By Steve Browne
Valley City Times-Record

    District Judge John Paulson granted TransCanada/Keystone’s motion for an order to enter on lands to perform survey last Friday, April 18.
    Keystone is attempting to survey a proposed pipeline route through parts of Barnes County, as part of a project to build a pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma. A motion to enter for survey is the first step in the eminent domain process of seizing land for an easement.
    The proposed route is opposed by landowners and environmentalists who fear contamination of soil and water in the Sheyenne River drainage area.
    Landowner Ramona Klein, represented by her attorney John Gosbee, and Klein’s brother Richard Starke appeared to contest the order. Other defendants named in the original motion have settled or registered no objection to the survey.
    Gosbee argued the district court had no jurisdiction, no money had been deposited for  compensation for taking under eminent domain, that Keystone was not a common carrier under the law, Keystone’s conduct was inequitable and attempted to enter circumstantial evidence that  Keystone employees were using heavy-handed and intimidating tactics.
    Klein brought her damaged mailbox to court, which she said had been vandalized in the early morning after a man identifying himself as “Lyle” driving a beat-up pickup truck and claiming to be a Keystone employee had attempted to talk to her about the pipeline route.
    Starke spoke about safety issues involving the pipeline and its effect on agricultural land and the watershed. Starke said Keystone had lied to the Public Services Commission about the existence of drain culverts on the proposed pipeline route leading to the Sheyenne River.    Lawyers for Keystone argued the motion was for an order to survey, not seize, and questions of compensation were not relevant at this point.  They denied claims of wrongdoing. Though admitting that inadvertent trespass on Starke’s land had taken place, said it was a misunderstanding and had apologized for it.

For full story, see Tuesday's edition of the Valley City Times-Record.