DM&E CEO to leave company being bought by CP

Trustee Richard Hamlin, a private consultant who built a 30-year career as a transportation executive, said Schieffer's departure is effective immediately.

Officials say Ed Terbell, the chief operating officer, and Kurt Feaster, the chief financial officer, will manage the day-to-day operations while the Sioux Falls-based DM&E remains in trust.

On Sept. 30, the Canadian Pacific received U.S. Surface Transportation Board approval to acquire control of the DM&E and its subsidiaries. Hamlin says the Canadian Pacific expects to assume control of the DM&E Oct. 30.

When the STB approval was announced, a Canadian Pacific spokesman the company had not yet decided if it will continue with the DM&E's plans to build new track into Wyoming coal fields and ship coal east across South Dakota and southern Minnesota.

The deal calls for Canadian Pacific to pay $1.48 billion in cash for the DM&E, with future payments of up to $1 billion depending on progress on the expansion project.

One of the people Schieffer clashed with was former Gov. Bill Janklow, who has done legal work for the Mayo Clinic and represents landowners along the route.

"I wish him well," Janklow said of Schieffer. "He was a worthy adversary. He did phenomenal things for that railroad. He accomplished their missions. He and I didn't get along, we weren't personal friends, but that's irrelevant. He did what that railroad wanted done and he did it how they wanted it done."

Janklow said he doesn't see Schieffer's departure as having any effect on anything, including the land condemnation process for new track in western South Dakota.

"My complaint with the condemnation is the process. That's our complaint. It's the way it's done, it's how people are treated that's important."