Does ownership or use indicate whether a facility is for public benefit?
That was the line of questioning the state Supreme Court justices pursued at the oral argument session March 12 in the Reading Area Water Authority v. Schuylkill River Greenway Association case, which involves a municipal power authority that condemned private land under eminent domain for an easement to enable a private company to develop the land. The defendants in the case have argued that the condemnation violated Section 204(a) of the Private Property Protection Act, which prohibits taking private property for the use of private enterprise.
