ROANOKE, Va. (Legal Newsline) – Land owners in Virginia and West Virginia are challenging a proposed gas line that would travel through their properties.
The plaintiffs filed a complaint on July 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Roanoke Division against Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Cheryl A. Lafleur challenging the eminent domain provisions of the Natural Gas Act.
According to the complaint, a proposed 42-inch, high pressure natural gas Mountain Valley Pipeline from Wetzel County, West Virginia, to the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co.'s compressor station in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, would cross through the plaintiffs' properties.
The plaintiffs hold Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Lafleur responsible because they allege the FERC cannot lawfully exercise the power of eminent domain delegated to it by Congress under the Natural Gas Act because the power is overly broad and its subdelegation to MVP is constitutionally impermissible.
The plaintiffs seek preliminary and permanent injunction against the defendants, declare the FERC's certification process to be unconstitutional and declare that MVP has violated the plaintiff's rights by unlawful takings of private property. They are represented by Justin M. Lugar of Gentry Locke in Roanoke, Virginia.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Roanoke Division case number 7:17-cv-00357-EKD