Opinion ID: 2616072
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Common Carrier Requirement

Text: Here Kennedys maintain that Yates cannot condemn unless it is a common carrier, in which case it is also required to have a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Corporation Commission. Yates admits that it is not a common carrier and that it does not have a certificate, but denies that one is required. We agree with the implication of Kennedys' argument that if Yates were a common carrier, then its right to condemn would be difficult, if not impossible, to dispute. The Pipeline Eminent Domain statute, however, specifically states that [a]ny person, firm, association or corporation may exercise the right of eminent domain. § 70-3-5(A). The legislature has required that some pipelines be certified and regulated as common carriers. NMSA 1978, § 70-3-1 and -2 (Cum.Supp.1985). But expressly excluded from these regulatory requirements are gathering lines or systems operated exclusively for the gathering of oil or gas in any field or area, NMSA 1978, § 70-3-3 (Cum.Supp.1985). The pipeline in question here is a gathering line, exempt from regulation. We conclude that the legislature could have chosen to exclude gathering lines from exercising the right of eminent domain, but it did not, as revealed by the clear and unambiguous language of Section 70-3-5. Kennedys cite the Threlkeld case for the proposition that a condemnor must follow the laws that apply to common carriers. Such a requirement was provided explicitly by the statute at issue in Threlkeld. It is conspicuously absent from the statute here. This Court will not impose additional conditions onto the exercise of a right provided by the legislature. See Southern Natural Gas Co. v. Poland, 384 So.2d 528 (La.Ct.App.1980).