Will NY stop blocking natural gas pipeline following Trump approval of offshore wind farm?

When U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced that the Trump administration would lift the stop-work order on Equinor's Empire Wind project, he said that Gov. Kathy Hochul had expressed her “willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity" – sparking speculation that the governor had agreed to approve natural gas pipelines in exchange for the offshore wind project. The governor has denied that she made any such deal, but she has signaled an openness to pipeline projects that have run into issues in New York in the past.

Plans for the Constitution pipeline, which would run from Pennsylvania through upstate New York, fell apart in 2020 after the state Department of Environmental Conservation withheld a required clean water permit for the project and legal appeals over the decision proved futile. Even if Hochul now decided to support the Constitution pipeline or similar projects, she wouldn’t necessarily be able to wave a magic wand and change the existing climate laws – but a state agency taking a hands-off approach would have a nullifying effect, according to some experts.

“If there was a new application for a Clean Water Act permit, the law says that the state can grant the permit with conditions that it has to be done consistently with the standards in the Clean Water Act,” Moneen Nasmith, senior attorney at Earthjustice, told City & State. “And in New York, the state can deny the permit, also consistent with the Clean Water Act, but the state is also allowed to waive its authority under that part of the Clean Water Act. So New York could opt to not do anything.”

Nasmith said that otherwise, it would be very unlikely for lawmakers and the state to adjust environmental regulations to facilitate one project, and key leaders agree that would be a nonstarter. State Senate Environmental Committee Chair Pete Harckham told City & State that  he has not been made aware of developments on any new pipelines in New York, but the state’s position is clear. 

“The policy of New York State is we want to decarbonize our economy, and that means winding down gas and ramping up wind and solar,” he said.

The Empire Wind 1 offshore farm was expected to increase the energy supply downstate while aiding the state’s efforts to meet its climate goals. Climate advocates celebrated when the Trump administration blocked its attempt to block the project, but the prospect that approval for Empire Wind 1 could come at the cost of enabling the Constitution pipeline project, which environmentalists worry would increase fossil fuel emissions, has given some advocates pause. 

Hochul’s office has stressed that no such deal between the governor and Trump over the starkly different projects was made. Instead, she has said that she simply explained to Trump that, between the state’s energy needs and the message that would get sent to international businesses debating investments in the country, the wind project needed to move forward. 

She left New Yorkers with a similar message in her statement Monday. 

“I also reaffirmed that New York will work with the Administration and private entities on new energy projects that meet the legal requirements under New York law,” Hochul said. “In order to ensure reliability and affordability for consumers, we will be working in earnest to deliver on these objectives.”