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Page Number: 17.0

12 

PENNEAST PIPELINE CO. v. NEW JERSEY 

Opinion of the Court 

17, 21 (1958).  The same is true for private delegatees.  Lux-
ton,  for  example,  arose  out  of  a  condemnation  proceeding 
initiated by a corporation, 153 U. S., at 525–528 (statement 
of  the  case),  whereas  Stockton  was  a  suit  brought  by  the 
State  after  preparations  for  construction  had  already  be-
gun, 32 F., at 11.

Section 717f(h) follows this path.  As described above, a 
natural gas company must obtain a certificate of public con-
venience and necessity from FERC in order to build a pipe-
line.  Once the certificate is obtained, if the company “can-
not acquire by contract, or is unable to agree with the owner 
of property to the compensation to be paid for, the necessary
right-of-way” to build the pipeline, then the company “may
acquire the same by the exercise of the right of eminent do-
main.”  §717f(h).  This delegation is categorical.  No one dis-
putes  that  §717f(h)  was  passed  specifically  to  solve  the
problem  of  States  impeding  interstate  pipeline  develop-
ment by  withholding access to their own eminent domain
procedures.  See S. Rep. No. 429, at 2–4.  And it was under-
stood both at the time the provision was enacted and over
the following decades that States’ property interests would 
be subject to condemnation.  See, e.g., Hearings on S. 734
et al. before the Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on 
Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce,  80th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,
105 (1947) (opponents of the bill that would become §717f(h) 
objecting on the ground that it would “permit[] the taking
of State-owned lands used for State purposes by a private 
company”); Tenneco Atlantic Pipeline Co., 1 FERC ¶63,025,
p. 65,203  (1977)  (“the  eminent  domain  grant  to  persons 
holding  [certificates  of  public  convenience  and  necessity]
applies equally to private and state lands”).  By its terms, 
§717f(h)  delegates  to  certificate  holders  the  power  to  con-
demn any necessary rights-of-way, including land in which
a State holds an interest.