HMS Legal Blog

Thomas Sniscak of Hawke, McKeon & Sniscak LLP Speaks before a Packed Audience about Marcellus Shale at the Keystone Energy Forum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 12, 2017

Thomas J. Sniscak participated as a speaker at the Keystone Energy Forum on January 12, 2017.  He spoke on the many critical issues facing the Marcellus shale industry from both the federal and state levels.  In his presentation Attorney Sniscak addressed the eminent domain and public right-of-way issues related to the siting of pipelines within the Marcellus Shale areas of Pennsylvania.

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PA Utility Eminent Domain Exercise Not Limited to “Absolute Necessity”

In a 5-2 en banc opinion issued December 22, the Commonwealth Court flatly rejected the notion that a utility must prove “absolute necessity” before resorting to condemnation.  Affirming the PUC’s grant of PPL Electric’s application to exercise its eminent domain power to acquire rights-of-way and easements over the private lands of protestants to construct a new eleven-mile transmission line across the Susquehanna River and a related substation, the Court reaffirmed prior case law adopting an easier hurdle for would-be utility condemnors.  As the Court reasoned:  “Under Protestants’ proposed standard, utilities could only seek approval … when a problem is looming and the resolution is ‘absolutely necessary.’  Utilities would essentially have to wait until an existing system fails before seeking approval of a project.  Not only would this approach be impractical and unrealistic, it would actually pose a danger to the health, safety and welfare of the public.”  Hess v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 1370 C.D. 2013 (December 22, 2014) (en banc).

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