Revived Transco pipeline plan allows for harming whales

Credit: (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)

WASHINGTON — An Oklahoma oil and gas company wants permission to disturb, harass and potentially kill wildlife in the Raritan Bay, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, to expand a natural gas pipeline that runs from Pennsylvania, through New Jersey and into New York City.

The Williams Company, headquartered in Tulsa, Okla., wants federal approval to build a 23.3-mile underwater gas pipeline in the bay, as well as in parts of New York state waters and the Atlantic Ocean, that would connect to an existing pipeline in Queens. Natural gas is a fossil fuel, like coal and oil, that warms Earth.

To create this 26-inch in diameter pipeline, the company proposed drilling 163 piles from 10 inches to 60 inches in diameter and plunging them into the seafloor with a combination of diesel-powered hammers, pile-driving pistons and vibrating tools that “liquefy” the earth beneath.

Williams also petitioned federal regulators for approval to build 3.6 miles of pipeline in Middlesex County, a new compressor station in Somerset County and about 10 miles of new 3 1/2-foot wide pipeline in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

All these requests are part of the wider expansion project that gained new life under the Trump administration after a key federal permit needed for approval expired last year, following years of back-and-forth legal disputes over the project.

What an exemption would allow

In May, Williams revived its expansion project, called the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, with a petition to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent federal agency that regulates pipelines. The project would expand the existing Transco natural gas pipeline system.

In its proposal to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the company said construction could start in 2026 and that it would take an estimated 69 days to construct the piles, meant to support the pipeline in the bay, and remove debris. Work would only be done during daylight.

Species that could be harmed other than the North Atlantic right whale include six other whale varieties, including the humpback; four dolphin types; three seal species and the Harbor porpoise.

Federal law prohibits “takes” of marine mammals — a shorthand that can mean hurting, harassing, hunting, capturing, torturing or killing a creature — but can provide exemptions for scientific research, construction, military and energy purposes.

In a protest filed at FERC, the Natural Resources Defense Ccoucil said the company provided ‘zero relevant support for its contention that a dead certificate can be shocked back to life in these circumstances.’

Groups that want exemptions apply to NOAA, something Williams did in May, according to federal records published this month.

In a statement to NJ Spotlight News, an unnamed Williams spokesperson said the project is expected to be done at the end of 2027.

“Williams has been building and operating energy infrastructure in the Northeast region for decades,” they said. “We will work closely with regulators to ensure all facilities will meet rigorous environmental and safety standards.”

Permit expired last year

To add to the broader Transco pipeline network, the firm wants to reinstate a federal permit that expired in 2024, arguing that growing demand for electricity in the greater New York region necessitates the project, which it called a “strategic investment in the region’s energy future.”

“As demand continues to grow, especially in densely populated areas like Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island, so too must the capacity to deliver reliable energy,” Williams said in an overview of the project.

The pipeline Williams wants to build would link Sayreville to Rockaway in Queens.

Environmental and watchdog groups petitioned FERC in May and June to block the new pipeline construction.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental law group, said Williams cannot simply dust off its old permit, formally called a certificate, but must start again with a new application.

In a protest filed at FERC, the NRDC said the company provided “zero relevant support for its contention that a dead certificate can be shocked back to life in these circumstances.”

Other objections

A coalition of environmental groups in New Jersey made a comparable argument in a separate filing at FERC, arguing the agency had not “adequately addressed” the project’s environmental risks.

And in June, the mayor and council of South Brunswick unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the project “in its totality.”

The eastern region of the waters in question is home to migratory grounds for right whales, which swim north in the spring to feed and south in the fall to give birth in warmer waters.

Whalers of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries gave these animals their name — given their docile tendency and pattern of staying close to shore, they were the “right whales” to harpoon.

There were 372 North Atlantic right whales in the wild as of 2023, according to a federal scientific report released last year.

The two leading causes of right whale deaths are fishing gear and vessel strikes — when people hit them with boats.