Nuns appeal pipeline project on religious grounds

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A group of nuns is asking a federal appeals court to halt a natural gas pipeline project on their rural Pennsylvania property.

A lawyer for sisters in the Adorers of the Blood of Christ on Friday told a panel of federal judges in Philadelphia that building a pipeline through their cornfield in Lancaster violates their religious freedom.

But attorneys representing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company say the religious order waived its rights because it didn't raise objections about the project to the federal agency.

The nuns’ lawsuit was dismissed last year by a lower court. The pipeline company has also been granted the right to seize land needed for the project.