Conceding disruption, court finds PennEast lacked power to condemn state land

摘要

In a ruling that observers say could shake up the process forcondemning lands for natural gas pipelines, the 3rd US Circuit Court ofAppeals found because of state sovereign immunity, a private pipelinecompany lacked authority to pull states into federal court forcondemnation proceedings.The case centered around the 116-mile, 1.1 Bcf/d PennEast Pipeline’sefforts to condemn about 40 properties owned at least in part by thestate of New Jersey and some of which were preserved forconservation, recreation or agriculture.