Keystone XL Already Threatening US Farmers, Ranchers W. Condemnation For Pipeline Route

[hatrack]

A Canadian company has been threatening to confiscate private land from South Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico, and is already suing many who have refused to allow the Keystone XL pipeline on their property even though the controversial project has yet to receive federal approval.

Randy Thompson, a cattle buyer in Nebraska, was informed that if he did not grant pipeline access to 80 of the 400 acres left to him by his mother along the Platte River, “Keystone will use eminent domain to acquire the easement.” Sue Kelso and her large extended family in Oklahoma were sued in the local district court by TransCanada, the pipeline company, after she and her siblings refused to allow the pipeline to cross their pasture.

“Their land agent told us the very first day she met with us, you either take the money or they’re going to condemn the land,” Mrs. Kelso said. By its own count, the company currently has 34 eminent domain actions against landowners in Texas and an additional 22 in South Dakota.

In addition to enraging those along the proposed pipeline’s 1,700-mile path, the tactics have many people questioning whether a foreign company can pressure landowners without a permit from the State Department — the agency charged with determining whether the project is in the “national interest.” A decision is expected by year’s end on the pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Alberta to American refineries.

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/us/transcanada-in-eminent-domain-fight-over-pipeline.html?_r=1

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. The more I read about this project, the angrier it makes me.

How dare that Canadian company make such threats.

Somehow, some way, they must be stopped.

Recommended.

[madrchsod]

2. seems like the right wing nut jobs would be pissed off about....

losing their sovereignty to a foreign power.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I think they care more about the jobs this generates.

[leftyohiolib]

4. lots of jobs could be created by deciding to cut down every tree

in the u.s. doesnt mean it should be done. im not implying/inferring that you agree with the statement.

[Rainbowreflect]

5. I was at the public hearings on this in Lincoln, NE.

It was interesting the people speaking against the pipeline. There were environmentalist, farmers, ministers, students and even some union people. Young, old, men, women, conservative and liberal. The majority speaking in support were not from Nebraska, besides the politicians of course, but bused in union people.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. That does not surprise me at all...

The folks from the outside don't have to live with the long-term environmental consequences of this mess.

They want the jobs, and I understand that. It doesn't make it right, though.

[TwilightGardener]

7. I guess I just don't understand how a foreign company can take US citizens' land

by eminent domain. That just seems massively fucked up somehow.