South Dakota landowners hit with $1 million in liens during Keystone XL road dispute

RAPID CITY, S.D. - Brandenburg Drainage filed 23 mechanic's liens totaling $1.01 million against Meade County landowners in mid-March, leaving recipients shocked and upset.

Seven of the liens were released Wednesday, March 27, without any public explanation, after a flurry of communications during preceding days among landowners, lawyers and the three companies involved in the situation. The three companies are Brandenburg Drainage; Diamond Willow Energy in New Town, North Dakota; and TransCanada in Alberta.

TransCanada has an agreement with Meade County to improve and maintain county roads that would be subjected to truck and equipment traffic during the construction of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL crude-oil pipeline. The controversial pipeline, which has been in pre-construction limbo because of litigation brought by its opponents, would pass through western South Dakota en route from Canada to Nebraska.

When Rod Ingalls opened his letter in early March, he “just about fainted.” When Lyle Weiss opened his, he “couldn’t believe it.” JT Vig got “fuming mad.”

Read more: https://www.inforum.com/business/energy-and-mining/997839-South-Dakota-landowners-hit-with-1-million-in-liens-during-Keystone-XL-road-dispute