FERC sides with PennEast in opposing court decision that pipeline builder can’t use eminent domain to take public land

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Tom Johnson is the energy and environment reporter for NJ Spotlight. He is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience in reporting and editing at New Jersey newspapers. A veteran reporter for The Newark Star-Ledger, Johnson worked in the Statehouse and in Newark covering energy, environmental and telecommunications issues. Before that he served as editor of the Ridgewood Newspapers and a reporter and editor at the Herald-News. A recipient of many state and national journalism honors, including recognition by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for coverage of the environment, he was a member of the Star-Ledger’s nationally award-winning business section. After leaving the Ledger in early 2009, he served as press secretary to the Daggett Campaign for Governor. He lives in Plainfield, N.J. tjohnson@njspotlight.com

Emma Lee / WHYY

The proposed PennEast pipeline would pass through the fields of the Christman farm, seen from the intersection of Station Street and Pohopoco Drive in Lehighton.

January 31, 2020 | 9:12 AM

Updated: 2020-01-31 10:36:55

Emma Lee / WHYY

The proposed PennEast pipeline would pass through the fields of the Christman farm, seen from the intersection of Station Street and Pohopoco Drive in Lehighton.

In a step viewed as bolstering the PennEast natural gas pipeline, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday sided with the builder in seeking to overturn an adverse federal appeals court ruling halting the proposal from moving forward.

In a 2-1 vote, FERC, in a rare special meeting devoted to only one issue, issued a declaratory order saying a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit threatens to disrupt the natural gas industry’s ability to construct interstate gas pipelines.

The action was denounced as a transparent attempt by the agency to back PennEast’s efforts to have the U.S. Supreme Court review the Third Circuit’s ruling by the lone commissioner to vote against the order, James Glick and other pipeline opponents.

Later in the day, PennEast filed amendments to its pipeline project — already approved by FERC — proposing to build it in two phases. The first phase would consist of 68 miles within Pennsylvania and ready to deliver gas by November of next year. The other portion of the route in Pennsylvania and New Jersey would be targeted for completion in 2023.

“Building the project in phases allows PennEast to meet the clear public need in the short term in Pennsylvania, and in New Jersey by affording sufficient time for permit and legal issues to be resolved,’’ said Anthony Cox, chairman of the PennEast Pipeline Company Board of Managers.

Maya van Rossum, head of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, criticized PennEast’s plan to build in Pennsylvania first.

“This has been a common strategy of pipeline companies; they seek approval from FERC to build in the places where they can claim they have permitting and try to use that ongoing construction to pressure other agencies where approvals are outstanding,” she said in a statement Friday. “The result has been properties taken and environments destroyed for pipelines that are unable to be fully constructed.”

Environmentalists, particularly in New Jersey, have been lobbying hard against new fossil-fuel projects, saying new pipelines will only stall efforts to wean the economy from fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.

“The only thing FERC’s view clarified was that the commission is willing to go to bat for private pipeline companies over the public interest,’’ said Jennifer Danis, senior staff attorney at Columbia University Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic, representing the New Jersey Conservation Foundation in the case.

Commissioner Glick agreed, saying it is irresponsible to help a private litigant try to persuade the Supreme Court to review and strike down a ruling that turns on constitutional and not technical issues. “The outcome is both deeply troubling and frankly a discredit to this agency,’’ he said.

PennEast has said it will appeal the Third Circuit’s decision to the Supreme Court and is expected to formally do so next week.

The FERC order is the latest twist in long litigation over PennEast’s $1 billion pipeline, which would bring fracked natural gas from Luzerne County, Pa. to Mercer County. Through its route in New Jersey, PennEast sought to condemn 40 state-owned lands in New Jersey. Initially, a district court approved giving the company eminent domain authority to acquire the lands, but the Third Circuit ruling reversed that decision.

In a decision issued in September, the federal appeals court agreed with arguments by the New Jersey attorney general that a private company lacked legal authority to seize or condemn state lands under the 11th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

This story originally appeared on NJ Spotlight. Read more here.