30 April 2008
E-Mails Show Conspiracy to Delay Coal Line Project, DM&E Says
The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad says
e-mails between a paid consultant and landowners opposed to their rail line reconstruction project reveal an orchestrated
effort to string out negotiations while appearing to act in good faith, local newspapers report.
The DM&E wants to buy right-of-way from landowners in Wyoming and western South Dakota so that it can build new tracks
for hauling coal. The railroad has sued about 30 landowners in Wyoming and South Dakota seeking to force the land sales through eminent
domain. To succeed, DM&E must persuade a judge the rail project is in the public's interest and that they negotiated with
landowners in good faith.
In court filings Monday, the railroad asserts the landowners have worked together to frustrate the DM&E through delay tactics and
"a charade of drawn-out negotiations" that create the appearance of cooperation. And the group has done so, the
railroad said, at the direction of the Rochester Coalition, a Minnesota opposition group that includes the Mayo Clinic.
A federal judge is scheduled to hear several days of arguments in the eminent domain case beginning in late May.
In e-mails addressed to the landowners, Marshall Damgaard, a researcher hired by the Mayo Clinic Foundation to work
against the project, offers strategies for delaying the process and making the DM&E look like it's not negotiating in good faith.
One e-mail described "perfect testimony" landowners could give at a 2006 hearing in Pierre about DM&E's
request to use eminent domain.
DM&E said the e-mails are evidence of a campaign against DM&E that's been funded and directed by Rochester
opponents who have no legal standing to fight the project themselves.
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