Electric Vehicle Scheme Makes State Lots Of Money – Black Farmers, Not So Much

It's no secret that governments are eager to follow the latest industrial policy fads and do so with all the tools they have available. The current craze for green energy production is one such example, where states are deploying tax incentives, handouts and more to battery producers in hopes those green jobs (and the ample opportunities for political glad-handing) will follow.

But Tennessee is going a step further, using its power of eminent domain to seize property from a group of Black farmers who happen to stand in the way of all this green progress.  As the Tennessee Lookout's Anita Wadhwani writes:

According to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the state is seeking 35 separate tracts, either through purchase or eminent domain, in order to construct a series of road connections and widenings that will link the 4,100-acre BlueOval Ford campus to the new Exit 39 off I-40 to accommodate throngs of workers and truck traffic.

Thus far, the state has taken possession of 15 tracts — two through court proceedings, Nichole Lawrence, a spokesperson said. Of the remaining 20 tracks, Lawrence said the state is in negotiation with property owners. It's unclear how many land owners the state has sued. In Haywood County alone, court records show, the state has filed seven lawsuits seeking to take property for the new interchange.

As is usual in eminent domain cases, government offers rock-bottom prices for the land it wants and, if the offer is refused, heads to court to get it.

The reason is, as it always is, the promise of jobs and further economic development:

The Ford plant is expected to employ 6,000 workers at the plant and indirectly add more than 25,000 jobs to local communities. The state has pledged nearly $1 billion in taxpayer incentives — including funding for infrastructure that includes the I-40 interchange — in order to lure Ford's investment to the area.

And if your land happens to be in the way of all that lucre? Too bad for you. But Tennessee isn't the only state that's revving up the eminent domain machine to take land and give it to battery manufacturers. As Reason's Joe Lancaster writes:

In neighboring North Carolina, Vietnamese automaker VinFast is building an E.V. factory on rural land. In addition to providing $1.2 billion in financial incentives, the North Carolina government is currently trying to take 27 homes, five businesses, and a church using eminent domain.

It doesn't matter if Team Red or Team Blue is running the political show. If trendy jobs and big corporate names are at stake, both will use the public purse, as well as property seizures, to land them.

Property rights are fundamental to the rest of our rights. Weaken property rights – or as in the cases above, shove them aside in pursuit of legal plunder – and liberty suffers.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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