Williams Cos. Inc. is canceling its proposed Constitution Pipeline Co. LLC project following years of battling with state authorities and environmentalists over the effort to transport natural gas from Pennsylvania shale fields into New York.
"Williams — with support from its partners, Duke Energy Corp., Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and AltaGas Ltd. — has halted investment in the proposed Constitution project," the company said in a statement Feb. 21.
"While Constitution did receive positive outcomes in recent court proceedings and permit applications, the underlying risk-adjusted return for this greenfield pipeline project has diminished in such a way that further development is no longer supported," Williams added.
The decision comes despite the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission clearing a major regulatory hurdle for the project in August 2019. Its members unanimously decided that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation waived its authority under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act to issue a certificate for the project. The department denied Williams the permit in April 2016.
FERC initially turned down a request to review the denial from Williams, which argued the state took too long to act. The commission later agreed to revisit the topic after a D.C. appeals court decision that found states cannot extend a one-year deadline under the Clean Water Act by asking companies to withdraw and resubmit their Section 401 permit applications. New York used that practice when it considered the Constitution pipeline application.
While that ruling provided Williams a long-sought victory, the project faced further permitting and legal challenges, Sandhill Strategy LLC co-founder Katie Bays said at the time.
Moneen Nasmith, a staff attorney at Earthjustice who led the environmental group's work to stop the pipeline, cheered the decision in a statement following the report.
"Defeating the Constitution pipeline is an enormous victory for advocates who have been fighting for eight years to protect New York State and its waterways. At this critical moment for our climate, we cannot afford unnecessary fossil fuel projects that will lead to more fracking and exacerbate our climate crisis," Nasmith said.
The Constitution pipeline became a flashpoint in the anti-fossil fuel infrastructure movement and an example of states using their Clean Water Act powers to halt pipeline projects. President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency is trying to rein in that strategy by limiting states' authority.
New York has also denied a water permit to another Williams project, an extension to its intrastate Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC system called the Northeast Supply Enhancement project, which would run through New York Bay and expand gas supply to New York City.