Overview
- Earthjustice and other groups filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn New York DEC’s water-quality certification and brought a parallel challenge to New Jersey’s approval.
- New York’s DEC granted the permit on Nov. 7 after earlier denials, including a 2020 rejection under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
- The proposal adds nearly 24 miles of pipe, mostly beneath New York Harbor, to move Marcellus gas to New York City, with Williams citing about 400,000 dekatherms per day of added capacity, enough for roughly 2.3 million homes.
- Opponents argue trenching under the harbor would disturb sediments, damage marine habitat, and mobilize toxins such as mercury, copper, and PCBs.
- Gov. Kathy Hochul defends the approval as necessary for reliability and affordability and denies reports of a deal with President Donald Trump, who has pushed agencies to speed pipeline permitting.