ELR Citation: 48 ELR 20133
No(s). 17-3163 (3d Cir. Jul 25, 2018)

The Third Circuit affirmed a lower court's dismissal of a religious group's challenge to FERC's approval of a natural gas pipeline along land owned by the group. The group objected to the use of their land as part of the project, explaining that their deeply held religious beliefs require that they care for the land in a manner that protects and preserves the Earth as God's creation. But the lower court dismissed the group's complaint, concluding that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction in light of the Natural Gas Act's specific provisions addressing judicial review of FERC orders. On appeal, the group argued that the lower court erred because their Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) claim raises a federal question over which the court had jurisdiction. But the appellate court disagreed, concluding that a RFRA cause of action, brought by invoking a court's general federal question jurisdiction, does not abrogate or provide an exception to a specific and exclusive jurisdiction provision prescribing a particular procedure for judicial review of an agency's action. The court therefore affirmed the lower court's dismissal of the group's complaint.