RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - A remote 160-acre plot of rolling
rangeland in northwest South Dakota has been purchased by a company
that plans an oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. purchased the land for $48,000 in
Butte County last week at an auction.
The land had been taken over by the county in 1993. It's along
the route of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The county decided
to offer the land for sale to the pipeline company rather than
negotiating an easement.
TransCanada was the sole bidder. Butte County Commission
Chairman Steve Smeenk says the sale will put the property back on
the county's tax rolls.
The pipeline would carry crude extracted from tar sands near
Hardisty to the Gulf Coast via Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska,
Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. A spur also is planned to tap into
North Dakota's oil patch.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-09-18-11 1008EDT
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