An order of Catholic nuns in Pennsylvania recently filed separate legal actions against Tulsa-based Williams Natural Gas and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in opposition to a planned easement for the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline.
The Adorers of the Blood of Christ — an order of Catholic sisters with regional offices in St. Louis – filed a lawsuit on July 14 against FERC in federal court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The nuns are seeking an injunction to stop the pipeline from running through their property in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The nuns partnered with Lancaster Against Pipelines and allowed the activist group to build an outdoor chapel on their property in protest. The chapel is situated in a cornfield on a tract of land that is leased by a farmer from the nuns.
The nuns allege the pipeline violates the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act and their belief in “the sacredness of Earth.” The act was also taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014 when the high court ruled in favor of Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby regarding the company’s exemption from a federal mandate requiring contraceptive coverage via its employee health care plan.
“It’s clear they take seriously their belief that the Earth is God’s creation and it needs to be protected and preserved,” said J. Dwight Yoder, an attorney representing the nuns.
In a separate court action, the nuns were scheduled for a county court hearing on Thursday regarding the efforts of Williams Natural Gas to condemn and seize an easement through the land. The pipeline will be buried three to five feet underground. If the easement is restored and the pipeline is completed, gas will flow into Williams Natural Gas Transco Pipeline from New York to the Gulf of Mexico.
Williams Natural Gas has offered to pay more than the appraised value to use the property. The company has settled with nearly all the 1,000 landowners affected by the $3 billion, 200-mile pipeline that will carry Marcellus Shale natural gas, according to Chris Stockton, a company spokesman.