Following Trump EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s appearance today in Binghamton to press Governor Hochul to greenlight the Constitution Pipeline project — which New York rejected a decade ago as a violation of state environmental safety laws — Environmental Advocates NY issued the following statement:
“As the Constitution Pipeline’s developers attempt yet another end run around New York law, Lee Zeldin’s EPA will stop at nothing to help their fossil fuel friends win — and if they win, New Yorkers lose, including the ones Zeldin once represented in Congress,” said Katherine Nadeau, Deputy Executive Director, Policy and Programs, Environmental Advocates NY. “Reversing our state’s rejection of this dangerous gas pipeline, which was upheld in federal court, would tell New Yorkers not just that our health and safety can be ignored when it serves powerful corporate interests, but that our state decisions are meaningless.”
Background and Timeline
- The Constitution Pipeline is a proposed 125-mile, 30-inch natural gas pipeline that would run from fracking fields in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, through the Southern Tier, crossing Broome, Delaware, Chenango, and Schoharie Counties in New York and passing through or near more than 250 bodies of water.
- 2016: The Constitution Pipeline application was denied by New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as a danger to water quality.
- 2017: The federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the denial.
- 2019: The pipeline’s developers, the Williams Companies, attempted a legal maneuver to build the pipeline over the State’s denial, which ultimately failed.
- 2021: The Second Circuit formally terminated all legal proceedings, ending the developers’ application.
- November 2025: After submitting a new application to DEC for a water quality certification, the developers withdrew their application. No application is currently pending before DEC.
- December 2025: As part of what was reported as a bargain between Gov. Hochul and the Trump administration, the developers began another round of federal legal maneuvers to reactivate their application.
- January 2026: The New York DEC and Attorney General Letitia James formally opposed the reactivation. The federal government nevertheless has proceeded with its formal reconsideration of the project.
- May 2026: Environmental groups sued the federal government.
Environmental Advocates NY is New York’s leading environmental watchdog, working for over 50 years to advance strong environmental laws and hold decision-makers accountable.
