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Judge throws out Columbia Gas suit against Maryland over pipeline easements

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Judge throws out Columbia Gas suit against Maryland over pipeline easements

A federal court ruled against Columbia Gas Transmission LLC on Aug. 21, denying the company's motion against Maryland after the state refused to give the company a pipeline land easement on public land.

Columbia Gas had filed suit against the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on May 16, aiming to compel the state to give the developer an easement for the company's Eastern Panhandle pipeline.

In an Aug. 21 decision, the court dismissed the TC Energy Corp. subsidiary's lawsuit.

The judge in the case found that the developer did not have the right to file suit against Maryland because the state has immunity under the 11th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which limits federal courts' authority in cases against states.

Given that, the court said it did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the case so it could not rule on the other pending motions in the case, including the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' motion to dismiss and Columbia Gas' motion to strike the agency's motion to dismiss.

In June, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh had argued that the Constitution prevents a federal court from requiring the state to grant the easement.

The approximately $25 million proposed pipeline received a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in July 2018. The project would deliver 47,500 Dth/d of gas to a delivery point for utility Mountaineer Gas Co.

In its May court filing, the developer said it needs the easement to accomplish the "highly complex crossing" under the Potomac River with a 4,294-foot horizontal directional drill. The company also said it needs to meet two deadlines for the project: the July 19, 2020, expiration of its certificate from FERC and the company's contractual in-service deadline of Nov. 1, 2020.

Columbia Gas' Eastern Panhandle pipeline project has sparked protests from residents and environmental groups who object the proposed pipeline route crossing the Potomac River and other environmental issues. (U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland docket 1:19-cv-01444)