Politics & Government
State Permits Trump-Backed Natural Gas Pipeline In New York Waters
The Williams pipeline would span 17 miles near the Rockaways and Staten Island. The state had rejected the project three times previously.
Nov. 10, 2025
The state Department of Environmental Conservation on Friday approved a key water-quality permit for a natural-gas pipeline that would extend about 17 miles in New York waters — after rejecting the proposal three times since 2018.
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The Northeast Supply Enhancement natural gas pipeline would run from Pennsylvania to just off the coast of the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens and east of Staten Island, in Raritan Bay. Proposed by the Oklahoma-based Williams Companies, the pipeline would connect to a larger network starting in Texas.
DEC denied the project’s permit in 2018, 2019 and again in 2020, citing how construction would kick up contaminants including mercury, lead and copper buried in the ocean sediments that would harm marine life, such as clams and sturgeon. The agency had also rejected the permit on the basis that a new fossil fuel project would run afoul of state climate law, which mandates a transition to renewable energy.
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The revival of the pipeline project came as part of a deal Gov. Kathy Hochul reportedly struck with the Trump administration in order to save the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project, which the federal government had sought to shut down mid-construction. DEC’s approval of the permit is in line with her administration’s stance that the state will continue to rely on fossil fuels for energy into the future and continue to invest in them.
Following DEC’s approval, the chief executive of Williams, Chad Zamarin, touted natural gas as a “low-cost resource” in a statement that said the company is “proud to move NESE forward.”
“This project reflects our commitment to deliver clean and reliable energy, while lowering energy costs and supporting economic growth and environmental stewardship,” Zamarin said in a statement.
DEC’s approval of the water-quality permit comes with requirements: the developer must use third-party monitors to oversee construction, implement a plan to limit contaminants in Raritan Bay and Lower New York Bay, and pay $23.5 million in “mitigation for all unavoidable impacts.”
DEC said it will also monitor the pipeline’s construction — which would involve placing it at least four feet below the bottom of the sea — to ensure the project complies with permit requirements.
DEC determined in 2020 that burying the pipeline four feet below wasn’t enough and pushed for six feet. In Friday’s approval letter, the DEC noted how construction of other projects in the past five years has provided “new information” related to water-quality impacts and how to “avoid and minimize” them at four feet.
The pipeline developers must obtain a similar permit from New Jersey before construction can begin.
The gas utility National Grid, which backed the pipeline with other business groups, had revised a plan submitted to New York State about the future of the gas system to include the pipeline. The state Public Service Commission greenlit the altered plan in September, opening the door for National Grid customers to potentially be on the hook for the pipeline’s costs.
Sally Librera, president of National Grid New York, said in a statement that the pipeline “will bolster critical energy reliability across New York City and Long Island.”
She praised Hochul’s “all-of-the-above energy strategy,” referring to the governor’s embrace of fossil-fuel based energy sources as well as renewables.
The DEC granted the permit even after itdetermined the pipeline would not align with state climate law mandates to cut greenhouse-gas emissions because it would do the opposite and “contribute to future climate change impacts.” But the agency ultimately said the pipeline is a must for reliability.
Susan Kraham, a managing attorney at EarthJustice, said the notion of the pipeline making energy more reliable should not have been relevant for the state environmental agency when deciding on whether to issue the permit.
“Whether any of that is true is a separate question,” Kraham said. “The only appropriate question is whether the project meets water-quality standards.”
She said the company’s permit application was the same as the last times DEC rejected it, but now the political context has changed.
Several members of Congress and other elected officials representing New York expressed their opposition to the pipeline, as did New York City, which had urged the DEC to deny the permit. City officials warned the pipeline could entrench reliance on gas infrastructure, worsen air quality, lead to increased costs for ratepayers and was not deemed necessary by state agencies. The pipeline would also not help to advance the city’s own goals of slashing its own planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
Other environmental advocates decried the decision and blamed the governor.
“In granting the certification for this pipeline, Governor Hochul has not only sided with Trump, she’s fast-tracked his agenda,” said Laura Shindell, New York state director at Food and Water Watch. “Hochul has shown New Yorkers she’d prefer to do Trump’s dirty work rather than protect our waterways from pollution.”
In a statement, Hochul said the state’s approach to energy to include fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear is important given the state is “facing a war against clean energy from Washington Republicans, including our New York delegation.”
“While I have expressed an openness to natural gas, I have also been crystal clear that all proposed projects must be reviewed impartially by the required agencies to determine compliance with state and federal laws,” she said.
This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
