private use unless by consent of the owner, except for private ways of necessity, and for reservoirs, drains, flumes or ditches on or across the lands of others for agricultural, mining, milling, domestic or sanitary purposes, nor in any case without due compensation.”
Section 33: “Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public or private use without just compensation.”

Broad statutory authority:
1-26-815. Right of eminent domain granted; ways of necessity for authorized businesses; purposes; extent.

(a) Any person, association, company or corporation authorized to do business in this state may appropriate by condemnation a way of necessity over, across or on so much of the lands or real property of others as necessary for the location, construction, maintenance and use of reservoirs, drains, flumes, ditches including return flow and wastewater ditches, underground water pipelines, pumping stations and other necessary appurtenances, canals, electric power transmission lines and distribution systems, railroad trackage, sidings, spur tracks, tramways, roads or mine truck haul roads required in the course of their business for agricultural, mining, exploration drilling and production of oil and gas, milling, electric power transmission and distribution, domestic, municipal or sanitary purposes, or for the transportation of coal from any coal mine or railroad line or for the transportation of oil and gas from any well.

Pursuant to LAW’s strong grassroots lobbying efforts, the Wyoming Legislature passed the following laws that strengthen private property rights in the state:
2005 Wyoming Surface Owner Accommodation Act, which gives private property owners the right to:

Thirty day notification prior to oil and gas company’s access to private lands.
Fair compensation for economic losses caused by oil and gas activity, including loss in land value.
Good faith negotiations regarding the planning of oil and gas activities that affect their private surface lands.

2007 Eminent Domain Reform, which provides the following protections:
Requires that GOOD FAITH NEGOTIATIONS include a three-step process:

Notice and offer from taker. This includes a compensation proposal and identification of property proposed to be taken.
Property owner’s counter-offer for compensation. This includes compensation as well as any changes to lands or property that could be taken.
Taker’s response to counter-offer.

1. All three offers from the good faith negotiations can be used as EVIDENCE IN THE COURTS.

2. Allows COMPENSATION to consider comparable "market values" in establishing the final price of the taking. Market value can include lost land value, what another person was paid for the same project, what other persons were paid for similar projects, etc. Previously, compensation could only be based on "before-and-after" appraisal values, which limited property owners’ compensation for lands taken under the powers of eminent domain.

3. Improves ACCOUNTABILITY for the taking by allowing the condemned property owner to be reimbursed for legal fees if the taker does not comply with three statutory tests:

Use of the property subject to the taking serves a public benefit.
Taking the property was a necessity for the project.
Taking the property provides for the greatest public good at the least private harm.

A sizeable portion of Wyoming’s population lives in towns, and is vulnerable to public and private entities condemning their homes, businesses and/or lands for a wide range of purposes. Wyoming’s rural population shares the same risks of condemnation. For rural property owners, the greatest threat of condemnation comes from private entities who will benefit financially from taking private lands, all in the name of providing for the “public benefit.”[Read “Robin Hood in Reverse: The Case against Taking Private Property for Economic Development” by: Illya Somin

FUTURE THREATS TO YOUR PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS:

LAW has identified some of the key outstanding issues that continue to threaten private property rights: Wyoming’s constitution allows a private entity to take another person’s private property. Although the statutory reforms of 2007 strengthened the negotiating position for landowners involved in a taking, the constitutional right for a private entity to take another’s private property for their own economic benefit is still allowed under our state constitution. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Kelo v. New London, citizens and legislatures across the country continue to grapple with this fundamental issue: Who should have the rights of eminent domain and for what purposes?
The current accepted policy is that private, rather than public, land should be the priority for locating projects that provide a public use or benefit, such as electric transmission lines and natural gas pipelines. LAW believes that if a project benefits the public, the public’s land should be the used in priority, and that private lands should be used as a last resort, and only with surface owner consent.
The lack of transparency in prices paid for condemned projects, or projects threatened for condemnation, which skews negotiations between the condemnor and condemned property owner so that the land owner cannot readily obtain the prices paid for similar condemned properties. This makes it difficult for property owners to identify “comparable sales” in order to negotiate compensation of their condemned properties. LAW supports a state-wide data-bank that includes the prices paid for projects that are built under the powers of eminent domain, regardless of whether the powers had to be legally exercised. This will help ensure that the market can function property when establishing “fair market values” of condemned or potentially-condemned properties.
Statutory efforts to extend the powers of condemnation to other private economic endeavors, including carbon sequestration or nuclear waste storage. For economic projects that require using private lands, LAW believes that the surface owner’s consent should be required, rather than allowing for powers of eminent domain. Surface Owner Consent has been effectively applied for all mining activities in Wyoming pursuant to the 1979 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.
Regulatory programs enforced by federal, state and county agencies that restrict the ability of private landowners to CONTROL and MANAGE their private lands due to impacts from decisions made by upstream or neighboring property owners, particularly in the case of coal-bed methane water discharge and disposal.

Members of LAW do not oppose the condemnation of private property in towns and rural areas to ensure that economic growth continues in our state. However, we are deeply concerned about the increasing trend to minimize private property rights during condemnation cases, particularly when the condemner profits from the taking.