FERC said Wednesday it plans to issue an environmental review of the Trump-backed Constitution pipeline in late August, the latest step in the proposal’s push to transport Pennsylvania gas to upstate New York.
The agency’s announcement comes more than two months after FERC said it was going to study the project’s “potential” environmental effects. President Donald Trump lambasted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this month over allegedly breaking a deal — one that Hochul’s office denies making — that would have had the state revive pipelines in exchange for federal approval of wind projects.
The Constitution pipeline, put forward by Williams Companies, was canceled in 2020 but put back on the table through a petition last year and has benefited from the Trump administration’s ardent backing. Williams, as well as Trump officials like EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, have said the pipeline will help lower costs for consumers in the Northeast.
In the new three-page notice, FERC outlined its schedule for preparing an environmental assessment for the 125-mile Constitution pipeline and the linked Wright Interconnect project, which would enable gas delivery from Constitution into existing pipeline networks. Iroquois Gas Transmission System is developing the Wright Interconnect project.
