Sometimes the most obscure legal issues can affect our lives in really important ways. Penn East – remember that environmentally friendly company? – wants to seize land owned by the State of New Jersey to continue its relentless march to the sea. Almost sounds like General Sherman in the Civil War and with just as much destruction.
The obscure legal issue is a 1938 law called the Natural Gas Act that allows private companies to seize “necessary” land to use the Federal government’s eminent domain power to seize property for their use. In 2019 the Third Circuit Federal Appeals Court ruled that a private company even with federal approval for its pipeline could not seize land owned by the State of New Jersey.
The U.S. Supreme Court has taken the case. The 11th Amendment grants sovereign immunity to the states. New Jersey argues that the Federal government has not delegated its authority to a private company to take land from states. This is a case that has far reaching implications for the environment. But Penn East argues, these 40 conservation areas have no value. Just a bunch of trees, birds, and open space.
Prayer for the Day
Free us, O God, from our obsession with money,
For the forces that would destroy your world lie in wait;
Free us, O God, to, like the Lorax, care for the trees,
For once the last one is gone, it cannot be replaced.
Empower us to share the beauty of your world
With those who will follow us in future generations.
In the name of him who considered the lilies of the field,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain,
For strip-mined mountain's majesty above the asphalt plain.
America, America, man sheds his waste on thee,
And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea.
- George Carllin, American satirist
To be poor and be without trees, is to be the most starved human being in the world. To be poor and have trees, is to be completely rich in ways that money can never buy.
- Clarissa Pinkola Estes, American writer
The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
Day to day pours foth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.
Psalm 19: 1-2