HEADLINE: “Williams to “Imminently” File with FERC to Revive 2 New York Pipes”, By JIM WILLIS
“The effort by the Trump administration to build both the Constitution Pipeline and the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project continues to pick up steam.”
The effort by the Trump administration to build both the Constitution Pipeline and the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project continues to pick up steam. Just yesterday, we told you that there was a public disagreement between the White House and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul regarding whether she agreed to a quid pro quo deal to allow the two pipelines in return for restarting an offshore windmill project (see White House Claims NY Gov. “Caved” on Pipelines, Hochul Says No). Regardless of whether a deal was reached or not, the key question has been: will Williams, the pipeline company for both projects, be willing to invest more money in those projects after losing hundreds of millions when NY blocked them? The answer, if reports from two mainstream media outlets are accurate, appears to be YES!
Both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are reporting Williams will “imminently” file applications with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to resurrect both projects. It could come any day. Possibly even today!
Constitution Pipeline
The Constitution is a 124-mile, 660 MMcf/d greenfield (brand new) pipeline from the gas fields of northeastern Pennsylvania (in Susquehanna County) into and through New York to Schoharie County. It would connect to two other pipelines—the Iroquois Gas Transmission System and the Tennessee Gas Pipeline—to move Marcellus gas into New York State and New England.
Midstream giant Williams would be the builder and primary partner with a 41% share, along with Cabot Oil & Gas (now Coterra Energy) with a 25% share, Piedmont Natural Gas Company with a 24% share, and WGL Holdings Inc. with a 10% share. The pipeline would move significant new quantities of Coterra molecules out of Susquehanna County.
New York State blocked the Constitution by illegally refusing to grant a Clean Water Act Section 401 permit. After years of lawsuits, the courts ruled NY was in the wrong and granted Williams permission to proceed. However, by that time (after spending $354 million), Williams canceled the project in 2020, rather than continue to butt heads with lunatic NY politicians (see Sad Day: Williams Declares Constitution Pipeline Project Dead).
Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project
The $926 million NESE project is another Williams project, designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets. In particular, Williams wants to provide more natural gas to utility giant National Grid, whose territory covers all of Long Island, including parts of NYC located on Long Island (Queens and Brooklyn).
NESE has several components, but the key element, the heart of the project, is a new 23-mile pipeline from the shore of New Jersey into (on the bottom of) the Raritan Bay, running parallel to the existing Transco pipeline before connecting to the Transco pipeline offshore. Most of the pipeline would be located underwater.
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo (deeply corrupt) and later his clone and replacement, Gov. Hochul, did everything they could to block the project. Namely, instructing the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to find ways of delaying permits for the project by fabricating flimsy excuses. Eventually, NY refused to issue permits for the project under Hochul (see Sad Day: NY Assassinates Another Williams Pipeline Project – NESE).
When President Trump began talking up the Constitution project, Williams indicated it would be interested in reviving the project only if New York and the New England states dropped their opposition to natural gas (see Williams CEO Supports Restart of Constitution Pipe – With Conditions). It seems CEO Alan Armstrong is now sufficiently satisfied that he’s ready to restart the process.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Developers of two left-for-dead natural-gas pipeline projects in New York are preparing to file permitting paperwork with federal energy regulators to move forward with the projects, according to people familiar with the matter.
Pipeline company Williams is set to try again to build the Constitution and Northeast Supply Enhancement pipelines, which would shuttle natural gas from Appalachian gas fields throughout the Northeast.
The resurrection follows President Trump’s decision last week to reverse his April stop-work order on a major wind project off the state’s coast and suggests horse-trading between Trump and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. They spoke by phone earlier this month in a bid to save one of the signature economic development projects of her administration and deliver a promise Trump has made to bring back the dormant pipeline project.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who has worked to help revive the pipelines, was also part of some of those conversations, according to people familiar with the matter.
The pipeline revival is part of Trump’s push to boost fossil-fuel production and infrastructure while also dismantling much of his predecessor’s efforts to foster renewable-energy development.
Trump has fixated on the Constitution Pipeline, first proposed in 2012 as a 124-mile line to move gas from Appalachia’s shale fields in to New York and New England. The Northeast’s businesses and residents face some of the country’s highest energy costs, despite being on the doorstep of what has become the world’s most prolific gas field, because of limited capacity to deliver fuel into dense coastal cities.
Constitution’s developer, Williams, pulled the plug in 2020 after years in court fighting New York environmental regulators, who refused to issue a crucial water-quality permit.
Williams is also filing paperwork to revive its less memorably named Northeast Supply Enhancement project, which would expand its existing supply lines that run beneath New York Harbor and into the city. Williams stopped pursuing the embattled project last year, seven years after it started.
In a March interview, Williams Chief Executive Alan Armstrong said that the Tulsa, Okla., company would need assurances before pursuing Constitution again.
“We’re not gonna put our head in the vise,” he said. “It would have to be a pre-rolled out red carpet, frankly, for us to go back in.”
Hochul made no deal with Trump regarding specific pipelines when she convinced the president to reverse course on the Empire Wind energy project, a spokesman for the governor said.
Yet the governor hasn’t taken the same hard line on natural gas as her predecessor Andrew Cuomo. Her administration earlier this year approved permits to expand a gas pipeline that serves the state.
In a statement about the wind farm, she said she would work with the Trump administration and companies on “new energy projects that meet the legal requirements under New York law.
“In order to ensure reliability and affordability for consumers, we will be working in earnest to deliver on these objectives,” she said.
She didn’t mention pipelines, but that was what Trump administration officials and energy executives heard. Burgum said on social media that Hochul showed a “willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity.”
It isn’t clear if other scuttled pipeline projects will return. Buffalo’s National Fuel Gas last year abandoned plans for its Northern Access project a decade after it first proposed a 97-mile pipeline to bring Pennsylvania shale gas to western New York.
“National Fuel doesn’t intend to revive its Northern Access project at this time, but the company is open to developing pipeline projects in New York in the event New York’s policymakers signal support for such projects, including a willingness to issue key permits,” a spokeswoman said. (1)
From Bloomberg:
Williams Cos. is preparing to revive plans for two scrapped pipelines that would deliver natural gas to New York.
The Tulsa-based company is preparing to file paperwork with federal energy regulators for both the Constitution Pipeline and Northeast Supply Enhancement project, which would transport natural gas from Pennsylvania across the Northeast, said people familiar with the matter who weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Those filings could happen imminently, one of the people said.
Williams had shelved both projects after New York state denied them essential water-quality permits.
But Trump’s dogged insistence on getting the pipelines built — and a pressure campaign aimed at New York Governor Kathy Hochul — helped change have changed the landscape. The development also comes after Trump and top administration officials won a concession from Hochul, who agreed she wouldn’t block new pipelines to bring natural gas from Pennsylvania if the president allowed construction to resume on a wind farm off the New York Coast, according to people familiar with the matter. The Trump administration had in April halted Equinor ASA’s Empire Wind 1 project but the president later engaged in talks with Hochul over increasing gas capacity in the region.
Supporters of the pipeline projects argue they would help bolster reliability in the Northeast, a benefit for the region as operators work to meet surging demand and lure manufacturing investments. But the Northeast Supply Enhancement project that would serve National Grid customers in New York drew condemnation from environmentalists in part because it would cut across Raritan Bay.
The imminent filings were reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.
It’s not clear whether Williams will be able to leverage previous authorizations for the projects to accelerate timelines now. Even so, the House of Representatives has advanced legislation meant to speed up pipeline approvals, and Trump has raised the possibility of using emergency authorizations to hasten projects.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright had previously said it’s “quite likely” that construction will start this year on Constitution. (2)
We will eagerly watch for these filings. Exciting times ahead!
BOTTOMLINE: “It’s not clear whether Williams will be able to leverage previous authorizations for the projects to accelerate timelines now. Even so, the House of Representatives has advanced legislation meant to speed up pipeline approvals, and Trump has raised the possibility of using emergency authorizations to hasten projects.”
