Is the Northeast’s Natural-Gas Pipeline Bottleneck Ending?

Armed with $42 million in funding courtesy of the Defense Production Act, Energy Secretary Chris Wright is hoping to kick-start construction of the long-delayed Constitution Pipeline that would transport natural gas from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale to the energy-starved Northeast.

Defense Production Act funds for the pipeline will go toward meeting the energy needs of Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn., and other military facilities throughout New England, Wright explained.

The pipeline, if constructed, will serve the entire region and enable the Northeast’s hard-pressed grid to meet soaring demand for power. Just as important, the natural-gas pipeline offers an affordable alternative for utility ratepayers being squeezed by the region’s green energy mandates and spiking prices for home heating oil triggered by the on-again, off-again war with Iran.

The project was conceived in 2014 but has encountered numerous delays and was abandoned in 2020 after New York officials denied it a key permit. Its resuscitation reflects changing political realities within the region.

Once vigorously opposed by the Northeast’s political establishment, the Constitution Pipeline now enjoys the backing of six of the region’s seven governors. The one holdout is New York’s Kathy Hochul. The Hochul administration’s initial reaction to the renewed push for the pipeline was negative, with the governor’s communications office describing it in a statement as “a political ploy designed to divert attention from (President) Trump’s tariffs and his reckless war in Iran.”

The statement added that Hochul “is focused on driving an all-of-the-above energy strategy designed to keep the lights on and costs low for all New Yorkers.” By committing to an “all-of-the-above energy strategy,” Hochul’s office is not shutting the door to new natural gas infrastructure.

Last year, Hochul greenlighted the $1.8 billion Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, which entails building 24 miles of new natural-gas pipeline from Lancaster County, Pa., through New Jersey, and under New York Harbor. The project was the result of a deal (never publicly acknowledged by Hochul) in which the Trump administration allowed an offshore wind farm to be completed in exchange for Hochul’s approval of the pipeline.

The administration thinks Hochul will join with the region’s other governors in embracing the pipeline.

Hosannas to green energy aside, skyrocketing electricity prices throughout the region are becoming politically unsustainable.

“Over the last six years, residential electricity rates have climbed by about 20 percent to 30 percent in most states, yet far more in Maine (92 percent), New York (59 percent), Rhode Island (45 percent) and Massachusetts (43 percent),” the Wall Street Journal recently noted. “Some households are paying hundreds of dollars more a month than they did a few months ago.”

Though it can’t cure all the Northeast’s energy ills, the Constitution Pipeline can begin to turn things around. According to its developer, the pipeline would stretch 125 miles from the gas-rich fields of Susquehanna County, Pa., to Schoharie County, N.Y., delivering enough natural gas equivalent to serve the daily needs of 3 million homes. Unlike the wind and solar power the region has embraced in recent years, this source of energy is not dependent on the weather.

Thanks to fracking, horizontal drilling, and — not least — favorable geology in much of the country, the United States has emerged as the world’s largest producer of natural gas. While New England lacks commercially viable reserves of natural gas, the region is close to Pennsylvania’s gas-rich shale formations. There are a few gas pipelines that stretch into New England, but efforts to add additional pipeline infrastructure have been blocked in favor of intermittent green energy. The predictable results show up on utility bills.  Lacking sufficient pipeline infrastructure, New England has to import liquefied natural gas from abroad to help get it through frigid winters.

One potential source of energy relief for the Northeast remains off-limits. The Marcellus Shale, which underlies broad swaths of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, extends northward into New York’s Southern Tier. This area, running from the Catskill Mountains in the east to the Lake Erie region in the west, is as rich in natural gas as neighboring Pennsylvania.  Officials in Albany have effectively banned fracking in the state.

Reprinted with permission from DC Journal.

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.