Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Friday that work on a proposed pipeline to bring natural gas through New York to help supply energy to New England could start by the end of this year.
Wright said in an appearance on FOX Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” that he thinks it’s “highly likely” that the so-called Constitution Pipeline, along with other unspecified pipelines, will move forward this year.
The Constitution Pipeline would take natural gas from Pennsylvania to a hub near Albany, New York, where it would be routed through other pipelines to New England. The project was blocked in 2020 by the state of New York when it denied the company the necessary permits amid opposition from environmental activists.
“It’s just such a win, win, win. This will lower costs for people in the New York area, for New England. Not just heating costs, which is a big deal – old houses are heated by fuel oil, natural gas is just so much cheaper and it burns cleaner,” Wright said. “It’d also lower electricity prices, which, of course, everyone would cheer for that as well, and allow businesses in New England or in the New York City area to expand and grow their businesses and grow more jobs.”
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“No one loses by this, but silly politics of several years ago stopped these in the first go round. But I think it’s quite likely these pipelines will be under construction before this year is over,” Wright said.
Williams CEO Alan Armstrong, whose company was forced to back off the project in 2020, said last month the project could be back on the table – but only if regional governors are supportive.
Wright’s comments come ahead of a meeting between President Donald Trump and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat.
Trump is expected to discuss the pipeline with Hochul in an effort to get the state government to support the Constitution Pipeline project, telling reporters in the Oval Office he doesn’t want to have to use the “extraordinary powers of the federal government to get it done.”
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Trump added in those remarks that the pipeline would save households in New York and New England thousands of dollars in energy costs once it’s operational.
“It will reduce – the most expensive energy, almost in the world, is in New England because they have no way of getting it there because it’s been held up by New York. And the whole of New England, and Connecticut, and New York, the energy prices are through the roof,” Trump said.
“This one pipeline will save, per family, $2,500 just on heating and another $2,500 on everything else. So the energy, by just a simple pipeline going through an area that wants it. An area that’s not a rich area, it’s actually a very poor area, with great jobs and everything else,” he added.
