President Trump chides New York over its lack of 'pipe' dreams
Declaring that New York state is "sitting on a gold mine of energy," President Trump expressed his desire for the second time in less than three months for the Empire State to allow fracking and pipeline construction within state lines.
Speaking at Pittsburgh's Shale Insight Conference in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the president said, “New York doesn't allow pipelines to go through" and noted that even with the opposition of New York's Gov. Andrew Cuomo: "There has to be a federal something we can do there.”
Trump has spoken out several times about New York's pipeline fights. Last spring, state regulators rejected the construction of a nearly $1 billion natural gas pipeline, Northeast Supply Enhancement Pipeline, that was to connect New Jersey and New York and run under New York Bay.
New York State is also fighting Trump's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which determined in September that New York had forfeited its power to block construction of the proposed Constitution Pipeline because its Department of Environmental Conservation took more than the one-year period allowed to disapprove a request by the pipeline developers on issues related to water quality certification.
In a statement issued following the energy commission ruling, the state environmental commission said it "disagrees with FERC's decision that, once again, sides with the fossil fuel industry over protecting our environment. DEC will continue to vigorously defend our decision and our authority to protect New York State’s water quality resources.”
According to the Constitution Pipeline's website, the 125-mile pipeline would have the capacity to transport 650,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day, which is enough natural gas to serve about 3 million homes.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMB | THE WILLIAMS COS. INC. | 39.45 | +0.20 | +0.51% |
The Williams Companies is the energy entity behind these pipelines. Williams operates the largest volume interstate pipeline system in the U.S. Willaims stock is down a little over 10 percent for the last three months due in part to weakness in oil and gas prices.