Content for this post was provided by Isabel Teuton, a MGKF summer associate.

In National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. v. Schueckler, 2020 WL 3453939 (N.Y. June 25, 2020),the State of New York Court of Appeals held that the issuance of a certificate of convenience and necessity by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under the Natural Gas Act (NGA) exempted the holder of the certificate from complying with the public notice and hearing requirements of New York’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law (EDPL) even where the certificate holder had not yet met other conditions attached to the certificate. The Court reasoned that since FERC placed no condition on the vested eminent domain power granted with the certificate and had completed its mandated analysis of the pipeline’s effect on the public interest, there was a valid exemption from further review under EDPL 206(A), thus permitting the condemnation to move forward. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Clean Water Act, Condemnation, Eminent Domain, Natural Gas Act, New York, Oil and Gas, Pipelines

Reversing the Fourth Circuit, the Supreme Court on Monday issued its opinion in United States Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, No. 18-1584 (June 15, 2020). In a 7-2 decision, Justice Thomas wrote for the majority that the Appalachian National Scenic Trail’s passage through United States National Forest land is best viewed as a grant of an easement to the National Park Service rather than a transfer of ownership of the underlying land. In doing so, the Court upheld the Forest Service’s right to permit a pipeline to run beneath the Trail under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA). Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, Forest Service, Fourth Circuit, Interior, Mineral Leasing Act, National Forest Management Act, NEPA, Oil and Gas, Permits, Pipelines, Public Lands, Supreme Court, United States Supreme Court

On March 2, 2020, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled that a municipality was allowed to proceed with challenging the validity of certain environmental state statutes under Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, also known as the Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA). Pa. Dept. of Envtl. Prot. v. Grant Twp., No. 126 M.D. 2017 (Pa. Cmwlth. Mar. 2, 2020). The question addressed, whether and if so the extent to which the validity of Pennsylvania’s environmental statutes can be challenged under the ERA, was one left open by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Pa. Envtl. Defense Found. v. Commonwealth, 161 A.3d 911 (Pa. 2017). Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Drilling, Energy, Environmental Rights Amendment, Exploration, Hydraulic Fracturing, Marcellus Shale, Oil and Gas, Pennsylvania, Pipelines, Preemption, Procedure, Solid Waste Management Act, Waste, Zoning

They say stigmas are social constructs. In court, however, they must be based on relevant and objective evidence, so says the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a precedential opinion involving the amount of compensation owed to private landowners for easements over their properties to allow the installation of an underground pipeline. In UGI Sunbury LLC v. A Permanent Easement for 2.4645 Acres, Nos. 18-3126, 18-3127 (Feb. 11, 2020), the appellant UGI Sunbury, LLC (UGI) sought vacatur of a decision from the District Court of the Middle District of Pennsylvania in a condemnation proceeding under the Natural Gas Act, which based the compensation awarded in part on a claim that the public perception of natural gas pipelines on or near real property will permanently reduce the value of the property due to the stigma that the property is “damaged goods.” While the Third Circuit did not opine on the validity of the theory in general, it did find that the expert testimony upon which the award was based utterly failed to meet the requirements of Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), and thus should not have been admitted nor relied upon.  Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Condemnation, Marcellus Shale, Natural Gas Act, Oil and Gas, Pennsylvania, Pipelines, Property Damage, Real Estate, Stigma, Takings, Third Circuit

The adage “you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube” has manifested itself in two recent federal court decisions. Under separate theories, both the Second Circuit and the District Court of the District of Columbia have issued decisions that highlight the difficulty environmental groups faced in challenging energy infrastructure projects that have been completed during the course of litigation. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Appeals, Administrative Procedures Act, Army Corps, Citizen Suit, D.C. Circuit, Energy, Marcellus Shale, NEPA, New York, NPDES, Oil and Gas, Pipelines, Second Circuit

On September 10, the Third Circuit held that while the National Gas Act (NGA) delegates the federal government’s power of eminent domain to private gas companies, it does not necessarily delegate the federal government’s exemption from state sovereign immunity. In re: PennEast Pipeline Company, LLC, No. 19-1191 (3d Cir. 2019). As a result, private entities acting under the NGA cannot condemn state-owned property absent action by an accountable federal official. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Condemnation, Eleventh Amendment, Eminent Domain, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, Natural Gas, Natural Gas Act, New Jersey, Oil and Gas, Pipelines, Public Lands, Sovereign Immunity, Takings, Third Circuit

Last month in a 2-1 split, the Third Circuit held that state, not federal, law determined how much a landowner was entitled to as just compensation in condemnation proceedings brought by private entities under the Natural Gas Act of 1938. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., LLC v. Permanent Easement for 7.053 Acres, No. 17-3700 (3d Cir. July 23, 2019). The precedential decision will force natural gas companies to account for differences in state law in negotiations with landowners over what constitutes “just compensation” for a taking.   Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Condemnation, Drilling, Energy, Marcellus Shale, Natural Gas, Natural Gas Act, Oil and Gas, Pennsylvania, Pipelines, Real Estate, Takings, Third Circuit

On Monday, July 29, 2019, a seven-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, in Pa. Envtl. Defense Found. v. Commonwealth, No. 228 M.D. 2012 (Pa. Cmwlth. July 29, 2019) (“PEDF III”), held that two-thirds of rental payments and up-front bonuses received by the Commonwealth as proceeds from oil and gas leases on state forest and park lands must be reserved for conservation purposes under Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, also called the Environmental Rights Amendment (“ERA”). Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Environmental Rights Amendment, Marcellus Shale, Oil and Gas, Pennsylvania, Pipelines

Quoting a Dr. Seuss book, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Thursday issued its opinion in Cowpasture River Preservation Association v. United States Forest Service, No. 18-1144 (4^th Cir. Dec. 13, 2018). The Court held that the US Forest Service (the “Forest Service”) violated the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”) and the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), as well as lacked statutory authority under the Mineral Leasing Act (“MLA”) to grant a pipeline right of way across the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (the “Appalachian Trail”), failing to “speak for the trees” as Seuss’s Lorax directs. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, Fourth Circuit, Mineral Leasing Act, National Forest Management Act, Natural Gas, NEPA, Pipelines

On September 4, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit determined that the Third Circuit, and not the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (“EHB”), has jurisdiction to review Water Quality Certifications issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) for interstate natural gas projects governed by the Natural Gas Act. See Del. Riverkeeper Network, et al. v. Dep’t of Envtl. Prot., No. 16-221, 2018 WL 4201626 (3d Cir. Sept. 4, 2018). The Third Circuit also held that DEP does not violate Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution (“Environmental Rights Amendment” or “ERA”) by issuing a Water Quality Certification that is conditioned on obtaining substantive permits. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Appeals, Administrative Hearing, Clean Water Act, Condemnation, EHB, Eminent Domain, Energy, Environmental Rights Amendment, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Marcellus Shale, Natural Gas Act, Oil and Gas, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Permits, Pipelines, Procedure, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, Third Circuit, Water