Today, the Greene County Historical Society is hosting Coffee and Conversation about a controversial topic regarding eminent domain.

Historical Society member Margaret Hamilton says the guest speaker is going to be Thomas Laehn, the Greene County Attorney. Earlier this year, the Iowa Legislature passed a bill requiring certain items to be reached before a company could become eligible to use eminent domain on agriculture land for underground pipeline projects. However, Governor Kim Reynolds vetoed the bill. The bill was going through the legislative process as a company was applying for its second construction permit from the Iowa Utilities Commission to build an underground carbon dioxide pipeline, which is proposed to go through Greene County.

Hamilton tells Raccoon Valley Radio why the historical society wanted to spotlight a topic like this.

“Well the county has taken a position on eminent domain and Thomas Laehn was the guiding force behind that. And he just knows a lot about eminent domain, he’s researched it and he is very interested in it. We had no trouble booking him for this, he was glad to come and he’s got some handouts for people.” 

Today’s program begins at 2pm and is free and open to the public..