Williams (WMB) has secured three crucial state permits for its Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project, bringing the once-dead pipeline expansion back to life.
NESE is designed to bring ~400 MMcf/d into the New York metro area on the Transcontinental (Transco) pipeline (see project map). WMB received a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the project in 2019 from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), yet abandoned it in 2024 following years of legal struggles to obtain water permits from New York state regulators. WMB resurrected NESE thanks in part to jawboning from President Donald Trump, leading the company to reapply for the certification in May.
While FERC reissued the permit in August, questions remained whether New York and New Jersey would be willing to issue the state-level permits necessary to construct NESE. Williams has now cleared that significant hurdle. The project on Nov. 7 received Clean Water Act Section 401 and 404 permits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, as well as Section 401 Water Quality Certification and related permits from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
In a press release, WMB also updated on its Constitution Pipeline project, stating that “the company has withdrawn its current water permit application” and is working to make additional filings to ensure the greenfield project can obtain that certification.
In East Daley Analytics’ view, Constitution faces a much tougher uphill climb than NESE. The project in western New York faced years of community backlash before sponsors canceled it in 2020, and is only now seeing renewed interest following vocal support from President Trump.
We previously ran analysis on the Constitution project, finding it would struggle to flow at capacity due to downstream constraints on Iroquois and Tennessee Gas pipelines. Additionally, unlike NESE, which is a demand-pull pipe supported by utilities, producers had backed Constitution to push more Appalachian gas into seasonal metro markets. In today’s environment, Northeast producers are increasingly looking south toward exploding LNG growth along the Gulf Coast, where they can capitalize on strong price spreads and steady, predictable demand.
See East Daley’s Northeast Supply & Demand report for more insights. While Williams continues to pursue both projects, we give NESE better odds to move forward. The awarding of the water permits makes NESE significantly more likely to be constructed, while Constitution remains in limbo. – Ian Heming Tickers: WMB.
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