Rich May News: 2006
November 30, 2006
Rich May Lawyers Publish Federal Eminent Domain Article in the Energy Law Journal
Jim Behnke and Harold Dondis of Rich May, A Professional Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts, have published an article entitled: “The Sage Approach to Immediate Entry by Private Entities Exercising Eminent Domain Authority under the Natural Gas Act and the Federal Power Act” in the November, 2006 edition of the Energy Law Journal. 27 Energy L. J. 499 (2006).
In the article, Behnke and Dondis comprehensively discuss and analyze how federal courts during the last fifty years and most recently in East Tennessee Gas Pipeline v. Sage, 361 F. 3d 808 (4th Cir. 2004), rehearing en banc denied, 369 F. 3d 357 (2004), cert. denied, 543 U.S. 978 (2004), have fashioned immediate entry remedies for interstate natural gas pipeline and hydro-electric projects approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”). Those projects hold delegated federal eminent domain authority under § 7 of the Natural Gas Act or § 21 of the Federal Power Act. A discretionary immediate entry remedy has been devised and used by United States District Courts to authorize entry of property subject to taking prior to the final judicial determination and tendering of compensation to the affected property owner, provided that legally necessary safe guards are observed. According to the authors, the federal courts over the years have increasingly come to assert their remedial jurisdiction under common law principles to strike a practical balance between the demonstrated public need for FERC-approved energy projects, and legally-required protections for affected property owners in granting immediate entry.
Additionally, the authors address questions arising due to potential application of this important remedy to interstate electric transmission projects that may be approved by FERC under § 216 of the Federal Power Act, as that section has been recently enacted by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The authors also examine general practice issues pertinent to immediate entry and exercise of delegated federal eminent authority by project proponents having FERC approval.
To read the full article, please click here. (Note: This is a PDF file. Please visit the Adobe website to download a free version Adobe Acrobat.)
The article has been posted by the Energy Law Journal on the Energy Bar Association website.
About the Energy Law Journal
The Energy Law Journal is beginning its twenty-seventh year of publication in 2006. The Energy Law Journal (ELJ) is published under the supervision of an editorial committee composed of practitioners and academicians specializing in the field of energy law and is organized through the Federal Energy Bar Association’s headquarters in Washington D.C. Published twice a year, the ELJ has over 2,500 subscribers in the United States and 15 foreign countries, including Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Austria, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, and Korea. The ELJ has become the preeminent journal in the field of energy law, providing thought-provoking and deeply researched articles by practitioners, internationally known academics, federal judges, high ranking federal agency officials, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The ELJ has often been cited numerous times by state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as by a multitude of legal texts and periodicals, energy industry speakers, and the FERC.
For more information about the Energy Law Journal, please visit their website at http://www.utulsa.edu/law/elj/.
About Rich May
Rich May’s diverse practice embraces the organization and operation of business ventures, venture capital, private placements, hedge funds, public offerings, technology licensing, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, joint ventures, internet and e-commerce law, employee relations, intellectual property, litigation and dispute resolution, energy, telecommunications, public utilities, wealth planning and real estate. Rich May provides superior legal and strategic counsel through its extraordinary commitment to clients’ success, outstanding professional competence and straightforward ability to communicate. Rich May embraces an entrepreneurial spirit and maintains a mission execution culture that distinguishes Rich May from other law firms.
Rich May combines the stability and experience of one of Boston’s oldest preeminent law firms with the innovative spirit and energy of a venture catalyst intensely focused on serving high-tech entrepreneurs, emerging companies and investors in New England and throughout the United States.
For more information, visit www.richmaylaw.com.
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