U.S. v. 14.02 Acres of Land More or Less
| Decision Date | 24 June 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-17347.,05-17347. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. 14.02 ACRES OF LAND MORE OR LESS IN FRESNO COUNTY; Edna E. Stone; Paul Krajian; Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children; David C. Whitlock; Edward H. Marsella; Henry Schafer, Jr.; Sharon Cecile Peckinpah; Sharon Cecile Marcus aka Sharon Cecile Peckinpah; Fern L. Peter, Lola A. Swanson; Florence F. Class; Clarence E. Bernhauer, Jr.; Jane Whitlock Stiles; Norma B. Gibbs; June E. Lucas; Irene Marley; Henry Schafer, Sr.; Denver C. Peckinpah; Susan Jane Peckinpah; Agnes H. Vignola; Dong She Mar; Bessie E. Bernhauer; Leonard P. Leblanc; Ivone M. Carlson; Elvira Mosher; Lorraine S. Eichenberger; Eleanor C. Hicks; Trustee Peter Frechou; Kathryn McAfee; Trustee John C. Ricksen Kathryn Brown; Estate of Johnny Bello; Estate of Louis Bello; Francis Bello; Edward C. Beaumont; Pauline Eichenberger; Lorraine C. Fortnoy; Floreen L. Walsh; Trustee Mary Frechou Allen Moore; Beverly M. Fielder; Hal E. Verble; May Evylen Bernhard; Gordon Winant Hewes; Pauline D. Hanson; Eloise Mitchell; Lawrence E. Austin; Evelyn Santos; Samuel B. Breck David Biswell; Stephen Biswell; Melissa Brook Peckinpah; Joan Leonard; Maude Dawson; Gertrude Porterfield; William J. Mathos; John Robert Shorb; Candace Haas; Kristen Louise Pechinpah; Matthew David Pechinpah; J. Daniel Hare, III; Bradley B. Leonard; Security Title Insurance; Vicki Treasurer, Fresno County; Russ Freeman; Thomas C. Hare, Defendants, and Maxine H. Sawyer; Mark W. Sawyer; Harriet H. Leonard; Charles A. Sawyer; Andrew Klemm; Ramon Echeveste, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Bruce Leichty, Clovis, CA, for the defendants-appellants.
Douglas R. Wright, United States Attorney, Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, Washington, DC, for the plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California; Robert E. Coyle, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-03-06019-REC/LJO.
Before WILLIAM C. CANBY, JR. and MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judges, and STEPHEN G. LARSON,* District Judge.
Pursuant to a 2001 order of the Secretary of Energy, the Western Area Power Administration ("WAPA") selected certain land estates in the western portion of the San Joaquin Valley in California, where it planned to construct a highvoltage transmission line. The United States began condemnation proceedings in the district court on behalf of WAPA, seeking transmission easements on the lands selected by WAPA. Sawyer and a few other individual owners of condemned property (collectively "Sawyer") challenged the government's exercise of its power of eminent domain, claiming that the taking lacked proper congressional authorization, was not for a "public use" as required by the Takings Clause, and violated California law. The district court dismissed Sawyer's objections and, when the parties reached an agreement on the compensation amount, entered summary judgment sua sponte. Sawyer filed this appeal. We affirm.
In 2001, in an effort to mitigate California's electric power transmission constraints, the Secretary of Energy directed WAPA to prepare plans to construct the Los Banos-Gates Transmission Project, or Path 15 Upgrade. The project consists of an additional 84-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line along Path 15, which is located in the western portion of the San Joaquin Valley and connects its northern terminus near Los Banos, California with its southern terminus at the Gates Substation near Coalinga, California. See Department of Energy, Los Banos-Gates Transmission Project: Record of Decision (hereinafter, "DOE Record of Decision"), 66 Fed.Reg. 65,699 (Dec. 20, 2001). The Secretary also instructed WAPA to explore partnership opportunities with private industry, see id., and delegated authority to WAPA to acquire and condemn property interests in land to complete the project. Department of Energy, Delegation Order No. 00-036.00 (Dec. 6, 2001), available at http://www.directives.doe.gov/pdfs/sdoa/00-036—00.pdf (last visited May 28, 2008). WAPA updated plans that it had originally developed in the mid 1980s and accepted proposals from Trans-Elect and Pacific Gas and Electric Company to "finance, construct, and co-own the system additions." DOE Record of Decision, 66 Fed. Reg. at 65,699-700. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") approved the proposed upgrade, which provided, among other things, that "WAPA w[ould] own the new 500 kV transmission line and associated land that is the most significant part of the transmission upgrades." Western Area Power Administration, FERC Order Accepting Letter Agreement, 99 FERC ¶ 61,306, at 62,278, 2002 WL 1308653 (2002), aff'd, Pub. Util. Comm'n. of Cal. v. FERC, 367 F.3d 925 (D.C.Cir.2004).
In 2003, the United States began condemnation proceedings in the district court on behalf of WAPA to acquire easements on approximately 14.02 acres of land in western Fresno County, California. Sawyer filed an answer to the government's complaint and challenged the condemnation by asserting eight affirmative defenses. The government moved to strike the affirmative defenses or, in the alternative, for judgment on the pleadings as to its authorization to take. The district court granted the government's motion, concluding that "WAPA was fully authorized by federal law to construct the Path 15 Project and to condemn the power line transmission easement[s] for it." The district court also rejected Sawyer's argument that the upgrade did not serve a "public purpose."
One year later, the parties filed a Joint Pretrial Statement, in which they agreed that the "value of the property taken is $7,374.32." At a later evidentiary hearing, the government asserted that no viable issue remained for trial because the district court had previously granted judgment as to the lawfulness of the taking. Sawyer disagreed. The district court then requested supplemental briefing.
With the benefit of the parties' briefing, the district court concluded that no issue remained for trial and granted summary judgment sua sponte in favor of the government. The district court then entered final judgment and apportioned the stipulated value of the easements, $7,374.32, among the "approximately 73 ownership entities." Each entity was assigned compensation according to its percent ownership interest. (Id.) Ownership interests were computed on the basis of the title information supplied by the government. As of final judgment, neither Sawyer nor any other condemnation defendant had disputed such information.1 (Id.) Sawyer filed this appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
Where, as here, the parties do not dispute the amount of compensation, "[t]he only [substantive] question for judicial review in a condemnation proceeding is whether the purpose for which the property was taken is for a Congressionally authorized public use." United States v. 0.95 Acres of Land, 994 F.2d 696, 698 (9th Cir.1993) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). "Once the question of the public purpose has been decided, the amount and character of land to be taken for the project and the need for a particular tract to complete the integrated plan rests in the discretion of the legislative branch." Berman v. Parker, 348 U.S. 26, 36-37, 75 S.Ct. 98, 99 L.Ed. 27 (1954). In addressing Sawyer's challenges, we must assess both prongs of the "public purpose" inquiry set forth in our precedent. First, we must satisfy ourselves that the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator of WAPA enjoy statutory authorization to condemn property interests to construct the Path 15 Upgrade. Second, we must decide whether the Path 15 Upgrade qualifies as a "public use" under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
There is no dispute that, if any federal agency is authorized to acquire land by eminent domain for the purpose of constructing the Path 15 Upgrade, that agency is WAPA. See 42 U.S.C. § 7152(a)(1)(D) (); Department of Energy, Delegation Order No. 00-036.00 (Dec. 6, 2001), available at http://www.directives.doe.gov/pdfs/sdoa/00-036 — 00.pdf (last visited May 28, 2008). The operative question before us, then, is whether Congress ever authorized the construction of the Path 15 Upgrade at all.
Numerous congressional enactments convince us that it did. In 1984, Congress enacted the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act. The Act generally authorized
the Secretary of Energy ... to construct or participate in the construction of such additional facilities as he deems necessary to allow mutually beneficial power sales between the Pacific Northwest and California and to accept funds contributed by nonFederal entities for that purpose.
Pub.L. No. 98-360, tit. III, 98 Stat. 403, 416 (1984) (codified at 16 U.S.C. § 837g-1). This enactment clearly conferred discretion on the Secretary of Energy to construct power lines in the area where the Path 15 Upgrade is located. By citing this statutory provision in the Declaration of Taking, then, the Administrator of WAPA, as delegate of the Secretary, evidently made the discretionary finding that the Path 15 Upgrade would facilitate the consolidation of the Pacific Northwest-California market.
Since passage of this 1984 Act, Congress has repeatedly confirmed its authorization and appropriated funds to develop the Path 15 Upgrade. In the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1985, Congress again authorized...
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