Berea College wins yearslong legal battle to protect ‘unique, historical’ forest
A Madison Circuit Court judge sided with Berea College Thursday in its yearslong battle to preserve a beloved research forest against an eminent domain case brought against it by a local power cooperative seeking to build new high-voltage transmission lines.
In a 14-page ruling issued this week, Judge Kristin Clouse found East Kentucky Power Cooperative deliberately ignored “the unique, historical import” of Berea College’s Forest and relied too heavily on expert testimony that prioritized undeveloped land for its 8-mile transmission line and substation project.
“The College Forest has a historical, educational, environmental, and communal significance that is rarely encountered in eminent domain actions,” Clouse wrote.
The co-op said it intends to appeal the decision.
Clouse’s ruling marks a rare victory for environmental advocates under a system of law that usually gives public utilities wide latitude in seizing property for public good. The project, first proposed in 2023, would relieve an overloaded substation delivering power to 1,500 customers in southeastern Madison County. It faced almost immediate backlash from Berea College and members of the community who pleaded with the co-op to consider alternate routes.
The college forest, home to The Pinnacles, a popular hiking destination about an hour’s drive south of Lexington, is among the oldest privately managed forests in the U.S. It hosts Berea’s forestry outreach center and serves as a research facility for faculty and students.
EKPC’s Big Hill Line project would have cut a narrow, 100-foot-wide swath through the hilly, forested landscape near the college’s Windswept conference center, a 1950s home designed by a student of architect Frank Lloyd Wright with sweeping views of the Owsley Fork and rocky knob outcroppings.
“We’re grateful for the court’s thoughtful review and care taken in considering the unique character of the Berea College Forest,” said Cheryl Nixon, college president, in a news release Thursday afternoon. “As we look ahead, we remain committed to stewarding this unique, irreplaceable place of environmental learning, historical significance, regional tourism and community use with the same care and purpose that has guided us for generations.”
Clouse’s finding struck down the computer-aided methodology EKPC employed to determine an efficient route for its transmission line, ruling the co-op acted arbitrarily because it failed to determine whether the route “imposes avoidable and disproportionate harm prior to proceeding with the taking.”
The judge also slighted the co-op for dragging its feet to engage the community on the project.
“I went to the first meeting, and they already had the route mapped out,” sKentucky Environmental Foundation Program Director Craig Williams said. “It was clear that the decision was already made. It was, at the very most, a half-hearted effort to communicate with the public and to communicate with the people most affected, including the college.”
College officials have argued the Big Hill transmission and substation project would threaten delicate watersheds and could interfere with research at its telescope observatory. Local economic and conservation goals, including ecotourism, sustainable forestry practices and habitat restoration depend on the forest’s special, untouched status, the college said.
During a lengthy hearing in February, the college presented witnesses that proposed alternative routes and described the rich geologic and natural history the research forest offers not only the region but the commonwealth, said Joe Childers, a Lexington-based attorney representing the college.
“The forest is a spectacular resource for Kentucky,” he said. “I think the crux of the case came down to the fact that East Kentucky Power, yes, they have a lot of discretion on where they put their transmission facilities, but they failed in this case to adequately consider the land that they were actually proposing to take.”
EKPC has insisted eminent domain, which would give it the right to condemn the property it needs over Berea College’s objections, was a “last resort” after carefully considered other options. Multiple unusually frigid winters have tested the co-op’s power delivery system, and rerouting the new transmission lines more than 20 miles will cost customers more.
The co-op already settled with other landowners Madison and Jackson counties, but Berea and a handful more in the region were the few remaining holdouts.
Co-op testimony during the February hearing emphasized how power delivery was in the best interest of customers and officials were open and willing to work with the college to reduce disruptions.
“The Big Hill to Three Links transmission line is an important project to maintain reliable service for thousands of electric cooperative members in southeastern Madison County,” sNick Cromer, the co-op’s external affairs manager, said in a statement to the Herald-Leader. “EKPC took an objective approach to siting the transmission line to minimize the overall impact on property owners, the environment and cooperative members.”
In her ruling Thursday, Clouse said EKPC ignored evidence presented by the college that its forest has intrinsic value as “an area known for its unrivaled beauty in the Commonwealth” and its views would be “materially disrupted by the installation of a 50-foot transmission line without the exercise of careful, reasoned discretion.
“The failure to exercise discretion is, in itself, an abuse of discretion,” she wrote.
This story was originally published April 2, 2026 at 1:59 PM.
