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Keystone XL Builder Ends Two Eminent Domain Proceedings in Nebraska

Here’s a quick reminder of why conservatives like Kristi Noem should have been fighting the Keystone XL pipeline all along: on Monday, a judge in Nebraska approved an agreement to end a foreign corporation’s effort to invoke state force to seize two Nebraska families’ land for private gain:

Opponents of the now-scuttled Keystone XL pipeline hailed an agreement between a Canadian company and Nebraska landowners to terminate the company’s efforts to condemn their land.

On Monday, a Madison County District Court judge accepted an agreement between TC Energy Corp and the Johnson and Herrick families to rescind condemnation proceedings.

…Mark Hefflinger, also with Bold Nebraska, said about 60 landowners were in a situation similar to the Herrick and Johnson families. He said pipeline opponents hope that TC Energy will reach similar agreements with the other families [Nancy Gaarder, “Keystone XL Pipeline Opponents Hail End to Eminent Domain Effort,” Scottsbluff Star Herald, 2021.09.29].

Alleged conservatives Kristi Noem and Donald Trump wanted Americans to give up their private property rights to TransCanada. In rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden both protected the private property rights of American citizens against a predatory foreign corporation.

5 Comments

  1. Mark Winegar 2021-09-30 19:05

    Persistence pays off!

  2. Mark Anderson 2021-09-30 19:07

    We haven’t warred with Canada since 1814, we love them.

  3. ArloBlundt 2021-09-30 20:16

    Well…a wonderful development…justice can prevail.

  4. larry kurtz 2021-10-01 07:10

    Only 3 percent of the Earth’s land surface remains untouched by human development and a sixth mass extinction is underway.

    Urban sprawl, accelerated global warming and drought are reducing productivity on the remaining grasslands of the Great Plains, writes Dr. Jeff Martin. He’s the Director of Research at the Center of Excellence for Bison Studies at South Dakota State University. In July, Turner Enterprises, Inc. and Turner Ranches announced the launch of the Turner Institute of Ecoagriculture, Inc. a 501(c)(3) public charity and agricultural research organization that will share a formal agreement, facilities and staff with the Center of Excellence for Bison Studies. Turner’s one million acres in New Mexico makes him the state’s largest private landowner and his 141,357 acre Bad River Ranches earns him the top private landowner spot in my home state of South Dakota, too. His daughter, Laura Turner Seydel was jubilant after defeat of the pipeline.

    The same geology that thwarts railroads and forces engineers to rebuild I-90 between Reliance and Rapid City and I-94 between Mandan, North Dakota and Billings, Montana and the track between Fort Pierre and Wasta every year also makes construction of the Keystone XL pipeline untenable.

  5. Paulene 2021-10-01 18:03

    Does anyone know if a private foreign corporation can use eminent domain in the United States. I am a landowner involved in the DM&E Railroad boondoggle from the late 1990’s until 2007. The SD Dept of Transportation granted DM&E the right to acquire property by eminent domain. When DM&E could not get financial backing or a government “loan” , they sold to Canadian Pacific RR in 2007. The Dept of Transportation then granted CP the right to use eminent domain without a public hearing and with NO contact with affected landowners by CP. In 2012, CP sold their SD rail line to Genesee &WY but retained the right to build new line for 280 miles to the Powder River Basin coal fields in WY. Earlier this year, I asked Joel Jundt, SD sec of Transportation, how long that right would last and he said “Forever.” Doesn’t seem right to me.

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