37-mile expansion to Williams Transco system to boost gas supply\n<\/p>\n
Backed by Long Island<\/a> business groups; opposed by environmental advocates\n<\/p>\n Project expected to create 2,000 jobs and $548 million in economic activity<\/p>\n \u00a0\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n After it was rejected three times,\u00a0a\u00a0controversial\u00a0$1 billion\u00a0natural gas<\/a> pipeline\u00a0project\u00a0has been approved by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The DEC announced its approval of\u00a0required\u00a0permits\u00a0for the\u00a0Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE)\u00a0pipeline\u00a0project\u00a0on Friday. The approval\u00a0paves\u00a0the way for\u00a0the\u00a0Transcontinental Gas\u00a0Pipe Line\u00a0Company to build a new 37-mile mostly underwater addition\u00a0to an existing Williams Transco natural gas pipeline system that runs from Texas through parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, New York and onto Long Island.\u00a0 After facing pushback from environmental advocacy groups, the project had been squashed by\u00a0previous\u00a0New York and New Jersey administrations, but it was revived by a reported deal between Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a> and President Donald Trump<\/a> in May\u00a0to unfreeze the Empire Wind project in exchange for advancing the pipeline.\u00a0New Jersey has joined New York in greenlighting the project.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Advocates praised the approval.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cThis decision is the right one, for the right reason, at the right time,\u201d said Kyle Strober, executive director of the Association for a Better Long Island\u00a0(ABLI).\u00a0\u201cThe reality\u00a0is our region\u2019s demand for energy continues to grow and without a robust infrastructure in place to meet that demand we run the risk of experiencing serious shortfalls in the not-so-distant future. The economic implications alone would be\u00a0catastrophic\u00a0and New York State, rightly so, has no intention of allowing that to happen. In addition, this approval is especially significant as we\u00a0witness\u00a0strategic changes in federal energy policies. A reliable source of energy is the bottom line in this decision.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n ABLI was joined in lobbying for the pipeline project\u2019s approval by a coalition of Long Island business groups, including\u00a0the\u00a0Long Island Association,\u00a0Long Island Builders Institute, Long Island Contractors Association\u00a0(LICA), Hauppauge Industrial Association of LI, Long Island Board of Realtors and Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe Long Island Contractors\u2019 Association applauds DEC\u2019s approval of the NESE permits \u2014 a long-awaited decision that will support reliable energy delivery<\/a> and critical construction work for Long Island,\u201d Marc Herbst, LICA\u2019s executive director, said in a written statement. \u201cThis project will put local contractors and skilled trades to work strengthening the infrastructure that keeps our homes, hospitals, and businesses running. We appreciate DEC\u2019s rigorous review process and its recognition that responsible, well-regulated projects like NESE are essential to meeting New York\u2019s growing energy needs.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The project has faced stiff opposition from environmental groups<\/a> and\u00a0several\u00a0elected officials on Long Island, in New York City and New Jersey.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s decision by the DEC is a devastating failure to protect New Yorkers from a dangerous and wrongheaded proposal,\u201d Katherine Nadeau, deputy executive director of Environmental Advocates NY, said in a written statement.\u00a0\u201cBy approving the NESE fracked gas pipeline, the DEC is discarding its own\u00a0previous\u00a0findings \u2014 required by state law and bolstered by science \u2014 that this project poses serious risks for our water, our marine life, and our health<\/a> and safety.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Williams, the company that would build the pipeline project, says the expansion of the system would add enough capacity to supply natural gas to the equivalent of 2.3 million homes, create about 2,000\u00a0jobs\u00a0and generate $548 million in economic activity. The company had hoped to begin construction on the project before the end of the year, with completion slated for Q4 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE BLUEPRINT: $1 billion Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline approved by New York DEC 37-mile expansion to Williams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,5868,20617,20618,426,776,5588,20619,9,20620,11,10,20621],"class_list":["post-34747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-donald-trump","tag-economic-development","tag-energy-infrastructure","tag-environmental-groups","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-long-island","tag-natural-gas","tag-nese-pipeline","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-dec","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-williams-transco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34747","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=34747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NESE-map-300x178.jpg\"\/)
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Map of the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline project, with the expansion marked in red. \/ Courtesy of Williams\n<\/p>\n