FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 4, 2015
Contact:
Jane Kleeb, 402-705-3622, jane@boldnebraska.org
Following Keystone XL Rejection, Judge Dismisses Landowners’
Lawsuit Against TransCanada
Landowners, Bold Nebraska to take fight to get unconstitutional law
LB 1161 off the books to the Legislature
O’Neill, NE — Judge Mark Kosizek on Friday dismissed the lawsuit brought by landowners in Holt County against TransCanada and the unconstitutional pipeline siting law passed by the Legislature as a handout to the foreign corporation, LB 1161.
“The legislature broke this, so they must be the ones to fix it,” said Bold Nebraska director Jane Kleeb. “In our state we have two paths a pipeline company can take to get a route reviewed — a political path through the Governor’s office, or a public path through the Public Service Commission. The legislature needs to get the politics out of pipelines, and repeal LB 1161 which was a handout to the foreign company TransCanada from the beginning.”
Judge Kosizek dismissed the case because after Keystone XL’s rejection by President Obama, TransCanada gave up on all of its eminent domain condemnation claims, and the judge found the landowners’ case to now be moot.
Bold Nebraska and landowners will continue to press the Legislature to repeal the unconstitutional LB 1161, and begin a serious dialogue about fair treatment of landowners on issues including better easement terms, liability, annual payments, and removal of pipelines at companies’ cost.
Background on the landowners’ lawsuit:
https://boldnebraska.org/landowners-take-legal-action-in-face-of-eminent-domain-threats-from-transcanada
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