Leslie Kaufman and Dan Frosh: Eminent Domain Has Canadian Twist.

A Canadian company has been threatening to confiscate private land from South Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico, and is already 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 first day she met with us, you either tale 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. A government official with knowledge of the permitting process, who would address the issue only on condition of anonymity said: "It is presumptuous for the company to take on eminent domain cases before there is any decision made."