Eminent domain nothing to scoff at
I am tired of seeing all the TV ads criticizing Donald Trump about eminent domain. Mr. Trump defends eminent domain by saying the interstate highway system or the Keystone Pipeline would not happen without eminent domain. Mr. Trump and most of the voters did not live during WW II as have I.
If you read some history of WW II, you would discover that many historians credit the use of eminent domain for the construction of the Big Inch/Little Inch Pipeline that helped win WW II for the free world. When WW II began, all fuels like oil and gas were transported via railroads from Texas to the industrial northeast for use and to be shipped overseas as at that time the U.S. supplied over 50 percent of fuel for the world.
From Jan. 11 to Feb. 28, 1942, the German U-boats sank 73 ships transporting oil and gas off the east coast. So the pipeline was conceived and in just 300 days it was constructed by the use of eminent domain and a partnership between industry and the government. It was built over mountains, through swamps, backyards, under 30 rivers including the Mississippi.
After the war, the pipeline was sold to a private company and for 74 years it has supplied the industrial Northeast.
Bob Boland, North Myrtle Beach
This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Eminent domain nothing to scoff at."