From the NATION / AP:
A pipeline operator assured federal regulators it would minimize using eminent domain against private landowners if given approval to lay a 39-mile natural gas pipeline in northern Pennsylvania’s pristine Endless Mountains.
Yet the company was readying condemnation papers against dozens of landowners even as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was considering its application for the $250 million MARC 1 pipeline. Within two days of winning approval, Central New York Oil & Gas Co., LLC went to court to condemn nearly half the properties along the pipeline’s route — undercutting part of the regulatory commission’s approval rationale and angering landowners who are now fighting the company in court.
Residents are fighting the pipeline on two fronts: challenging the eminent domain proceedings in court and appealing the approval by FERC [Federal Energy Regulatory Commission]. Because those challenges are pending, commission spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen declined Tuesday to comment on whether the agency was misled…
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