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The Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied PennEast pipeline’s request for a rehearing on its ruling that PennEast lacks legal authority to seize or condemn state-owned lands for its proposed pipeline. The Third Circuit decision means PennEast no longer has authority to condemn more than 40 properties preserved by the state, many in partnership with counties, municipalities and private land trusts.
“This common-sense ruling takes New Jersey a step closer to permanently stopping a gas pipeline we don’t need. Our state can be proud of the Murphy Administration’s strong defense of state-preserved lands from seizure at the hands of PennEast. Now, let’s get past the gas industry’s last-ditch efforts to prop up fossil fuels and instead keep moving down the path to clean, safe, affordable, renewable energy like wind and solar,” said Tom Gilbert, Campaign Director for New Jersey Conservation Foundation & ReThink Energy NJ
“The Third Circuit refused to give PennEast a do-over, standing by its original well-reasoned legal analysis. The Constitution required it to protect New Jersey’s sovereign powers, and PennEast’s recycling of its earlier arguments did not disturb that ruling,” said Jennifer Danis, staff attorney at Columbia University Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic.
