• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska March 14, 2023
U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse March 14, 2023
$30.9B Price Tag Makes Trans Mountain Pipeline a ‘Catastrophic Boondoggle’ March 14, 2023
UN Buys Tanker, But Funding Gap Could Scuttle Plan to Salvage Oil from ‘Floating Time Bomb’ March 9, 2023
Biden Cuts Fossil Subsidies, But Oil and Gas Still Lines Up for Billions March 9, 2023
Next
Prev

‘Landmark Decision’ Blocks Fracked Gas Pipeline in New York State

May 18, 2020
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: Compiled by The Energy Mix staff

Rosemary Oakeshott/Geograph

Rosemary Oakeshott/Geograph

42
SHARES
 

In what Politico is calling a “landmark decision” grounded in New York State’s “sweeping climate law”, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration has rejected a permit for the US$1-billion Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline to supply fracked natural gas to Long Island and New York City.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) “said the construction of the pipeline in the ecologically sensitive, historically contaminated, and recovering area—particularly near Raritan Bay—would have an unacceptable negative impact on water quality,” the publication reports. “It’s also incompatible with the state’s goal to reduce emissions by 85% from 1990 levels by 2050.”

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe

“New York is not prepared to sacrifice the State’s water quality for a project that is not only environmentally harmful but also unnecessary to meet New York’s energy needs,” said DEC spokesperson Erica Ringewald.

While this isn’t the first regulatory setback for the contentious pipeline, it appears to be the last, NJ Spotlight writes, with a senior executive with Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams Co. declaring the company will abandon the project.

“While we continue to believe in the fundamentals of this project, we will not refile in New Jersey or New York at this time,’’ said Laura Creekmur, the pipeliner’s vice president of communications and corporate social responsibility. “The decision to pause this important infrastructure project is unfortunate for the region as the design and construction would have generated valuable economic activity in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, and would have directly and indirectly supported more than 3,000 jobs during the construction period.”

But NJ Spotlight says gas supplier National Grid “acknowledged earlier this month in a submittal that alternatives including enhancement of existing infrastructure combined with energy efficiency and other conservation measures could be sufficient to meet New York’s energy needs.” Politico phrases National Grid’s position a bit differently, reporting that the company had seen the pipeline as the “most reliable option” for shifting new buildings off oil over the next 15 years, but “identified a preferred alternative to the pipeline that involves trucking in more gas and upgrading an existing pipeline system.”

DEC’s regulatory decision cited that report, and also pointed to the need for Williams to bury its pipeline six feet deeper than it had assumed to accommodate transmission cabling for a nearby offshore wind project.

But National Grid’s preferred option “may also run into roadblocks because it requires permits and agreements for new liquefied natural gas infrastructure with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. The mayor has said he won’t support new gas supplies for the city but hasn’t required new construction to go electric, which would cut demand,” Politico says. “Environmental advocates want National Grid to close its forecasted supply-demand gap, which they also question, but with energy efficiency measures, demand response (whereby some customers would switch to fuel oil on the coldest days), and heating electrification.”

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, cast the DEC decision as a win in the fight to put an end to new fossil fuel projects. “It’s a major breakthrough in the battle against new pipelines,” he said, adding that New York grounding its opposition to the project in its concerns about the climate crisis “is a big sea change”.

“This decision shows that the right things can happen when you work hard and stick to what you know is right,’’ said New Jersey League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Ed Potosnak, who lives near the site where a compressor station for the pipeline would have been built.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) calls the DEC decision a “victory for ratepayers and taxpayers”, adding that the pipeline was unnecessary and would have cost more than $3 billion to complete.

“The DEC decision recognizes that improved energy efficiency, peak demand management, and more competitive renewable resources can be used to substitute for large, expensive pipeline projects,” IEEFA says, and “the decision also is based on sound economic policy. New York is already achieving its economic growth targets relying on cost-effective alternatives,” with an industrial sector that “ranks first nationwide in energy efficiency, and its commercial sector provides more jobs per unit of energy than many other states. Businesses already know that investing in sustainable solutions improves profitability.”

But NJ Spotlight says the Williams pipeline won’t be the last big fight for climate campaigners in New York and New Jersey. “Many fossil fuel projects continue to move forward in New Jersey, including a 144-megawatt power plant in Kearny to power NJ Transit and Amtrak trains and a proposed 1,200-MW gas plant in North Bergen,” the paper says.



in Buildings, Cities & Communities, Climate Action / "Blockadia", Demand & Efficiency, Ending Emissions, Legal & Regulatory, Oil & Gas, Shale & Fracking, Sub-National Governments, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

U.S. Bureau of Land Management/flickr
Oil & Gas

Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska

March 14, 2023
73
David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr
Community Climate Finance

U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

March 14, 2023
105
EcoAnalytics
Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion

Canadians Want Strong Emissions Cap Regulations, Not More Missed Targets

March 14, 2023
79

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Behrat/Wikimedia Commons

Hawaii Firm Turns Home Water Heaters into Grid Batteries

March 14, 2023
330
U.S. National Transportation Safety Board/flickr

$30.9B Price Tag Makes Trans Mountain Pipeline a ‘Catastrophic Boondoggle’

March 14, 2023
154
David Dodge, Green Energy Futures/flickr

U.S. Solar Developers Scramble after Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

March 14, 2023
105
EcoAnalytics

Canadians Want Strong Emissions Cap Regulations, Not More Missed Targets

March 14, 2023
79
U.S. Bureau of Land Management/flickr

Biden Approves $8B Oil Extraction Plan in Ecologically Sensitive Alaska

March 14, 2023
73
Rebecca Bollwitt/flickr

Fossils Stay ‘Oily’, Gibsons Sues Big Oil, U.S. Clean Energy Booms, EU Pushes Fossil Phaseout, and Fukushima Disaster was ‘No Accident’

March 14, 2023
77

Recent Posts

Raysonho/wikimedia commons

Purolator Pledges $1B to Electrify Last-Mile Delivery

March 14, 2023
51
United Nations

UN Buys Tanker, But Funding Gap Could Scuttle Plan to Salvage Oil from ‘Floating Time Bomb’

March 10, 2023
89
Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

Biden Cuts Fossil Subsidies, But Oil and Gas Still Lines Up for Billions

March 10, 2023
174
jasonwoodhead23/flickr

First Nation Scorches Imperial Oil, Alberta Regulator Over Toxic Leak

March 8, 2023
366
MarcusObal/wikimedia commons

No Climate Risk Targets for Banks, New Guides for Green Finance as 2 Federal Agencies Issue New Rules

March 8, 2023
234
FMSC/Flickr

Millions Face Food Insecurity as Horn of Africa Braces for Worst Drought Ever

March 8, 2023
242
Next Post
Greens MPs/Flickr

COVID-19 Wipes Out Nearly 600,000 U.S. Clean Energy Jobs

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}