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Petition for Writ of Certiorari

Constitution Pipeline today petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the judgement of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which on Aug. 18, 2017, denied the Constitution’s legal challenge to New York State DEC’s denial of the company’s application for a Water Quality Certification. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied Constitution’s rehearing petition on Oct. 19, 2017.

Constitution contends that the Second Circuit’s decision conflicts with the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and federal Courts of Appeals on an important question of federal law that has enormous implications for the development of critical energy infrastructure in this nation.

Company Perspective

The project sponsors said in a statement:

“We continue to believe that this federally-approved project has been unjustly prohibited from construction. The Constitution Pipeline is much-needed energy infrastructure designed to bring natural gas to a region of the country that has recently experienced the highest natural gas prices in the world.”

“Without a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, there is a serious risk that states will use the Second Circuit’s ruling to abuse their narrowly circumscribed CWA Section 401 authority in their efforts to frustrate interstate natural gas pipeline development at the expense of vital national interests.”

“While the decision by the FERC to deny our petition is disappointing, we firmly believe that the Clean Water Act does more than impose a strict “one-year test” on state agencies and, accordingly, we believe the order erred by failing to find that Section 401 was waived due to New York failing to act within a “reasonable period of time” on Constitution’s Clean Water Act application. We are planning to seek rehearing and, if necessary, appeal of this decision in order to continue to develop this much-needed infrastructure project designed to bring natural gas to a region of the country that has recently experienced demand resulting in the highest natural gas prices in the world. Constitution remains committed to constructing and placing into operation this critical piece of energy infrastructure.”