(The Associated Press circulated the following article on August 29.)
RAPID CITY, S.D. — The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad has been sending letters to landowners along new lines that the Sioux Falls-based railroad proposes through western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming.
But in some cases, the landowners aren’t interested.
Smithwick rancher Dale Molitor says the railroad offered him $200 for access to his land for survey crews.
He threw the letter in the garbage.
Molitor and some other ranchers have been fighting the DM&E’s plans for nine years.
Rancher Nancy Darnell of Newcastle, Wyo., said it’s way too early to talk about land acquisition. The railroad is trying to rush people with the letters seeking access, she said.
Jaf Karim, a DM&E spokesman, said the railroad has good working relations with most of the landowners.
But Darnell, of the opposition group Midwest Coalition for Progress, said only about 16 of an estimated 120 landowners who would be affected are working with the railroad.
If the project is approved and financed, DM&E would have the power of eminent domain to condemn and acquire right of way – in most cases a 100-foot strip – from landowners along the route.
Molitor said his plans for building a new house are on hold pending the DM&E rail project’s outcome. Railroad lines would flank both sides of his ranch if the DM&E’s plans proceed, he said.
“I don’t think I want to live between two tracks,” Molitor said.
In 1997, the railroad announced plans for a $1 billion project to fix 600 miles of track and extend the line 260 miles west to the Powder River Basin coal fields in Wyoming to haul coal east. The DM&E wants to build south from its existing line at Wall and head through the Cheyenne River Valley south of the Black Hills and across to Wyoming.
Project costs have risen dramatically. DM&E has applied for a $2.3 billion Federal Railroad Administration loan, and company officials have said the entire project, including trains and other equipment, could cost $6 billion.
The Mid States Coalition for Progress and the Black Hills Sierra Club are among the groups that oppose building new rail and worry about the environmental impact of coal train traffic.
DM&E President Kevin Schieffer said a separate subsidiary, Wyoming Dakota Railroad Properties, will mean more flexibility in financing new construction without affecting the existing railroads finances.
Federal approval of the subsidiary “will expand the universe of investors and will provide more flexibility in structuring some of that $4 billion in private capital investment,” Schieffer said.