In the case of PennEast Pipeline Company vs. the State of New Jersey, late last year the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia ruled that the pipeline could not exercise eminent domain to secure rights of way through lands in which the State of New Jersey held a property interest, effectively stopping the pipeline from moving to construction. A project of UGI Energy Services, Inc., PennEast is slated to transport natural gas from northeastern Pennsylvania to customers along its 128-mile route to south-central New Jersey.

After the Third Circuits adverse ruling, PennEast filed a petition in late February asking the Supreme Court to review and overturn the lower courts decision.

In urging the Supreme Court to accept the case, EEIA argued that it "presents a question of immediate and exceptional national importance that endangers the boom in natural gas production", and that "the [Third Circuit's] decision will have severe national economic consequences on the complex commercial web that provides the equipment, labor, and infrastructure necessary to build interstate pipelines."

EEIA's President Toby Mack pointed out that "the Third Circuit ruling's own words alone should be enough to convince the Supreme Court to grant review, when it acknowledged that its ruling 'may disrupt how the natural gas industry has used the Natural Gas Act to construct interstate pipelines over State-owned land for the past eighty years'." Although the Association is optimistic, it's not known when and how the Court will rule on the petition. EEIA will maintain close watch on the appeal's progress and keep members informed.