U.S. magistrate rules against pipeline foes
Setback for opponents of NEXUS Pipeline doesn’t end fight
Medina County property owners opposed to construction of the NEXUS Pipeline across their land suffered a setback in federal court. File photo
MEDINA – Opponents of the NEXUS Pipeline suffered another defeat in court when a federal magistrate in Akron ruled against them.
U.S. Magistrate Kathleen Burke said the U.S. District Court lacks jurisdiction to consider a lawsuit filed in May by more than 60 property owners that sought to prevent the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from approving construction plans for the 250-mile-long NEXUS pipeline. The $2 billion NEXUS project is designed to carry 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day from wells in Eastern Ohio across northern Ohio and into Michigan and Ontario, Canada.
Burke’s ruling came in a written recommendation filed Aug. 7. The report goes to Judge John R. Adams, of the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Ohio, for a final order. In it, Burke recommends denying a preliminary injunction based on the court’s jurisdiction.
Paul Gierosky is one of the 10 Medina County property owners who joined the lawsuit asking the court to prevent FERC from authorizing construction of the pipeline, which is intended to cross Wadsworth, Guilford, Montville, Lafayette and York townships.
Though disappointed with the magistrate’s ruling, Gierosky said opponents of the pipeline are not giving up their fight to stop its construction.
Gierosky said groups like the Coalition to Reroute Nexus and other organizations are prepared to continue efforts to stop the pipeline’s construction.
“We are not giving up,” he said. “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. We have multiple avenues to continue our fight.”
If Judge Adams accepts his magistrate’s recommendation and declines to rule on the case, Gierosky said property owners will take the case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Gierosky said his hopes for a positive ruling in a federal appeals court are buoyed somewhat by the fact that the magistrate did not rule on the merits of the lawsuit, only on the fact that the U.S. District Court did not have jurisdiction in the case.
Among the arguments made in the lawsuit are that foreign companies should not have the right to deny property owners their rights by using eminent domain to construct a project that plans to export the natural gas transported through the pipeline. NEXUS is a partnership between Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge and Detroit-based DTE Energy.
NEXUS opponents got more bad news when the U.S. Senate voted earlier this month to confirm two of President Donald Trump’s nominees for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Resignations had left the five-member board with only one acting commissioner. The addition of two new members now provides the quorum necessary to approve the NEXUS Pipeline application as well as other energy projects around the country.
Gierosky said FERC approval of the NEXUS application is now likely and could come at any time and opposition groups are ready for that contingency.
“If FERC issues the certificate NEXUS needs to begin construction, we’ll appeal that, too,” Gierosky said. “There’s an administrative process in place to appeal FERC decisions and we plan to use it.”
“We’re not doing this just for our own personal benefit,” Gierosky said. “We’re doing this for all Americans who want to preserve their property rights.”
CORN is one of dozens of other grassroots organizations around the country who have been protesting the review process utilized by FERC to authorize the construction of interstate pipelines. They are calling for Congress to conduct a review of the manner in which FERC reviews projects.
U.S. Magistrate Kathleen Burke said the U.S. District Court lacks jurisdiction to consider a lawsuit filed in May by more than 60 property owners that sought to prevent the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from approving construction plans for the 250-mile-long NEXUS pipeline. The $2 billion NEXUS project is designed to carry 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day from wells in Eastern Ohio across northern Ohio and into Michigan and Ontario, Canada.
Burke’s ruling came in a written recommendation filed Aug. 7. The report goes to Judge John R. Adams, of the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Ohio, for a final order. In it, Burke recommends denying a preliminary injunction based on the court’s jurisdiction.
Paul Gierosky is one of the 10 Medina County property owners who joined the lawsuit asking the court to prevent FERC from authorizing construction of the pipeline, which is intended to cross Wadsworth, Guilford, Montville, Lafayette and York townships.
Though disappointed with the magistrate’s ruling, Gierosky said opponents of the pipeline are not giving up their fight to stop its construction.
Gierosky said groups like the Coalition to Reroute Nexus and other organizations are prepared to continue efforts to stop the pipeline’s construction.
“We are not giving up,” he said. “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. We have multiple avenues to continue our fight.”
If Judge Adams accepts his magistrate’s recommendation and declines to rule on the case, Gierosky said property owners will take the case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Gierosky said his hopes for a positive ruling in a federal appeals court are buoyed somewhat by the fact that the magistrate did not rule on the merits of the lawsuit, only on the fact that the U.S. District Court did not have jurisdiction in the case.
Among the arguments made in the lawsuit are that foreign companies should not have the right to deny property owners their rights by using eminent domain to construct a project that plans to export the natural gas transported through the pipeline. NEXUS is a partnership between Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge and Detroit-based DTE Energy.
NEXUS opponents got more bad news when the U.S. Senate voted earlier this month to confirm two of President Donald Trump’s nominees for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Resignations had left the five-member board with only one acting commissioner. The addition of two new members now provides the quorum necessary to approve the NEXUS Pipeline application as well as other energy projects around the country.
Gierosky said FERC approval of the NEXUS application is now likely and could come at any time and opposition groups are ready for that contingency.
“If FERC issues the certificate NEXUS needs to begin construction, we’ll appeal that, too,” Gierosky said. “There’s an administrative process in place to appeal FERC decisions and we plan to use it.”
“We’re not doing this just for our own personal benefit,” Gierosky said. “We’re doing this for all Americans who want to preserve their property rights.”
CORN is one of dozens of other grassroots organizations around the country who have been protesting the review process utilized by FERC to authorize the construction of interstate pipelines. They are calling for Congress to conduct a review of the manner in which FERC reviews projects.