| Quantum Pipeline Co. v. Illinois Commerce Comm'n, No. 3-98-0131 3rd District, March 12, 1999 |
| QUANTUM PIPELINE CO. and SEAGULL PRODUCTS PIPELINE CORP., Petitioners, v. ILLINOIS COMMERCE COMMISSION, Respondent. | Appeal from the Illinois Commerce Commission ICC Docket Nos. 96--0001/96--0318 |
JUSTICE KOEHLER delivered the opinion of the court:
The petitioners, Quantum Pipeline Company and Seagull Products Pipeline Corporation, appeal the Illinois Commerce Commission's (Commission) order rescinding the petitioners' certificate authorizing construction of a common carrier pipeline, and denying the petitioners' request for eminent domain authority. We must decide whether the Commission denied the petitioners procedural due process when it revoked their certificate without giving them notice of a violation of their certificate, and in so doing, we must answer the following questions: (1) Does a liberty or property interest exist that requires due process be afforded? and (2) What process is due? Because we conclude that the procedure used by the Commission violated the petitioners' procedural due process rights, we reverse and remand with directions.
I. FACTS
On April 21, 1995, the petitioners filed an application with the Commission seeking authorization to build a pipeline from Clinton, Iowa, to Morris, Illinois. The petitioners provided the statutorily required notice of their application for a certificate by publication in the official state newspaper. Although not required to do so, the petitioners distributed informational packets to landowners along the pipeline route and cooperated with the Illinois Department of Agriculture and Illinois Farm Bureau to notify and inform landowners of the proposed project. One landowner sought to intervene, but the Commission denied the petition as untimely. Subsequently, the Commission waived a hearing and granted the petitioners' certificate of public convenience and necessity after finding that a public need existed. 625 ILCS 5/18c--8201(1) (West 1992).
The petitioners then negotiated with private landowners for the easements required to build the pipeline. Due to an inability to obtain easements from all of the landowners, the petitioners sought eminent domain power under section 8--509 from the Commission.(1) 220 ILCS 5/8--509 (West 1992). Thirty-four landowners sought leave to intervene in the eminent domain proceeding.(2)
After the time to petition the Commission for a rehearing on its grant of petitioners' certificate expired, the Commission's staff filed a report to the Commission requesting that the Commission reopen the certificate proceeding pursuant to section 200.900 (83 Ill. Admin. Code