Natural Gas Pipelines See Renewed Push as Hochul Signals Openness

A natural gas company is attempting to revive two previously-abandoned pipelines in New York, days after the White House reportedly claimed Gov. Kathy Hochul “caved” and had agreed to allow the developments to move forward.

The turnabout could test President Donald Trump’s influence to push fossil fuel projects forward – even in states that once blocked them, and Hochul’s commitment to the state’s ambitious climate sustainability goals.

And it raises questions over how willing the Hochul administration will be to meet Trump’s demands as he seeks to boost fossil fuel production and reverse former President Joe Biden’s renewable energy efforts.

Hochul said Thursday that she was considering the “benefits” of new energy projects that meet state environmental laws – including pipeline projects – “at a time when energy prices are through the roof.”

“I have to look at this in a different lens and will continue being committed to our climate goals,” the governor said. “I believe in them, but also the realization that we need to be more open-minded and expansive.”

The Constitution and Northeast Supply Enhancement, or NESE, pipelines were rumored to have been part of the Hochul administration’s negotiations with Trump to get a $5 billion offshore wind project moving again.

The Trump administration ordered a halt to that work in April but withdrew its opposition last week. Hochul claimed victory at the time, and has denied rumors of any trade-off.

Oklahoma-based Williams Companies is behind both developments and confirmed Thursday that it is preparing to file permit paperwork on the pipelines, and had requested federal officials to reinstate a permit for NESE under Trump’s executive orders to support infrastructure development of fossil fuel projects.

“Prompt reissuance of the certificate for the NESE Project would accomplish many of the goals of the President’s executive orders,” the permit request states.

Constitution would run natural gas from Pennsylvania to Schoharie County, and then connect to existing pipelines that run through New England. NESE would run from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and New York.

Williams decided in 2020 not to move forward with the Constitution pipeline after a drawn-out court battle with New York over the state’s denial of a critical environmental permit four years prior. Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo invoked the Clean Water Act in rejecting the permit, arguing that local waterways could be polluted by the pipeline. New Jersey and New York similarly denied permits for NESE, saying it did not meet either states’ environmental standards.

The question over natural gas resources in New York returned to the forefront earlier this month when Trump reversed his administration’s stop-work order on Empire Wind. The $5 billion development could power 500,000 New York homes, and Hochul has touted the project as a jobs-generator and clean energy gold standard for New York’s environmental goals.

Hochul, Trump and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum spoke over the phone on several occasions as Hochul lobbied to resume construction.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“It seems like Hochul and Trump have come to some agreement, or at least that both Williams and the Trump administration think they have,” said Alex Beauchamp, Northeast Region Director for Food and Water Watch, an environmental advocacy group.

“From Williams’ perspective, clearly, they saw that Trump and Hochul talked, and saw the Trump administration sort of declaring that they will now build pipelines. And then (Williams) decided to revive both these long-dead, frack, natural gas pipelines,” Beauchamp said. “Unquestionably, it’s about those talks.”

Hochul had reiterated after Trump’s decision that she was open to new energy projects that met New York state law.

Burgum, who was involved in talks to revive Empire Wind, seemed to take Hochul’s statement as expressing approval for future pipeline projects.

“I am encouraged by Governor Hochul’s comment about her willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity,” Burgum wrote in a post on X, or formerly known as Twitter. “Americans who live in New York and New England would see significant economic benefits and lower utility costs from increased access to reliable, affordable, clean American natural gas.”

Beauchamp and other environmental advocates say that the pipelines would threaten rivers and fragile ecosystems upstate, make urban centers in the Northeast more reliant on fossil fuels in the longer term, and hamper New York in meeting its climate sustainability goals.

But in an interview with Bloomberg in March, Williams chief executive Alan Armstrong said expanding natural gas capacity in New York and surrounding states would lower energy prices for residents.

“The states’ ability to block pipelines has been pretty chronic,” Armstrong said.

When asked if the Trump administration would “fix it,” Armstrong skirted the question and said, “I think what’s going to fix that is people being really upset about their utility bills.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health secretary, who had represented opponents of the Constitution pipeline in 2016 through his clinic, the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, said at the time that the project was a sign of the influence that the “dirtiest fuels” had on New York politics.

“You know what this pipeline is about,” Kennedy said. “This is not about making America a better place; it’s about enriching a few billionaires and shareholders of these companies.”

Story by Jeongyoon Han
Jeongyoon Han is a Capitol News Bureau reporter for the New York Public News Network, producing multimedia stories on issues of statewide interest and importance.