SCOTUS to Decide What Pipelines Owe Landowners in Eminent Domain

Here's a case that slipped under our radar, and it shouldn't have. On Monday, Nov. 9, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Hoffmann v. WBI Energy Transmission, a fight between a group of North Dakota ranchers and an interstate pipeline company. The question sounds dry: when a pipeline company uses eminent domain to take land, does state law or federal law decide how much the landowner gets paid? However, the answer could put money in, or take money out of, the pockets of landowners in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Yesterday, the Court agreed to let the Trump administration take part in the argument, on the side of the pipeline company.

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