ABOUT THE EASEMENT ACTION TEAMS LANDOWNERS & LAWYERS COOPERATIVE (LLC)

We believe land justice starts with protecting property rights and ending eminent domain for private gain. Right now, big corporations think they have all the power to ram their projects through communities and personal property.

We believe in putting power back in the hands of landowners.

The Easement Action Teams Landowners and Lawyers Cooperative (LLC) works with local communities to provide immediate legal representation to landowners facing pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure. Our first priority is to protect landowners’ property rights and water. We believe landowners should have the ultimate right of what does and does not happen on their land. We stand against the use of eminent domain for private gain.

The LLC’s goal is to end eminent domain for private gain. We work with landowners fighting to protect and defend their lands, while simultaneously building and deploying a durable but flexible alliance of organizers, lawyers, law schools, and legal organizations critical to achieve long-term, positive legal change—ending eminent domain for private gain.

Currently, we are assisting landowners facing the proposed Summit, Tallgrass and Navigator carbon pipelines in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.

The Easement Action Teams Landowners and Lawyers Cooperative (LLC) was founded on the model we created in Nebraska to protect the land and water from the risky Keystone XL pipeline. Landowners and neighbors concerned about the deck being stacked against them sought out the help of organizations like Bold Nebraska and the Farmers Union. Landowners decided a group totally focused on the legal challenges of those in pipeline routes needed to be formed. We contacted the Domina Law Group to assist us and over the years a legal model was developed that has helped protect property rights in Nebraska, Texas, Wisconsin, Oregon and many other towns and states.

The Domina Law Group and lead attorney Brian Jorde are hired by landowners to represent them in state proceedings, and for negotiating standard easement terms if proposed pipeline projects are approved. The Easement Action Teams, a project of Bold Education fund, work in each state to handle all outreach and education efforts with landowners.

For years, Domina Law Group and its lawyers have been representing landowners across the Midwest and around the county in eminent domain battles and pipeline fights. For the last 12 years, Brian Jorde, trial lawyer and managing partner of Domina Law Group, has worked with and side-by-side hundreds of landowners and the Easement Action Teams in property rights education, landowner legal challenges to proposed pipeline projects, and handled hundred of lawsuits and appeals including constitutional challenges and condemnation litigation.

Most notably, Brian represented over one hundred families in an over decade-long fight against TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Due to the efforts of Domina Law and its over 220 lawsuits and appeals handled, TransCanada, the second largest pipeline company in the world, finally gave up on the multi-billion-dollar project — and Brian negotiated a complete release of all easements and a return of his clients’ land to exactly how it was before TransCanada condemned their property.

Visit your state’s Easement Action Team LLC site to sign up and get more information on events and next steps.

You can also donate to help us protect the land.