USA v. SAWYER
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in USA v. SAWYER, No. 05-17347, an appeal in a civil action against the United States. The panel consisted of William C. Canby, Jr. and Milan D. Smith, Jr., Circuit Judges, and Stephen G. Larson, District Judge.
CANBY, Circuit 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. BACKGROUND 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 . . .