A tiny Georgia city that is battling a utility co-op’s efforts to erect 100-foot poles and string high-voltage power lines through land designated for a nature preserve has asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to decide whether public utilities can use their powers of eminent domain to condemn public land.
Mansfield, a city of 600 people about 40 miles east of Atlanta in Newton County is trying to impose limits on the condemnation powers of the Georgia Transmission Corp. (GTC), which has bulldozers that are already carving out a 100-foot right of way for high-voltage lines slated to pass through 14 acres of woodlands owned by the city and at least one of its historic neighborhoods.
