Pipeline fight: Bill dies in committee

RICHMOND – A bill put forth by a local legislator – which called for public service corporations attempting to use eminent domain be subject to Virginia's Freedom of Information Act on projects where eminent domain is claimed – died in committee Thursday afternoon, according to a press release.

House Bill 1696 was patroned by Del. Dickie Bell, R-Staunton, and centered around Dominion Power and the company's eminent domain authority for its controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

The bill would have made all documents related to Dominion's proposed pipeline open to public inspection.

On Thursday, the bill came before the full House Committee on Commerce and Labor, which voted to "lay the bill on the table," a parliamentary procedure that killed the bill, according to the press release from Del. Bell.

"I am disappointed that the Commerce and Labor committee did not see fit to advance this legislation," Bell said in the press release. "This was a common sense measure that would have increased the transparency of the eminent domain process. Our citizens have the right to know what is being done on or with their property. It seems only fair and right that when the authority of the government is given to a private entity that they be subject to the same oversight and accountability."

Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge County, made a motion, and Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle County, seconded an initial motion that would have reported the bill out of committee and sent it to the full House of Delegates for consideration, the press release said. A substitute motion was then made to table the bill.

Although HB 1696 is dead, Sen. Emmett Hanger, R Mount Solon, has an identical piece of legislation, Senate Bill 1166, that is still working its way through the Senate process, according to the press release.