Judge to rule in Sunoco eminent domain challenges
“Sunoco Pipeline believes Pennsylvania’s Business Corporation Law authorizes it to have eminent domain powers to condemn private property its needs across Washington County to develop a pipeline to ship Marcellus Shale products, the company’s attorney argued Tuesday in Washington County Court.
Kandice Hull, a Harrisburg attorney representing the Philadephia company, claimed in court the law qualifies Sunoco as a privately owned utility that can take property without federal approval for easements because it’s involved in developing an interstate pipeline for products classified as oil.
“We meet that law requirement without reference to any other authority,” Hull argued before Judge Katherine B. Emery as part of a challenge filed against Sunoco by the owners of 25 properties.”
Beveridge, Scott. Observer Reporter 22 January 2014.