US District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl has ruled that Williams Cos. has the immediate right to access land in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, now occupied by the sisters of the Roman Catholic Church's Adorers of the Blood of Christ and build another section of the Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline.

摘要

In his order, he wrote that if anyone -- including the nuns -- attempt to interfere with the construction crews, US Marshals can arrest them. The judge wrote, “Granting the preliminary injunction is in the public interest, as the project will provide the general public throughout a vast area of the country with access to the Marcellus Shale natural gas supplies for heating their homes and other purposes.” Schmehl was also not swayed by the sisters' argument that to allow the pipeline to cross their land would violate their religious convictions.