President Trump says he’s “fighting” New York officials “very hard” to force through a natural gas pipeline — which Trump says would cut energy costs in half.
Trump vowed to push through the pipeline during a gathering of local officials in Washington, but he did not specify the specific project he wants completed.
There are several pipeline fights in New York pitting anti-fossil fuel environmentalists and Democrats against fracking companies and the Trump administration.
“We’re unable to build a pipeline through New York state, where they’d love the jobs of doing the pipeline,” Trump told the local officials. “Because of that, New England has very, very high energy prices, and we could cut the energy prices in New York and New England down by half, less than half.”
“We’re fighting them very hard and I think we’ll be successful,” Trump added. “If they’d allow a pipeline to go through, we would cut the prices of energy down by half, even more so than that. It’s a terrible thing, it’s a very unfair thing to the rest of the country.”
In February 2019, a federal appeals court overturned state officials who refused a permit for the National Fuel Gas Company’s Northern Access pipeline to transport natural gas from western Pennsylvania to near Buffalo. But state officials again blocked the pipeline in August.
In another fight, federal regulators last year approved the Constitution Pipeline, which would connect western Pennsylvania and Albany, over New York officials’ objection — only for the Williams Companies to abandon plans for the project last month.
Another pipeline struggle is underway, with Williams Companies proposing a pipeline connecting New Jersey and Long Island. That project is known as the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, proposed making the state’s energy sources 50 percent renewable by 2030. The current rate is 28 percent — most of it from state-owned dams.
The Trump Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to limit the ability of states to cite the Clean Water Act to nix pipelines.
Trump said the New York opposition to pipelines fits a pattern for Democrats.
“Look at the other side, they want to get rid of all energy. You know, ‘Let’s, let’s put up windmills all over your communities,’ right? Let’s have windmills all over the place. And solar, I love solar but it’s not powerful enough to power these massive factories,” Trump said.
