An administrative law judge has recommended that Laser Northeast Gathering Company--a gas pipeline company seeking to operate in northeast Pennsylvania--be denied a Certificate of Public Convenience. The Certificate would have granted the company eminent domain powers, allowing the company to force landowners to sell rights-of-way for pipelines through their property.

This is the first time a company building gathering lines--which take gas from wells to larger transmission lines--has sought public utility status in the development of the region's Marcellus Shale deposit.

The pipeline would be the first part of an extensive system linking potentially hundreds of gas wells in Susquehanna County, PA, to the interstate Millennium Pipeline in Broome County, New York.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission will make a final decision on Laser Northeast's application after the parties have had an opportunity to respond to the judge's recommendations, most likely early next year.

“Pennsylvania's landowners should not be forced to give up control over their land to pipeline companies if state regulatory agencies will not guarantee protection of public safety, community health, and the natural environment,” said Deborah Goldberg, an attorney for Earthjustice. “If the Public Utility Commission cannot provide those protections, landowners must have the power to protect themselves."