Rochester, Minn., opponents of the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad coal train expansion have secretly instructed Wyoming landowners how to drag out DM&E's good faith efforts to acquire land, according to a motion filed by the railroad.

The civil action in federal court in Wyoming accuses Rochester Coalition consultants of "coordinating efforts with a minority of the landowners along the railroad route ... to misrepresent DM&E's dealings with landowners generally," it states.

The allegation stems from e-mails sent by opponents but not disclosed to the Sioux Falls-based railroad as part of the discovery process in a federal lawsuit over DM&E's condemnation proceedings against about 20 Wyoming landowners.

DM&E wants a judge to order the violators to divulge electronic communications that should have been shared, allow computer experts to check the hard drives of those involved and impose sanctions.

Defendants include 400 acres in Campbell and Weston counties in Wyoming, Lenard Seeley, Teresa Seeley, Jeffery Seeley, Denise Seeley and Bank of the West on behalf of Harry Walter Keeline III trust, 170 acres in Weston County, Bryan Stroh and First National Bank.

DM&E President Kevin Schieffer said the e-mails show that some of the opposition to the project isn't coming independently from a few Wyoming landowners but rather from a well-financed Minnesota organization.

"It's being orchestrated by a paid consulting effort by the Rochester group, which obviously has nothing to do with anything in Wyoming, other than its desire to kill the project that's good for South Dakota," he said.

In the communications to landowners, the consultant "basically gives them a menu of negative things to say about the railroad and says, 'Just pick one,'" Schieffer said.