{"id":197527,"date":"2026-04-14T23:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T23:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197527\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T23:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T23:49:08","slug":"controversial-pipeline-project-construction-begins-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197527\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial pipeline project construction begins soon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul and President Donald Trump discussed energy policy<\/a> during a closed-door, Oval Office meeting.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, top officials in the president\u2019s cabinet kicked off a groundbreaking event in Brooklyn for the long-stalled Northeast Supply Enhancement natural gas pipeline, slated to ship gas from Pennsylvania through New Jersey and New York.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, top officials in the president\u2019s cabinet kicked off a groundbreaking event in Brooklyn for the long-stalled Northeast Supply Enhancement natural gas pipeline, slated to ship gas from Pennsylvania through New Jersey and New York
\n
Officials claimed it will increase energy supply to over 2 million homes in the five boroughs and make a dent in energy affordability for the tri-state area
\n
Construction is expected to start this fall and be completed by the end of 2027<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re here to celebrate is not just infrastructure; it\u2019s a foundation for America\u2019s future,\u201d said Doug Burgum, the U.S. secretary of the interior.<\/p>\n

Officials claimed it will increase energy supply to over 2 million homes in the five boroughs and make a dent in energy affordability for the tri-state area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Biden administration prided itself on how many power plants it closed, how much energy production it shut down,\u201d said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, cheering the near-fulfillment of his boss\u2019 policy goals.<\/p>\n

The NESE pipeline<\/a> connects Pennsylvania to New Jersey, then underneath the New York City harbor, about three miles off the Rockaway Peninsula.<\/p>\n

Construction is expected to start this fall and be completed by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo New Yorkers and Long Islanders can have lower cost bills and, more importantly, greater job opportunities,\u201d said Wright.<\/p>\n

Environmental Protection Agency administrator, former Long Island Representative and failed 2022 gubernatorial candidate, Lee Zeldin, recalled an Oval Office meeting during the early days of Trump\u2019s second term, getting an assignment from the Queens-born president.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was specifically asking about NESE, he was specifically asking about Constitution, and he wanted it built instantly. It wasn\u2019t like, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m going to be here for four years, what can we start by the time we leave,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma-based company Williams said the $1 billion project could deliver thousands of jobs, increase energy supply to over 2 million homes and stabilize rising costs within the five boroughs.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s also in preparation for new energy demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t built a pipeline in New York in over a decade. We haven\u2019t grown electricity production in the United States in over 25 years. And all of the sudden, this next generation of technology, the race for artificial intelligence is all going to be about electricity and energy,\u201d said Williams CEO Chad Zamarin in an interview with NY1.<\/p>\n

Marking a reversal in federal and New York state policy, as Northeast natural gas projects have fallen on the wrong side of politics, environmental concerns and the desire to accelerate the green energy transition.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s former governor denied a previous application for this same route.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy systems are a lot more complex than maybe we were led to believe that the only way to ensure that you have both lower emissions, a cleaner energy future, but also you protect affordability and reliability, is to complement renewables with clean, dispatchable natural gas,\u201d Zamarin said.<\/p>\n

Williams also gave credit to Hochul, who did not attend the Tuesday event.<\/p>\n

Last March, Hochul and Trump met face to face and struck a deal, sources said, not to stand in the way of pipeline permitting in exchange for protecting union-held wind energy jobs.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Hochul\u2019s office told NY1: \u201cThe Governor had committed to attending President Joe Biden\u2019s portrait unveiling ceremony at Syracuse University College of Law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, protesters stood outside the event, which also drew ire<\/a> from environmental groups like the Sierra Club.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgency scientists determined that the NESE pipeline would cause unacceptable degradation of water quality<\/a> and marine life to New York waters just a few years ago. We cannot compromise our laws and scientific principles just to appease the Trump administration\u2019s overreach,\u201d said Roger Downs, the conservation director at the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter.<\/p>\n

Officials said they\u2019ve run tests before receiving permitting approval to test the safety of construction.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hochul has blamed the Trump administration\u2019s end to wind and solar energy subsidies. But, this year, she\u2019s keen on amending strict deadlines set out in New York\u2019s 2019 climate law, arguing it\u2019s too expensive.<\/p>\n

When asked if the law, geared toward diminishing New York\u2019s reliance on fossil fuels, could strangle the pipeline in future years, Williams defended their investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe in the merit of this project for the people of New York and the people of this region,\u201d said Zamarin.<\/p>\n

Officials said that next on their list of projects is the Williams-backed Constitution Pipeline, which would run through upstate New York into Massachusetts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul and President Donald Trump discussed energy policy during a closed-door, Oval Office meeting.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[109,116,25,8889,4275,75,84,83,9,24,49,12,112,108,63,87,27,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-197527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-app-local-state-politics","9":"tag-app-ny-state-of-politics","10":"tag-app-top-stories","11":"tag-bernadette-hogan","12":"tag-local-politics","13":"tag-manhattan","14":"tag-manhattan-headlines","15":"tag-manhattan-news","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-new-york-state","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-ny-state-of-politics","21":"tag-ny-state-of-politics-blog","22":"tag-nyc","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}