Wednesday, September 14, 2016

North Dakota Landowner Wins Easement Battle Against Oil Company

James and Krista Botsford (Credit: www.greenbaypressgazette.com) Click to Enlarge.
Representatives from a multinational oil company persistently called James Botsford, wanting to run a 24-inch pipeline through farmland owned by James and Krista Botsford.  The callers were not selling anything, but wanted the Botsfords to sell a right of way through their North Dakota land.  This pipeline would push 300,000 barrels of oil a day to ports in Superior Wisconsin.  The crude oil, pumped straight from the Bakken Oil Fields, could not be sold on the world market until it was processed at refineries on Lake Superior.
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The Botsfords fought legally, and Tuesday the oil company lost in an appeal to the Supreme Court of North Dakota.

In an email statement the Botsfords thanked their legal team and issued a plea for the environment and those fighting similar battles.
My wife and I are so pleased with this outcome.  It is a complete victory for our case.  Once Enbridge abandoned their interest in taking our land and agreed to pay our attorney fees there was really nothing left to fight about in our case.  However, there are many more property owners out there in the path of giants like Enbridge.  People who want to stop this horrible rush to extract the worst of the fossil fuels and the spewing of unheard of amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.  And people who just simply believe a corporation should not be able to take your private property for their for-profit purposes.  In our case we had firm commitments on both issues.  We hope this victory will encourage others who want to take a stand on one or both of these important issues.  David can beat Goliath.
Read more at North Dakota Landowner Wins Easement Battle Against Oil Company

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