A private pipeline company obtained a certificate of public convenience from FERC. Under the Natural Gas Act, FERC may issue such certificates conditioned on the applicant meeting the Clean Water Act’s requirement of obtaining state environmental check off on the project. The pipeline needed an easement across Schuecker’s land, and began the condemnation process under New York law. It attached to its condemnation petition the conditional FERC certificate.
Schuecker objected, asserting that the FERC certificate was no good, because the pipeline had not met the condition: it had not certified to FERC that it had received all state approvals (as required by the federal Natural Gas Act). Indeed, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation had denied the pipeline’s water quality certification. The pipeline responded that it was seeking reconsideration with FERC, and that the NYDEC could not deny water quality certification because it was too late to do so.