It's not like they just come by and tell you to get the fuck out, they pay you what it's worth. In some rare cases the "greater good" is deemed to supersede your "propertay rights" unfortunately.

Eminent domain to prevent for example that one stubborn old fucker (you know the type) from holding up a multi-billion dollar project.


I am all for the pipeline, it will be an asset to Montana for oil production, but they are trying to sneak it in.

"The comment period is more than half over and the application isn't even available online," said Lyle Quick, a member of Northern Plains Resource Council, McCone County rancher and former county commissioner. "To see the application, you have to contact the State Department and ask them to mail a CD to you. And that's if you even know we're in a comment period."

Quick said that last week he caught surveyors trespassing on his sister's, Lyla Green's, place. "They said they were surveying (a two-track farm trail) claiming it might one day be a road across her property used to haul pipe to the construction site," Quick said.

"Landowners around here have no information about the pipeline," he added.

Notice that the permit application had been filed and the 30-day public comment period had begun was published in the Federal Register on Election Day, when the public was occupied with voting and following election results. Because the notice was written unclearly, even members of the public who saw the notice may not know that they are permitted to comment. For example, in the Federal Notice, the Department of State says it is "circulating this application to concerned federal agencies for comment." The notice did not state that the department is circulating the application for public comment.

"This is a major project consisting of a 36-inch buried pipe transporting a proposed 750,000 barrels of tar sands oil every day. The process should not be started with an attempt to squeeze this application in at the last minute under the current administration," said David Neimi, a member of Dakota Rural Action who is a South Dakota landowner potentially impacted by the project.

The Presidential Permit is required for the Keystone XL pipeline to cross the Canadian-U.S. border and starts an important permitting process which includes an Environmental Impact Statement for the entire proposed 1,900-mile length of the project. This Presidential Permit process is important for landowners to participate in so that they are not shut out of future chances to comment on the EIS for the proposed pipeline.

[link to www.greendirectorymontana.com]