Fenn Church has refused to kiss the ring in the most significant eminent domain battle unfolding in the United States. Facing a permanent loss of control over his rural 416-acre property to an Alabama Power Company (APCO) transmission line, Church is all-in for a fight to the finish.
APCO, a for-profit utility company, is claiming sovereignty over Church’s ground, and by admission in a court motion, claim the power to do the same to any private property.
“Think about where we are,” Church emphasizes. “Openly and publicly, we are watching a utility company claim sovereignty over the Constitution and our God-given rights.”
“They believe they can take the apple, leave behind a core, destroy value forever, and we’ll all go along and pretend it’s OK. I don’t and I won’t. This is not only about my land in the big picture,” Church insists. “More of these power lines are coming, not only across Alabama but to every state in our nation. Maybe, across your land and home. It’s way past time for everyone to wake up.”
APCO timber crews are already clearing trees across Church’s pristine property. His case may set a heavyweight precedent. Every utility, corporation, investment company, land organization, and legal eagle is waiting to see which way the wind ultimately blows across Church’s property.
“Power companies rarely come up against a private landowner willing to fight long-term in court,” he says. “I’m telling the simple truth about what Alabama Power has done to steamroll folks, ignore environmental protections, erase the Fourth Amendment, and ignore a reasonable solution for everyone.”
It’s Goliath, meet David, as politicians, farm organizations, and land groups remain silent.
Lock, Stock, and Barrel
It ranks among the starkest ironies of eminent domain: The more a landowner preserves and protects acreage, the more appealing it becomes for takeover.
In central Alabama’s Shelby County, outside Calera, Church lives on 416 rolling acres of wooded ground, including heavy old-growth hardwoods, a 27-acre lake, and multiple deer and turkey plots, all split by the clear flow of rock-bottomed Buxahatchee Creek. The 416 acres are veined by dirt-gravel roads, meticulously tended by Church.
“It was my road system that really caught their eye at first,” says Church, with one foot planted in an agriculture background of cotton and peanuts, and the other in the business realm of transportation and trucking. “That’s initially why Alabama Power wanted my land so badly.”
(Citing pending litigation, APCO declined Agweb requests for an interview regarding Fenn Church’s property and the company’s use of eminent domain.)
In late 2023, Church received a letter from APCO. “They said they needed to come on my property because of the path of a new power line. They said they needed to use my roads to get to my neighbor’s place to find the best path for this line.”
“I told them, ‘You have my permission.’ I’ve never been anti-power company or anti-technological improvements. My instinct was to be honest. The property behind me, south of Buxahatchee Creek, was a clearcut of timber, and it was about as ideal a spot for power lines as could be. I believed Alabama Power would want it. Afterwards, I didn’t hear from them for a year.”
APCO was in a time-crunch triggered by a 74-mile, $248 million transmission line from Autauga County to Shelby County, intended to supply 1.6 million customers and new data centers between Montgomery and Birmingham. Construction completion is set for May 2027, and Church’s property is among the last dominoes in the chain.
In January 2025, APCO made Church an offer: $80,000 for a total property easement and power line. Lock, stock, and barrel.
“They wanted access to all my roads, even to my driveway where I live. They wanted to cut across my land and remove all my 250-year-old oaks for 600 yards and 125’ wide. They wanted to clear out all danger trees outside the 125’. They wanted forever access, including the right to lease the corridor to other telecommunications companies. They wanted it all for $80,000.”
In 2019 the Alabama State Legislature enacted a law, HB 400, that allows electric power companies to lease their easements to other telecommunications companies, including cell towers, broadband, and fiber optic providers. “Therefore, Alabama Power can obtain an income stream of their own, unregulated by the Alabama Public Service Commission, using my property,” Fenn details. “I am still responsible for paying the property tax on the total acreage including their revenue producing easement. This could have been a stream of income for the landowner.”
While Church declined APCO offers for the power line on his property, he consistently pointed APCO toward a timber company clearcut behind his land. “Alabama Power refused to move their line plans and said it was impossible. Little did I know at the time. Little did I know.”
Fight and Finance
What Church didn’t know, he’d discover in subsequent litigation: APCO had 60 bends in the 74-mile line, for an average of 1.23 diversion bends per mile. “That meant that they made 60 exceptions to the straight transmission line but did not give me the same consideration for my two requests to relocate the line in February 2025 and February 2026. The section of the transmission line that runs through my property is a 4.5-mile-long straight tangent. Based on the same ratio as the remainder of the transmission line, my section should have had 3.67 bends. All that I requested were two bends to go around my property and this was not afforded to me.”
“I never chased away the company. All I asked for was a route of accommodation to move the line toward the clearcut. And in the beginning, I didn’t have a clue that they had moved the line in 60 other locations, and they sure didn’t tell me. Instead, they insisted on coming right through my wetlands that are jam-packed with endangered and threatened species to remove all the old trees to bare ground. I’ll say it out loud: What would happen if a farmer or private landowner attempted the same thing in an environmentally sensitive area? We all know they’d likely be prosecuted.”
“This is all a cost issue for Alabama Power,” Fenn continues. “The least amount of wire, the least amount of maintenance, the least amount of effort, and the least amount of common-sense logic. There’s a right place for transmission lines and you don’t go put them across people’s homes, especially when another option is staring you in the face. We have a Fourth Amendment protecting the privacy of our homes and property. This is not and was never, by any means, a proper use of eminent domain. Eminent Domain should be used as a last resort, as the law is written, and not a first resort to steal someone’s home and property.”
After its initial $80,000 offer in January 2025, APCO raised its offer to $132,000 in September. Church still refused.
“I was clear from the start. I looked Alabama Power’s easement negotiator in the eye and said, ‘I’m just asking for a reasonable move of the line.’ I told them I was willing to fight the proposed placement. It’s my home, diminution of value, and privacy of my property.”
“I’m 60 years old. I worked all my life to earn what I have, and all I’m asking for is a little common sense. Instead, Alabama Power wants to put roads all through my land; take easements so the entire thing is controlled by them; destroy my value forever; cut down my beautiful oaks; disturb wetlands; leave me with what’s left; and then run over me if I dare to protest.”
On May 26, 2026, Church received a final offer: $192,000. The next day, leaving for work, he found a process server waiting at his property gate. He was sued, by APCO, for property condemnation.
“I got their last offer on the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend. On Wednesday morning, they sued me. That should tell you how big a hurry they were in and what they expected to happen.”
A Shiny Red Apple
Court didn’t proceed as APCO planned.
After two days of testimony in Shelby County Circuit Court, Judge Jonathan Spann granted a temporary injunction on September 22, blocking APCO from entering Church’s land.
“Right in front of Judge Spann, Alabama Power’s attorneys were extremely arrogant. They acted like a private landowner challenging them in court was automatically wrong. Judge Spann didn’t see it that way. All he was interested in was the evidence.”
“Alabama Power viewed my 416 contiguous acres like a piece of clean canvas. They wanted to put all these easements through it and divide it into six parcels.”
“That’s devastating to value for my heirs. I used this analogy in Judge Spann’s court, and Alabama power lawyers tried to stop me, but he let me continue. Comparing my land to a shiny red apple: Alabama Power wants to take a bite out of it. Then, all these other dozen companies, using Alabama Power’s easement, also get their bite. I’m left with a core.’”
Yet, APCO testified that Church’s property would see no significant diminution in value. “That was their genuine position from their appraiser. However, I had a 40-year veteran appraiser that calculated significantly more diminution value damage to my property. How could anyone believe that the value would remain the same and an apple core is worth the same as a whole shiny red apple?”
Show the World
On September 28, 2026, APCO filed an Emergency Reconsideration Motion, asking Spann to lift the injunction. APCO attorneys stated in their motion, “All private property is subject to condemnation for public use. “[T]he sovereign power of eminent domain is inherent in government as such, requiring no constitutional recognition, and is as indestructible as the state itself; and ‘that all private property, tangible and intangible, is held subject to the exercise of the right by the sovereign power….” Adirondack Ry. v. New York
“Listen to those extraordinary words,” Church says. “They’re saying they are sovereign. Literally, they’re declaring they can do anything. But it didn’t succeed in Shelby County Circuit Court. I’m blessed with two brilliant attorneys, Martin Evans and Jay Welborn, and these guys know how to defend the Constitution.”
APCO, on October 1, appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court, seeking access to Church’s acreage. APCO filed again on October 14 and emphasized major ramifications: Every condemnation lawyer in the State is watching this case. If this new preliminary injunction procedure is allowed to stand, multiple injunctions will grind every highway, road, and transmission line project to a halt.
“Look at those scare tactics,” Church contends. “Alabama Power is not concerned about right and wrong. They’re only worried about how my case might affect other eminent domain cases. They don’t want the public to know how they operate. I’m not afraid, and I’ll tell everyone right now: If I lose the injunction, and they start cutting my trees, the news media is going to show the world. Alabama Power Company will end up with the worst negative perception in the public eye they have ever received.”
Silence on the Sidelines
Via an October 21 ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court, APCO was granted access to Church’s ground, and rushed to begin timber cutting on October 22. (Justices Alisa Kelli Wise, Will Sellers, Brady Mendheim, Sarah Hicks Stewart and Will Parker concurred, voting in APCO’s favor. Justice Chris McCool dissented. Justices Greg Cook and Greg Shaw recused.)
However, long-term, the case will bounce back to Circuit Court. Church’s legal fight has caught the ear of heavyweight country music star and songwriter John Rich, a major league advocate of property rights, and Special Envoy for American Landowners within USDA. “I’ve been backed by John Rich, and I can’t thank him enough. He is the real deal and doesn’t seek any attention or credit beyond helping landowners. He’s helped take my case into the public eye in ways I could never have imagined.”
Beyond Rich, Church says most high-profile individuals and organizations have gone silent.
“I’ve been a conservative Republican my entire life. I’ve donated to various politicians and organizations for the longest time, but they’ve all gone quiet. Katie Britt, Tommy Tuberville, Barry Moore. I called and I sent letters. I have spoken with them personally. Not one of them has come to my land to see what is going on. Not one of them has put an end to this disastrous route and they all have the ability to convince APCO to move the line. The only ones willing to truly help have been my state Republican Senator Lance Bell, and Phillip Ensler, a Democrat running for lieutenant governor, who even visited twice to see my issue firsthand. I don’t care if you’re red, blue, or purple. This is the most important issue that has happened to me in my lifetime, and I’ve needed political assistance. I’m standing with the politicians that are standing with me on this issue. I hope everyone else pays attention because their homes and farmland could be next. This is happening everywhere and if you don’t pay attention now, you will regret it later.”
Church notes a paradox of eminent domain. It never seems to reach the land, he says, of those who wield it or allow its use: senators, representatives, judges, or the politically connected.
“I know how politics work. I know what’s going on when everyone from the farm associations, the forestry organizations, and the nature groups all stay on the sidelines.”
“Let me finish with a warning for us all in farming, forestry, and environmental conservation. You must stand up to Alabama Power and other similar utilities using eminent domain in any other manner than a last resort. It is a popular political position to stand with Alabama Power in this state on many other issues. However, I can assure you that Alabama Power Company’s long-term goals are not going to align with these organizations and their members in the near future. Say something now or wish you had later at a breaking point.”
“I’ve seen what’s on the books for building transmission lines chasing data centers in Alabama for the next five and 10 years. There’s going to be a whole lot of landowners in my situation. That goes for the entire country.”
For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:
Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told
How the Deep State Tried, and Failed, to Crush an American Farmer
Game of Horns: Iowa Poacher’s Antler Addiction Leads to Historic Bust
Ghost Cattle: $650M Ponzi Rocks Livestock Industry, Money Still Missing
When Conservation Backfires: Landowner Defeats Feds in Mindboggling Private Property Case
