Public Comment. Volume III - Montana Legislature

EQC Eminent Domain
subcommittee
May 4,2000
Exhibit 11
Eminant Domain Subcommittee
Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, my name is Clint McRae. I am vice president of Rocker Six
Cattle Company of Forsyth.
I am appalled at the voting record of this committee on the subject of eminant domain reform. The last
few meetings have been dominated by paid industry lobbyists and attournys. They have convinced you that
there is no need to reform this antiquated law.
As I have testified previously, we have seen first hand the abuse of eminant domain laws by the Tongue
River Railroad Co. Our first notice by the TRR was a right of entry agreement to survey and do the geo -
technical work along the proposed right of way. This entailed several hollow stem core holes and test pits.
This first notice mentioned their power and right of eminant domain. Their offer for damages to 5 sections
was a flat fee of $ 1000.00. Every landowner received this same offer regardless of the amount of land
effected, whether it was a hundred yards or ten miles. We felt that $1000 was not nearly enough
considering the impact and disruption this work would cause. We sent a counter offer of $5000 per section
or $20,000 for the five sections affected We waited 3 months for a response. When the TRR finally did
respond, they accused us of discontinuing negotiations. Our offer still stood.
On June 18, 1998, we met with a represantitive of Dubray Land Services, an agent of the TRRC. The new
agreement was an offer of $5000. The twist was that $4000 of the total was an advance from the final
right of way agreement. This was not acceptable to us either. I explicitly asked the representative if this
figure was negotiable. He stated that it was NOT! Five days later, we recieved a ten day notice &om
Lucas and Tonn, one of the TRRC's attoumys, stating that if we did not respond to them, they would send
a 2nd notice, enter the land do the work without compensation. None of our concerns such as weeds, fire,
off road travel, mud, and dust and road building were ever acknowleged as points of negotiation by the
TRR. This failure to respond to our concerns is an outright abuse of the eminant domain laws and is a
stark contrast from what you have heard of industry lobbyists at these meetings.
The second item I want to expose is the TRR's mitigation plan. This document is 36 pages long and uses
the word "should" 174 times. This is an average of 5.2 "shoulds" per page. This is our "negotiating
power" mentioned by industry. Please compare this document with mitigation plans for the BLM, DNRC,
W fish hatchery, and the Livestock Experiment Station at Miles City. You will be shocked at the
Wkrewe, yet this committee voted down a resolution that would make private land mitigation equal to
state of federal land. This is an outrage.
The last issue I will mention is, last night, I left my six year old daughter in tears because I am going to
miss her first kindergarten program. I testified at your last meeting in Billings hoping I wouldn't have to
come to Helena and do it again. At that time, I had confidence in this committee to make some needed
changes in this law. I have driven 370 miles, I have paid for my own gas, meals, and motel rooms. I am
not reimbursed as the paid lobbyists in this room will be. Your obligation is to the PUBLIC represented in
this room, NOT to industry. I hope for my daughters sake that I did not take this trip in vain.
Clint McRae
-1 80- Volume Ill: Public Corr~ment