KELO, THE RIGHT'S BEST FRIEND:

Last August, Craig Vanderhoef, a former Navy captain who retired to a farm near Afton in Nelson County, got a fateful letter from Dominion Resources.

The Richmond-based utility wanted to survey his property to help plot a route for a $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline that would transport natural gas from hydraulic fracturing (known as "fracking") in West Virginia to the coast. It would stretch 550 miles over the Appalachian Mountains southeastward into Virginia and North Carolina.

Vanderhoef wrote two letters back saying no. Then, at 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 16, he got a nasty surprise. A sheriff's deputy knocked on his door to serve him with legal notice that he was being sued by Dominion, which was demanding access to his property. "Now, I have to get a lawyer," said the 72-year-old.

Dominion plans to sue 240 Virginia landowners to force survey access for the pipeline. Nelson County residents are not used to industrial projects -- or being pushed around. Grass-roots groups quickly protested. The utility lost points locally when it mistakenly filed suit against 14 local property owners, including David Brooks, the county sheriff.

The dilemma strikes at the heart of eminent domain issues. Individual property rights had previously been regarded as sacrosanct in a state that worships Thomas Jefferson. But the situation has changed as fracking stirs a race for markets and profits.

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