Landowners brace for eminent domain fight with foreign backers of power line

From the Great Falls Tribune.com - Larry Salois, who is French and Cree Indian, slips on a pair of moccasins, and then walks to a spot on his land near Cut Bank, where he circles a ring of rocks in the ground. The rocks mark the outline of a historic tepee ring, probably Blackfeet, according to Salois. "I consider this somewhat of a sacred area," said Salois, explaining his change in footwear. Tonbridge Power Inc. of Toronto, Canada, values the land, too, which is owned by Salois' 83-year-old mother, Shirley. The company plans to erect 90-foot-tall poles on the property as part of a 215-mile transmission line for electricity it is building from Lethbridge, Alberta, to Great Falls. The company has filed a condemnation complaint on the Salois land to gain access it says is needed for the greater good, but Larry Salois is digging in his heels. He disputes the claim that the project is in the public interest, and he isn't sure whether Tonbridge, which is a for-profit private company based in a foreign country, even has the right to condemn the land. Read more
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