It is something that the time has come to ask.  Living in a rural setting, as I do, it is pretty much a no-brainer that people should be allowed a great deal of latitude in deciding what they can and cannot do with their property.  Most people who live in the country, and especially those who farm the land, do a very good job of protecting our natural resources.  However, a new element has recently been added to the equation that I allowing outside financial interests to interfere with and influence what is allowable with respect to our property rights.

No one would argue that a farmer has the right to earn a living off of the land he has worked and owns with the caveat that he does so responsibly.  Most reasonable people would agree that, as long as a landowner does not interfere with the rights of his neighbors, he should be allowed almost unlimited use of his own property.  However, a question is rapidly being forced upon us to answer; when does the right of the landowner, under the influence of outside financial interests, have the right to sell the air above his land?  In fact, does a landowner even have a legal right to obstruct, pollute or interfere with the airspace above his property?

It seems to be taken for granted, at this time, that landowners do, in fact, have control of the airspace above their property.  I would like someone to tell me how far above the surface of the land does a property owner have legal control.  Another question needs to be addressed; does any government agency legally have ownership and control over the air above our heads?

The EPA has been given some control over what is allowed to be placed into the air above our nation, and the federal government can control how aircraft can proceed through it, but does any private business have the legal right to coerce a landowner into selling the airspace above his land?

A question that someone in our local government needs to be asking is, does any person, private interest or government entity have the right to sell the horizon that does not belong to any person or government agency?  I am a responsible landowner, but in my heart, I know that I do not have the right to interfere with another person’s horizon.  If I were to decide that I wished to start sticking 300-foot tall poles across my property and, therefore, pollute the skyline of my neighbors, I should be required to render compensation to those whose horizon I have polluted.  

Our horizons are becoming commercial zones to be sold and traded to the highest bidder.  Most, if not all of those bidders, are non-residents who have little or no connection to our local communities and who wish to enrich themselves at our expense.  Is it not our right, as citizens of this country, to expect our local government agencies to protect us from these outside interests.

We have already witnessed the destruction of a portion of our priceless horizons.  Will we all stand mute until the foreign outsiders have purchased all of our horizons for their own financial gain?  I sincerely hope not.

Capt. Paul Williams

Kenney