It’s Time to Support Williams’ NESE Project in NY – Here’s How
It’s no secret that getting a gas pipeline project of any kind approved in New York State is an uphill battle because our governor, Andrew Cuomo, blocks all new pipelines in a bid to keep his left wing supporters happy. An important project from Williams, the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) which would beef up capacity along the Transco pipeline system going into New York City, is about to get two hearings with the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation.
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It is beyond bizarre that the Sierra Club, which claims it defends the environment, works so hard to stop electric generating plants from converting from coal to natural gas. As we pointed out yesterday, gas-fired plants produce a small fraction of nasty pollutants like sulfur dioxide, compared with coal (see 
We spotted a couple of op-eds yesterday commenting on the obtuse position taken by New York State (Andrew Cuomo) in blocking natural gas pipelines. One of the columns, by MDN friend Katie Klaber, makes a brilliant point. Want to know where New York is heading energy-wise? Just look at Venezuela.
The New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), thoroughly corrupted by, and a political tool of, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, continues to have a bad week. Monday we told you about a recent court decision that gives new hope for both the Constitution and Northern Access Pipeline projects (see
Utility giant National Grid, which services Long Island (part of New York City) with natural gas service, is threatening New York State that if the state does not approve Williams’ Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project by May 15th, they will, as Consolidated Edison has just done in Westchester County, impose a no-new-natural gas customers moratorium for the New York City area. Which would block development of the new $1 billion Belmont Park Arena.
The pressure is mounting on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo with regard to blocking natural gas pipelines. Except now the pressure is coming from the adults in the room who see through Cuomo’s sleazy politics. None other than the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal has ripped into Cuomo, calling his blockade of new pipelines the equivalent of a “cold weather tax”–not only on New Yorkers, but also those living in New England.
A huge crack of sunshine has just shown through the court system with respect to pipeline projects. A case decided on Jan. 25 in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals which technically has nothing to do with either the Williams Constitution Pipeline project nor the National Fuel Gas Company Northern Access Pipeline project (both being blocked by New York State), may be the one court decision to break open the logjam and allow both projects to begin construction.
Speaking of National Fuel Gas Company’s Northern Access Pipeline project, NFG asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last November to extend the project timeline by an extra three years, to give them more time to fight with Cuomo in court and actually get the pipeline built once lawsuits from the state are exhausted (see 
This post is about a pipeline project we’ve written quite a bit about over the past few years–Dominion Energy’s New Market project that ever-so-modestly expands an existing pipeline in Upstate New York. But at its heart, the issue is much deeper. Anti-fossil fuel radicals are challenging this project, in court, as a way to force the government to consider man-made global warming when approving such projects.
This is fun to watch. The monied interests in Westchester County, NY (suburb of New York City) are outraged that beginning in March Consolidated Edison will no longer accept new natural gas customers (see 
Utility company Consolidated Edison recently announced it will slap a moratorium on hooking up new customers for natural gas in Westchester County (NYC suburb) beginning March 15 (see
Last year we reported on rumors that President Trump may issue an Executive Order to overrule states like New York, forcing recalcitrant states to allow new pipeline projects as a matter of national security (see
We’re following up on a post we made last Thursday about a coming moratorium on new customer hookups for natural gas in Westchester and New York City (see