NextEra Energy, the Florida company with huge wind farm operations in Oklahoma has gone to court in a controversial move in construction of a natural gas pipeline in Virginia.
NextEra Energy and EQT Corporation, backers of Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC have responded to a July lawsuit by landowners fighting eminent domain in construction of the proposed 300-mile project.
The company contends the claims of the lawsuit are “dramatic” against the pipeline builders as well as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. One claim by the landowners alleges “FERC has run wild” and that “this court is the only check on FERC’s exercise of near absolute power.”
Attorneys for the pipeline builder responded by adding, “These may be catchy clichés to stick in a press release and generate some headlines, but they are not very useful in a federal complaint, particularly one claiming that the Natural Gas Act, one of the most important energy laws in our nation’s history, is unconstitutional.”
Their response was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
The pipeline is intended to deliver shale gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia and will serve Southeast markets. The lawsuit against the pipeline was filed by more than a dozen landowners who claim FERC’s practice of giving pipeline operators the power of eminent domain violates property rights protected under the Constitution.