In PUD No.1 of Okanogan County v. Peter Goldmak, Commissioner of Public Lands, No. 88949-0, the Washington Supreme Court ended a protracted dispute about the PUD’s authority to condemn an easement over the largest tract of publicly owned land in the Methow Valley for a high voltage transmission line The land was granted to the state in trust for the support of a common school fund and is currently leased for grazing. When Washington’s lands commissioner Peter Goldmark lost his effort to stop the condemnation in the Superior Court, then-Attorney General Rob McKenna refused to challenge the court’s decision on appeal. The Washington Court ordered McKenna to represent Goldmark on appeal. Three years later, the Supreme Court ruled that the PUD is “expressly authorized” to install electrical transmissions lines through state trust lands under RCW 54.16.050. A present or prospective public use (e.g., education) does not categorically exempt the property from being condemned for another, consistent public use (e.g., power transmission).
