Nebraska rancher fighting Keystone XL to protect land, water, and property rights

RandyThompson

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Wednesday March 05, 2014 · 12:55 PM PST

2014/03/05 · 12:55

(Randy Thompson is a Nebraska rancher and one of three plaintiffs who sued the state over the use of eminent domain by TransCanada to force them to give up their land for the Keystone XL pipeline. Their lawsuit victory has effectively stopped the process in Nebraska, as there currently exists no approved route or eminent domain power to seize land for the pipeline. Photo at right by Mitch Paine.)

In the fall of 2007 I had my first contact with TransCanada.

One day the phone rang, on the other end was a young land agent that I had never heard of before. For some reason he seemed to think that it was urgent for him to meet with myself and my two siblings to discuss a pipeline project that might affect our family farm.

Little did I know at the time that this phone call would set off a series of events that would turn my life upside down, leading me into a multi-year battle to protect our land and property rights from not only a foreign corporation but also from our own elected officials.

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