RAPID CITY - Critics of the proposed expansion of the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad are worried that the company is trying to buy influence from state historic-preservation officials who are involved in protecting cultural resources in the path of the project

But officials for the railroad and the state preservation office say a $50,000 donation by DM&E was unrelated to the railroad's controversial expansion into the coal fields of Wyoming.

Paul Jensen of Rapid City, who owns a ranch along the proposed route of the railroad expansion between Wasta and Wall, is among those questioning the timing of the recent donation by DM&E to the State Historic Preservation Office in Pierre. The money is being used to match a larger federal grant that the office intends to use in developing interpretive signs and other materials for historic sites in the Pierre-Fort Pierre area.

But Jensen and other critics of DM&E wonder if it will also help by influence for the railroad when it comes time for state preservation officials to comment on the potential culture-resource impacts of the planned railroad expansion.

"The question is why would the DM&E put that much money into that particular place?" Jensen said. "Of course, it has an influence."

Jensen has been battling DM&E over the project for years, in part because of what he calls the extensive environmental damage it would cause to his property.

That could include important cultural resources, including artifacts that go back thousands of years, Jensen said.

By providing a grant on an unrelated historic preservation project, DM&E could also be buying better relations with the state preservation officials, Jensen said.

The South Dakota Historic Preservation Office is charged with reviewing and commenting on a natural-resource review overseen by the federal Surface Transportation Board.

The review identifies cultural resources along the path of the DM&E project and figure ways to prevent, reduce or mitigate damage to those resources.

State historic preservation coordinator Stephen Rogers said Friday that the review process for the DM&E expansion and the railroad's $50,000 donation are separate issues that have nothing to do with buying influence.

"The two really don't go together," Rogers said. "The only thing they had to do with each other is that they were going on at the same time."

DM&E spokesman Jafar Karim said the $50,000 donation was simply a company commitment to important historical interpretation work overseen by the state.

"This is a decent gesture on the part of the DM&E in response to interests of the people in the Pierre and Fort Pierre area to help preserve the history of the area, including the Missouri River railroad bridge," he said.

Rogers said the DM&E donation helped the state secure a $83,776 matching Preserve America grant through the National Park Service.

With additional state funds, the total package will provide more than $167,000 for heritage tourism interpretive projects in the Pierre-Fort Pierre area.

The DM&E bridge between those two cities will be included in the interpretive work, and it made sense that the railroad would be involved that that work, Rogers said.

But the company's financial assistance had nothing to do with the state's review obligations for the DM&E expansion plan, he said.

The state simply reviews and comments, and could suggest changes to provide better protection for cultural resources, Rogers said. But it doesn't have authority to block the project over cultural-resource issues, he said.

"We can't stop it or demand," he said. "We're a review agency. When it gets down to it, it becomes recommendations to the STB. They're the ones who make the decision. We get to agree or not, and try to consult and come to agreements."

The DM&E plan would rebuild existing track and build a new line from the Wall area southwest around the Black Hills into the coal fields of Wyoming's Powder River Basin. The new line would run through Jensen's ranch. Among his many objections to the project is the potential damage to cultural resources.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com