Bold Alliance and a collective of more than 50 landowners in the Appalachia region have filed a motion asking a federal court to schedule a date to hear oral arguments and expedite the proceeding in their lawsuit challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over its unconstitutional abuse of eminent domain in pipeline permitting.
Carolyn Reilly, a regional organizer with Bold Alliance stated: “We’re demanding that the justice system follow through and give we, the people, complete due process under the U.S. Constitution. We have explicitly and repeatedly declined to engage with these pipeline corporations seeking eminent domain for their private gain, and we deserve to be heard in court to defend our inalienable rights under the fifth amendment.”
Bold’s lawsuit, filed in the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. against FERC and corporations backing the proposed Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines by landowners whose properties the projects would pass, challenges problems in the FERC certificate program that impact all landowners near all pipelines that seek to utilize eminent domain authority to take property against landowners’ wishes.
Bold’s motion asks the court to expedite a hearing on the constitutional challenges in the case.
Separately, Bold Alliance late last week also filed motions requesting rehearings by FERC Commissioners of their issued notices to proceed for the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Bold argues in the motion that FERC’s granting of a notice to proceed while challenges remain pending violates landowners’ due process rights. By issuing the notice to proceed, the motion argues that FERC has also created confusion for landowners, who may believe FERC’s order is the final say needed by MVP to proceed. When in fact, MVP has not yet gained possession of many parcels of land, and cannot commence construction on parcels that it has not yet acquired.
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