United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

____________ FILED June 5, 2024 No. 23-60536 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk Mid Valley Pipeline Company, L.L.C.,

Plaintiff—Appellant,

versus Kenneth Rodgers, in his Official Capacity as Commissioner of the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners; David T. Cochran, Jr., in his Official Capacity as Commissioner of the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners; Katherine Crump, in her Official Capacity as Commissioner of the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners; Nott Wheeler, Jr., in his Official Capacity as Commissioner of the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners; Roy Nichols, in his Official Capacity as Commissioner of the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners; Paul Hollis, in his Official Capacity as Commissioner of the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners; Hank Burdine, in his Official Capacity as Commissioner of the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners; Peter Nimrod, in his Official Capacity as Chief Engineer of the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners; Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners,

Defendants—Appellees. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi USDC No. 4:22-CV-25 ______________________________ Before Clement, Engelhardt, and Wilson, Circuit Judges. Case: 23-60536 Document: 57-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/05/2024

No. 23-60536

Cory T. Wilson, Circuit Judge: This appeal stems from the district court’s grant of summary judgment, dismissing Mid Valley Pipeline Company’s claim arising under the Contract Clause of the United States Constitution. Because the operative document at issue—a permit—is not a contract, we affirm. I. Appellant Mid Valley Pipeline Company is an interstate pipeline company that transfers crude oil from Longview, Texas, to refineries in the Midwest. Mid Valley’s pipeline system runs through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. Defendants are members of the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners (the Levee Board) in their official capacities, the Levee Board itself, and the Levee Board’s Chief Engineer.1 In 1949, the Levee Board granted Mid Valley a permit (the 1949 Permit) to construct and maintain two twenty-inch pipelines across the levee in Mayersville, Issaquena County, Mississippi. The 1949 Permit conferred permission to Mid Valley subject to “the compliance and observance of all of the following conditions”: 1. The location and construction of the pipe line shall be subject to the approval of the Chief Engineer of the Board and the maintenance and use thereof shall also be subject to the approval of the Chief Engineer. _____________________ 1 The Mississippi Legislature created the Levee Board just months after the end of the Civil War. See Nugent v. Bd. of Miss. Levee Comm’rs, 58 Miss. 197, 209 (Miss. 1880) (noting the Levee Board’s creation on November 27, 1865). The Mississippi Constitution tasks the Levee Board with, inter alia, the “supervision of the erection, repair, and maintenance of the levees” in its district. Miss. Const. art. 11 § 232. The levee district at issue spans Bolivar, Washington, Iss