Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-1039_8n5a.pdf
Page Number: 7.0

2 

PENNEAST PIPELINE CO. v. NEW JERSEY 

Opinion of the Court 

Although nonconsenting States are generally immune from 
suit, they surrendered their immunity from the exercise of 
the federal eminent domain power when they ratified the 
Constitution.  That power carries with it the ability to con-
demn property in court.  Because the Natural Gas Act del-
egates the federal eminent domain power to private parties, 
those  parties  can  initiate  condemnation  proceedings,  in-
cluding against state-owned property. 

I 
A 
Natural gas has been a part of the Nation’s energy supply
since at least the 1820s, when an “enterprising gunsmith” 
named  William  Aaron  Hart  developed  a  natural  gas  well
near Fredonia, New York.  D. Waples, The Natural Gas In-
dustry in Appalachia 12 (2d ed. 2012).  Initially, difficulties
in transporting natural gas limited its distribution, as the 
available  pipeline  technology  did  not  allow  producers  to
reach the sprawling American markets.  See Tarr, Trans-
forming  an  Energy  System,  in  The  Governance  of  Large
Technical Systems 26 (O. Coutard ed. 1999).  Over the fol-
lowing century, however, that technology slowly improved. 
In 1891, one of the first interstate pipelines—albeit a rudi-
mentary and inefficient one—was built to carry natural gas
from central Indiana to Chicago.  And in the 1920s, devel-
opment  began  in  earnest  on  the  country’s  pipeline  infra-
structure.  See id., at 27–28; J. Speight, Natural Gas 20–
21, 26 (2007).

In 1938 Congress passed the Natural Gas Act, ch. 556, 52 
Stat. 821, to regulate the transportation and sale of natural 
gas  in  interstate  commerce.  Congress  vested  the  Federal
Power  Commission  (now  the  Federal  Energy  Regulatory
Commission) with the authority to administer the NGA, in-
cluding by approving the construction and extension of in-
terstate pipelines.  The NGA provides that in order to build 
an interstate pipeline, a natural gas company must obtain