Biden Justice Dept. Likely to Support PennEast in Supreme Crt Case
Earlier this week MDN brought you the big news that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear the PennEast Pipeline vs. New Jersey eminent domain case (see BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court to Decide PennEast Pipeline Case). Read that previous post for background on why this is a critically important case. In December the Trump Solicitor General’s office filed a brief in the case, at the request of the Supremes (see Trump Solicitor General Supports PennEast Pipe Case in Supreme Crt). It’s no surprise that the Trump administration supported the PennEast position. What IS a surprise for us is that the Biden administration will likely support PennEast’s position too.
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HUGE news! This morning the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear the PennEast Pipeline case. The case appeals a lower court ruling that disallows PennEast from using eminent domain to build across land owned or controlled by the State of New Jersey. The court’s acceptance of the case is an excellent sign PennEast will win the case–which is important not only for PennEast but all future pipeline projects in “blue” states.
With Richard “Dick” Glick as the new Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), life just got harder for the PennEast Pipeline project. Not impossible, but certainly harder. On Tuesday FERC gave PennEast a little bit of love when it turned down a request by a Pennsylvania landowner that PennEast not be allowed to use eminent domain to cross the landowner’s property. But also on Tuesday FERC removed from its agenda a final decision on whether or not to approve PennEast’s request to split the project into two phases.
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a virtual hearing to accept public comment on the topic of issuing water crossing and sediment/erosion permits for the PennEast Pipeline project. The hearing lasted over three hours with some 70+ people speaking (for up to 3 minutes each). Much to the consternation of anti-fossil fuelers, there was a strong showing of support for the project.
Last June New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the court to not even consider hearing a case involving PennEast Pipeline (see 
Big Green (Democrat) organizations are feeling full of themselves following the Biden/Harris election and winning control of the Senate. They’re making some pretty big boasts of what they’ll demand from Biden and Chuck Schumer. Demands like no new pipelines, ban natural gas everywhere, force all new cars to be electric, yada yada yada. One of the worst of the worst of the Big Green groups is the radical National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). In a blog post yesterday, the New York chapter of the NRDC lays out its 2021 plans that include their intent to try and block the construction of the New Jersey LNG export facility and block construction of the PennEast Pipeline in Pennsylvania.
New Jersey Resources Corp. (NJR), one of five owners in the PennEast Pipeline (with a 20% stake), had some interesting things to say about the PennEast project during its annual Analyst Day event held last Monday. NJR CEO Stephen Westhoven said during the virtual event that “uncertainty around an in-service date” has prompted his company to pull the project “completely” from its financial growth projections through 2024. What does that mean?
In early August the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) for an amended request by PennEast Pipeline to break the project into two phases–building the pipeline through Pennsylvania in Phase One, and through New Jersey in Phase Two (see 
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally got its butt in gear and issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) for an amended request by PennEast Pipeline to break the project into two phases–building the pipeline through Pennsylvania in Phase One, and through New Jersey in Phase Two. FERC was supposed to issue its findings on or by July 10. Finally, after two weeks with no report, no explanation, and no communication, PennEast goosed FERC on July 24 (see 
PennEast Pipeline is a $1.2 billion, 118-mile brand new (greenfield) pipeline project planned between the Wilkes-Barre, PA area and the Trenton, NJ area. The project has faced stiff opposition from nutty Big Green groups and from the Democrats who have seized control of NJ. Because of NJ’s opposition (
The media spin machine and anti-fossil fuelers are in overdrive, but they can’t paper over this fact: Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court expressed a very loud and clear interest in hearing the PennEast Pipeline vs. New Jersey case–and that spells bad news for NJ and its radical Attorney General who is trying to block the pipeline from entering the state.
Two of the largest not-yet-completed pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica, Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), are currently on hold with no construction activity due to various legal challenges by Big Green (see today’s story, Mountain Valley Pipe Update: Done and In-Service Early 2021). However, there are several other large and small M-U pipeline projects where construction continues, even with restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic. Which pipelines?