Company Asks Supreme Court To Limit State CWA Power Over Pipelines

摘要

The Constitution Pipeline Company is asking the Supreme Court to review and overturn a lower court ruling that upheld New York's denial of a Clean Water Act (CWA) certification for its proposed natural gas pipeline, charging that state authority under the CWA is superseded by federal energy regulators' exclusive jurisdiction over interstate pipelines as well as provisions of energy and natural gas laws. If successful, the company's effort could impose significant limits on states' ability to reject or alter decisions by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approving natural gas infrastructure under section 401 of the CWA at a time when dozens of such pipeline decisions are pending in a host of states.