Two press statements on January 3, 2020, one from Protect Our Water, Heritage Rights (POWHR) and the other from Gentry Locke attorneys, announced the filing by landowners of a constitutional challenge against FERC and Mountain Valley Pipeline under the federal non-delegation doctrine.

The POWHR statement says in part, “Plaintiffs have brought a facial constitutional challenge under three counts, alleging that any and all certificates already issued under the Natural Gas Act are void. Plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory judgment from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., asking the Court to declare that Congress’s overly broad delegation of legislative powers to FERC was and is facially unconstitutional; that any delegation of eminent domain power to any and all private actors, including MVP, is facially unconstitutional; that FERC has no authority to issue certificates to applicants seeking to invoke the power of eminent domain to take property; and that all such certificates already issued are void ab initio.”

The Gentry Locke statement says, “The case centers around three constitutional principles involving delegations of Congressional power: 1. A broad delegation of power is unconstitutional; 2. Delegating delegated power is unconstitutional; 3. Delegating legislative power to a private entity is unconstitutional.”

The Gentry Locke statement continues:

“The Complaint is a facial constitutional challenge, which raises three Counts.

• Count I is about an overly broad delegation of power by Congress to FERC. When it enacted the Natural Gas Act, Congress delegated to FERC the legislative power to decide who can exercise eminent domain without providing FERC with a test to use when making its decisions. Instead, Congress told FERC to make its own test. In doing so, Congress violated the non-delegation doctrine.
• Counts II and III both involve delegations of eminent domain power to a private entity. Count II is premised on the idea that the power went from Congress to FERC and then to the private entity. This violates the prohibition on the sub-delegation of powers.
• Alternatively, Count III is premised on a direct delegation from Congress to the private entity. Because eminent domain power is legislative in nature, it cannot be delegated directly to a private entity. This violates the private non-delegation doctrine. The private non-delegation doctrine says that Congress cannot delegate legislative power to a private entity. (“When it comes to private entities, however, there is not even a fig leaf of constitutional justification. Private entities are not vested with ‘legislative Powers.’ Art. I, §1.”) (Alito, J., concurring).

As a result, Plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory judgment declaring that FERC has no authority to issue certificates and that all such certificates already issued are void.”

Russell Chisolm, Co-Chair of Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights, commented, “We are encouraged that landowners may have a real opportunity for judicial consideration of their claims challenging the constitutionality of delegating Congressional powers to separate entities. The process as it stands has allowed FERC and private corporations to use the extraordinary power of eminent domain to seize property by force from landowners—a process that has continued even in the face of a multitude of missing permits, several pending lawsuits, and the absence of true public need for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.”

See Roanoke Times coverage of the filing here.