The Public Use Clause in an Age of U.S. Natural Gas Exports

This Essay explores how courts are grappling anew with the role of the Public Use Clause in an age of energy exports. Recent case law involving FERC’s public use determinations and the agency’s practice of delaying judicial review of its decisions through “tolling orders” shows increasing discomfort in the federal courts with FERC’s treatment of these projects. Such discomfort could lead to real changes in the law governing public use for natural gas pipelines and may create a new jurisprudence surrounding eminent domain.