July 9, 2020 3:40 a.m.

A group of impacted landowners, represented by the Niskanen Center, has filed a motion asking the DC Circuit Court to invalidate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of the Pacific Connector Pipeline and the Jordan Cove LNG facility.

A release from Stacey McLaughlin said at the same time, the landowners have asked the Court for a “stay” of FERC’s approval of the project. McLaughlin said if the Court rules in favor of the landowners, Pembina Pipeline will not be able to start condemnation actions against landowner’s properties.

McLaughlin said the motion notes that FERC relies on the exact same arguments made and rejected by the DC Court in a previous pipeline case. She said the motion argues that FERC’s approval of the Pacific Connector pipeline violated the Natural Gas Act by approving a pipeline that will only export gas, and  permitting Pembina to exercise eminent domain, violates the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Deb Evans, the lead petitioner on the motion and a Klamath County landowner said, “the unique facts of this case warrant the Court taking a close look at what FERC ignored in approving a certificate of public convenience and necessity for this project”. She said the landowners are extremely encouraged that the DC court will “weigh the law and these facts against the pipeline to ensure that landowner’s constitutional rights are upheld”. She said that is especially critical for a natural gas project that seeks to use eminent domain to export 100 percent Canadian natural gas overseas to Asian markets through Oregon.

McLaughlin said short of vacating FERC’s approval, the landowner’s group is asking the Court to immediately stay proceedings and prevent Pembina from seizing their properties until the case is resolved.

Niskanen Center Senior Staff Attorney Megan Gibson said landowner petitioners have been fighting the project for well over fifteen years. She said “they are now under imminent threat of having their land taken, during a global pandemic, for a natural gas pipeline with no discernable public use or benefit, which is unlikely to ever be built”. She called FERC’s approval of the project, “a blatant violation of landowners statutory and constitutional rights”.