(The Center Square) — The Trump administration is celebrating a new natural gas pipeline expansion in New York City that broke ground Tuesday — boasting that the project will boost the region’s energy supply.
The Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, which is getting underway after years of legal fights, will run from shale-rich Lancaster County, Pa., through New Jersey to New York City. The $1.8 billion project calls for building nearly 24 miles of new pipeline, most of which would run under New York Harbor.
“For decades, poor political choices obstructed the building of energy infrastructure, leading to higher energy costs for millions of Americans,” Energy Secretary Wright said in remarks Tuesday at a groundbreaking for the project in Brooklyn. “President Trump promised to lower energy costs and to get America building again — that is exactly what the groundbreaking of the NESE pipeline will accomplish.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman, called the project a “giant win” for New York and the nation’s energy independence. He said it will mean “a reliable, low-cost, clean burning option” for New Yorkers to heat and power their homes and businesses.
“This is a project that protects the environment and grows the economy,” Zeldin said in remarks Tuesday. “It’s about security. It’s about affordability. For a lot of New Yorkers they hit that breaking point where they decide that they can’t afford to live here. They’re fleeing to other places down south.”
It was given a green light in New York by Gov. Kathy Hochul after the Democrat reportedly struck a deal with President Donald Trump in order to save an offshore wind project under construction off the coast of Long Island. Hochul has denied making a deal. But she defended her support for the pipeline project, saying it is aimed at bringing down energy costs.
Williams Companies, the corporation behind the NESE project, said it will improve energy reliability in the Northeast, providing enough electricity to power 2.3 million homes, creating hundreds of new jobs and keeping costs stable.
Environmental groups, which have sued to block the project, say the pipeline would tear up the harbor floor, destroy marine habitats, and contaminate the water with mercury, copper, PCBs and other toxins. They said those concerns were cited by the regulatory board in its review of the project.
In 2020, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo denied the Oklahoma-based Williams Companies a permit to bury the pipeline. The company revived the project earlier this year after President Trump touted the need for more natural gas in the Northeast region.
Trump has signed executive orders and directed federal agencies to expand natural gas pipeline development by expediting permitting, while also taking actions to increase LNG exports. The move is aimed at bringing down costs for consumers and increasing the county’s energy independence.
Industry groups have long argued that high energy costs in the Northeast are being driven in part by a lack of natural gas capacity. Under the Biden administration, several gas pipeline projects were blocked.
Williams CEO Chad J. Zamarin said natural gas is three-times more expensive than in other states and up to 10 times the national average in the winters when demand is higher. He said energy companies haven’t added new natural gas infrastructure to the state in decades.
“The issue in New York isn’t cost and supply,” Zamarin said in remarks Tuesday. “It is truly just a lack of infrastructure and an inability to deliver gas to people where and when they need it. Today, the NESE project begins to turn the dial.”
