BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The attorney for landowners in court over the route of a natural gas pipeline says the pipe will be laid but compensation and other issues are not yet settled.

Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Co. is planning the 247-mile pipeline to carry coalbed methane gas from Wyoming to a compressor station near Manning, north of Dickinson. The company says it has reached agreement with about 90 percent of the landowners along the route. The court dispute involves about two dozen people and 18 tracts of land.

"We agreed they could have the easement, but all the other issues will be determined by North Dakota law," said Ron Reichert, a Dickinson lawyer representing 16 landowners holding six parcels of land.

That means future court proceedings may resolve such things as compensation, attorney fees and the size of the easements, he said.

The pipeline company claimed the right of eminent domain, which refers to the condemnation of privately owned land for projects that have a major public benefit.

Federal Judge Dan Hovland decided the pipeline may cross the disputed land even though the landowners have not yet reached an easement agreement, said Dan Sharp, a spokesman for MDU Resources, the parent company of Williston Basin.

The $70 million pipeline is to connect to another pipeline at the compression station near Manning.

Landowners who signed easements agreed to be paid $17 per rod, Sharp said. A rod equals 16 feet, 6 inches.

"We haven't started putting pipe in the ground, but we are doing dirt work at Manning for the compressor station," Sharp said Monday. Two crews are assigned to work on segments of the pipeline, he said.

"November First is our target date to have it in service," Sharp said. "The terrain that we're going through is mostly prairies. It's pretty easy land to lay pipe."