As promised, landowners who sued to block an oil pipeline from crossing their property have appealed their case to the Iowa Supreme Court, after a Polk County District Court judge ruled against them on Feb. 15.

The announcement comes as The Associated Press reports oil could begin flowing in the pipeline as soon as Monday, although Sioux tribes are still leading a legal challenge against the project in North Dakota.

Work is wrapping up on the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline to move North Dakota oil 1,200 miles to a shipping point in Illinois. The pipeline stretches about 350 miles across Iowa, and used the power of eminent domain to gain access to the land of unwilling landowners.

Plaintiffs in the appeal claim Texas-based Dakota Access LLC had no right to use eminent domain, and that the right shouldn’t have been granted by the Iowa Utilities Board.

“The appeal has nothing to do with the Dakota Access folks themselves at this point,” said Webster County landowner Keith Puntenney, one of the plaintiffs. “They’ve been granted the permit. The appeal is based on the fact that we feel the IUB was incorrect in granting the permit.”

Attorney Bill Hanigan, who filed the suit, said he didn’t have any estimate of how long it might take the Supreme Court to hear the issue.

“Probably in late summer or fall,” Puntenney said. “We expect a large number of amicus briefs.

“This also affects the XL pipeline issue. This affects all folks who construct pipelines, this affects all the environmental groups, this also has to deal with the eminent domain issue … There are lots of potential folks out there who may file briefs in support or against this decision. And that will complicate things.”

Puntenney said the case can speak to due process issues, and to what truly is a “common carrier” — which isn’t defined in Iowa code.

“Those of us that did not voluntarily sign, if the permit was improperly granted, the pipe going through our property is a trespass,” Puntenney said. “If it’s a trespass, we have a right to ask for it to be removed, and for damages as a result of the trespass. The damages would include not only damages from Dakota Access and its partners, but from anybody who put oil in the pipe.”

District Court Judge Jeffery Farrell heard arguments on the case on Dec. 15, 2016. In his Feb. 15 ruling, Farrell found the IUB did properly issue the permit for the pipeline.

The IUB weighed both environmental and economic costs and benefits, and concluded the benefits outweighed the costs, Farrell wrote.

“We are disappointed,” said Hanigan at the time, “but we’re not deterred. A private, out-of-state company, which doesn’t serve Iowans, should not be able to use eminent domain to seize Iowa farmland for the purpose of exporting crude oil.”

The initial lawsuit was filed in May 2016.