Opposition is growing over a revived natural gas pipeline project that would run into New York City, and critics say President Donald Trump’s heavy-handed intervention has made the plan vulnerable to a legal takedown.
The line of attack raises the prospect that Trump’s transactional method of operating — and a White House boast — could be used to challenge the Northeast Supply Enhancement project and another gas project Trump wants built: the Constitution pipeline.
“In a normal era, this would be a Watergate-level scandal. I’m actually shocked that everyone acknowledges the basic factual timeline, but yet most people just shrug and move on,” said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy and Climate Program.
In the consumer advocacy group’s formal protest to federal regulators, Slocum called it a “quid pro quo.” Trump administration officials say they’re simply advancing projects that will reduce energy costs. The outcome of the tussle over gas pipeline plans may help shape whether the northeastern United States builds more renewable energy infrastructure or relies more on fossil fuels such as natural gas.
The Northeast project, or NESE, proposed by Williams Cos. would include a 24-mile pipeline running underwater into New York from New Jersey, which would host three miles of onshore pipe. It is an expansion of Williams’ 10,000-mile Transcontinental natural gas pipeline system connecting Gulf states with the New York metro area.
Williams is seeking to reinstate a permit — known officially as a certificate — from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that expired in May 2024 after being slowed by regulatory hurdles imposed by New York state officials. Public Citizen’s formal protest before the commission says the “unseemly” way the project was revived shows it is not in the public interest.
The Natural Resources Defense Council is seeking to slow the project, arguing to FERC that Williams cannot simply resurrect the permit. Instead, NRDC said, the company needs to start over with a new application.
“Transco cites zero relevant support for its contention that a dead certificate can be shocked back to life in these circumstances,” the organization said in a protest filed with FERC.
And more than 500 people have registered for formal “intervenor” status with FERC, amid encouragement from environmental groups and opposed local governments.
For example, the Franklin Township government in New Jersey has posted online detailed instructions on how to intervene. Its sample language suggests saying, in part, “Air quality, water quality, health and safety are threatened by the potential for an explosion.”
Williams, which is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, did not respond to requests for comment from POLITICO’s E&E News. But in its request to FERC to revive its permit, the company said NESE is needed to fulfill Trump’s energy goals.
“President Trump’s executive orders make clear the NESE Project is more important than ever,” the company said in its petition, signed by Francesca Ciliberti, senior counsel of Williams’ Transcontinental subsidiary.
‘Abuse of powers’
In the White House’s telling, both pipeline projects were dead until Trump shut down construction of a wind energy project important to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D). The White House said Trump allowed the wind project to resume only after Hochul “caved” and agreed to approve the pipeline, along with Constitution.
Hochul has not approved either pipeline proposal and told Newsday she made no deal to do so. But Slocum still thinks something about the situation smells rotten.
It’s “the product of an unseemly, tawdry political shakedown involving unlawful abuse of powers by the Trump Administration and the State of New York,” Slocum said in his protest filing.
The White House didn’t directly the address the allegation of wrongdoing when asked by E&E News. In a statement, the administration said it is “championing domestic energy production.” Department of Energy spokesperson Ben Dietderich said NESE is needed to bring down energy costs in a section of the United States.
“The Northeast has long had the some of the most expensive energy in the country due largely to the inadequate natural gas pipeline capacity in the region, leaving it vulnerable to price spikes and system reliability issues,” Dietderich said.
High electricity prices have helped to weaken pipeline resistance among elected Democrats in the Northeast. The region relies heavily on natural gas but has limited pipeline capacity and has some of the highest electricity prices in the nation.
The revival of NESE — which is commonly pronounced “nessy” — and Constitution are the latest development in a yearslong tug-of-war over whether to power the Northeast with wind turbines and other renewable sources, or fossil fuels delivered by pipeline.
Constitution and NESE were two of at least five northeastern gas pipeline shredded by local opposition and environmental litigation. One gas trade group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, has accused New York of erecting an “energy blockade.”
Just last year, activists in New York and New Jersey were celebrating the demise of NESE.
Former President Joe Biden was in the White House promoting renewable energy. Congress was steering billions in incentives to wind and solar projects and New York was finalizing a deal to begin two offshore wind projects to deliver electricity to the state. One of them was Norway-based Equinor’s Empire Wind 1 project.
Then, Trump’s return to the White House in January with a campaign to “unleash” American energy raised hopes for fossil fuel developers that their projects could get permits and favorable treatment.
But Williams’ then-CEO Alan Armstrong indicated the company needed something more — political support from Northeastern governors — to restart the two pipeline projects. Armstrong is now executive chair at Williams.
“We’re not gonna go putting our neck out until they invite us with the red carpet rolled out,” Armstrong said in a March interview with Barrons.
Under the Clean Water Act, interstate gas pipelines require approval from state environmental regulators. And pipeline executives have come to view Democratic governors — particularly former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) — as a primary impediment to building new pipelines.
Empire Wind
Hochul has said she is open to considering pipeline projects on their merits. Aides say she introduced a new process to go beyond environmental reviews and look at whether new pipelines are needed to meet power needs.
Cuomo, Hochul’s predecessor, had refused to grant Williams the needed water permits for NESE and Constitution, and Williams pulled the plug on both projects after years of wrangling. But under Hochul, the state bucked criticism from green groups and approved air permits for an expansion of the Iroquois gas pipeline.
Still, Williams made no public moves to revive either Constitution or NESE.
Then in April, Trump halted construction of Equinor’s Empire Wind 1 off the coast of New York, even though it was fully permitted and construction was under way. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum cited a report from an arm of the Commerce Department that he said showed Empire Wind’s approval had been rushed.
As the shutdown reached one month, Equinor warned that it might scuttle the $5 billion project, costing 1,500 jobs and throwing a wrench into New York’s energy plans. Hochul ramped up her efforts to get Trump to change his mind on the project.
Burgum lifted the roadblock 33 days after imposing it, without explanation and without ever producing the Commerce report. The May 19 decision came after a weekend of what Equinor CEO Anders Opedal would describe as “roller coaster” negotiations. according to the Financial Times. At one point in May, according to Newsday, Hochul called Opedal for details at 11 p.m. in New York, apologizing because it was six hours later in Norway.
After nearly a week of silence, the White House issued a statement May 23 claiming that Hochul had “caved” to Trump. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in the statement that Hochul agreed to allow “two natural gas pipelines to advance” through New York “because she knew it was the only way to save her flailing offshore wind project.”
Hochul insists there was no such deal, although Opedal told the Financial Times that Hochul had told him at one point, “I think I have an angle to talk to the administration on this.” Opedal also told the newspaper the pipeline discussions played a “very helpful” role in getting his project moving again.
“The Governor’s only commitment was to work with the Administration and private entitpies on new energy projects that meet the legal requirements under New York law,” Hochul spokesperson Ken Lovett said in an emailed statement.
Deal or no deal, Williams officials took Trump’s reversal and Hochul’s statements about openness to pipelines as the red carpet rollout they’d been looking for. The company quickly started reengaging with federal and state regulators to revive lapsed permits for Constitution and NESE.
In his protest, Slocum specifically cited the White House boast that Hochul “caved” under pressure from Trump as reason for FERC to reject NESE.
“A pipeline project that is the subject of a lurid political shakedown cannot be granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity because its association with such sordid acts violates the public interest,” he wrote.
Constitution pipeline
Trump had long pushed for the higher-profile Constitution pipeline — a $1 billion project designed to carry gas 124 miles from shale wells in West Virginia and Pennsylvania to New York and New England. A shortage of pipeline capacity has put downward pressure on the price of natural gas produced in that area, and oil and gas companies are some of the biggest financial backers of Trump’s political efforts.
But Williams itself canceled the Constitution project in 2020 after years of regulatory sparring with New York under Cuomo.
The company has not formally asked FERC to reinstate its permit for the Constitution project, but it has sought permits from Pennsylvania and New York. The idea of reviving Constitution has met some pushback from the Empire State.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation informed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in late June it will not abide by the 25-day deadline the Army Corps set in keeping with Trump’s declaration of a “national energy emergency.” The state agency said six months is a “reasonable period of time” to act on the request. The department also deemed Williams’ Constitution application incomplete last week.
And there is a perception in the industry that Constitution is less likely to be built. An analysis by East Daley Analytics suggested NESE faces an easier path to completion than Constitution. The consultancy said in a blog post that there is “virtually no latent capacity” available on the line that Constitution would feed into.
But NESE faces a tough political environment, especially in New Jersey. There would be only three miles onshore on the New Jersey side with that project, but it still requires sign off from state environmental regulators.
New York environmental regulators last week deemed complete Williams’ application for a state permit for NESE, kicking off a public comment period that runs until Aug. 1.
Beyond the local governments stirring up opposition, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has fought NESE in the past, so he could be criticized for flip-flopping if he were to approve it now. A Murphy spokesperson declined to comment.
Either way, opponents are spoiling for a fight.
“The public was left holding the bag,” Slocum said. “And we’re going to take this case all the way.”
