Gas pipeline in waters off Staten Island coast moves forward after Trump brings dead project back to life

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Once dead in the water, a plan to run a natural gas pipeline underwater, on a route that runs along Staten Island’s south and east shores, has restarted.

The project developed by Williams, an Oklahoma-based company, was first proposed in 2018 and was halted following backlash from the public and pushback by the state under the governance of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

But President Donald Trump has publicly supported restarting the project, and in a series of negotiations with Gov. Kathy Hochul—largely focused on congestion pricing, and including a face-to-face meeting at the White House in March— the two discussed pipeline projects, according to a NY1 report.

In the months that followed, a new application was submitted by Williams, and in late May Hochul expressed openness to the pipeline, telling NY1, “My message is what I told the president, which is that I will make sure that any applicant for a pipeline or any energy project follows all state, local and federal laws.

“That being said, we can look at this expansively and also consider the benefits at a time when energy prices are through the roof and families in every corner of our state are suffering from high bills for groceries and utilities.”

Now, a new Williams application has been completed, kick-starting the public comment process with the state.

The project, and mitigation for ‘unavoidable impact’

Williams operates the Transco pipeline, a more than 10,000-mile gas transportation system that runs from Texas to New York. Called the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, the proposal would expand the Transco pipeline’s capacity.

The state application by the Williams company describes the project as a pipeline “that would transport natural gas from Pennsylvania through New Jersey, traveling underwater in the Raritan Bay and Lower New York Bay to approximately three miles offshore of the Rockaway Peninsula in the borough of Queens. Approximately 23.5 miles of underwater pipeline will be installed, of which approximately 17.4 miles would be in New York State waters.”

A report in Gothamist says the gas is fracked in Pennsylvania.

Although when originally proposed in 2018 National Grid suggested that the pipeline would be a source of additional energy across the city, the 2025 application specifically says that it would connect to a system in Queens and provide supplemental energy for Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.

“The (project) would be installed a minimum of 4 feet below the sea floor through a combination of jet trenching, clamshell dredging, and horizontal directional drilling,” the application reads. “Construction is proposed in a manner that will minimize impairment of the best usages of the waters, but mitigation may be required for unavoidable impacts. If permits are ultimately issued, compensatory mitigation would be required to offset unavoidable impacts to benthic resources, including shellfish.”

A map on the Williams website shows the proposed pipeline’s route, snaking close to Staten Island’s eastern shores.

Environmental concerns

When first proposed in 2018, a city environmental activist group led a campaign against the project, holding public forums on Staten Island.

“Our collective position is that [the pipeline] will be horrible for the New York bay. It’s back to being what it once was, as healthy as it’s ever been; the whales are back and this pipeline puts this at risk,” said Noelle Picone at the time. She was a campaign lead volunteer.

Chris Stockton, Williams’ spokesman at the time, said that the expansion pipeline “would not directly affect Staten Island.”

National Grid was supportive of the project, but the state Department of Environmental Conservation denied the company a water quality certification permit in April 2018, which was required to move forward.

In its 2018 denial letter to Williams, DEC said, “…the construction of the project could have significant water quality impacts in New York State. This includes potentially significant impacts from the resuspension of sediments and other contaminants, as well as to habitats due to the disturbance of shellfish beds and other benthic resources.”

As reported in Gothamist, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis issued a report in 2020 that the pipeline would cost $1 billion, and that under the terms of the 2018 plan “ratepayers in Long Island, Brooklyn, Staten Island and most of Queens would have to pay $193 million a year for the next 15 years to cover the pipeline’s cost.”

Public Comment

The period for the public to submit comment to the state is underway, with a deadline of 5 p.m. on Aug. 1.

It will be up to the state to determine if “substantive or significant issues have been raised in the public comments to warrant an Adjudicatory Hearing” before deciding on the permit application.

Comments can be submitted to DEPEnergy@dec.ny.gov.