June 24, 2025

FERC Challenge of Trump’s Illicit Shakedown for Northeast Supply Enhancement Gas Pipeline

By Tyson Slocum

Access a full pdf copy of the protest here PublicCitizenNSEP

Today in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dockets CP17-101-007  and CP20-49-001 we filed the following protest. On May 29, The Williams Companies, Inc. filed a Petition for Expedited Reissuance of Certificate Authority for its cancelled Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, a proposed 37 mile-long natural gas pipeline running from Pennsylvania through New Jersey to New York. The petition violates the public interest, and the Commission cannot reissue a certificate of public convenience and necessity, because it is the product of an unseemly, tawdry political shakedown involving unlawful abuse of powers by the Trump Administration and the State of New York. The President of the United States directed agencies under his control to issue a stop work order—under false pretenses—for an offshore wind project (Equinor’s Empire Wind) that was a policy priority of the Governor of New York, in order to coerce the governor into approving two natural gas pipelines, including the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, in exchange for lifting the offshore wind stop work order. The details of this quid pro quo arraignment have been so widely reported that the facts are not in dispute, and in fact have been confirmed publicly by the President of the United States, as the Trump White House issued a formal statement that it lifted the stop work order on the offshore wind project only after New York’s governor “caved” to Trump by allowing “two natural gas pipelines to advance”. A pipeline project that is the subject of a lurid political shakedown cannot be granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity because its association with such sordid acts violates the public interest.

Timeline of President Trump’s Illicit Shakedown To Prompt Williams’ Petition

• President Trump’s first mention of using federal authorities for a natural gas pipeline in New York was during remarks he made at a February 13 Oval Office press conference: “And we are also working on a project that has been under wraps for 20 years. Everybody wanted it. It’s been held up by New York. It’s a pipeline that will bring down the energy prices in New York and in all of New England by 50, 60, 70 percent. It should have been done years ago. We’ll be speaking to New York. And the New York is actually the biggest beneficiary because their energy costs are very high. This will reduce it very substantially. But the—all of the governors want this to happen, and I think it’s going to happen. It’s now going to happen. It’s something that’s—would rather not have to go eminent domain. We’ll do that if we have to in New York. But hopefully, we won’t have to do that … Once we start construction, we’re looking at anywhere from nine to 12 months, if you can believe it.”
• But President Trump’s initial instigation with New York was unrelated to natural gas pipelines. On February 19, the Trump Administration moved to block New York’s planned congestion pricing, with President Trump posting on a for-profit social media platform he owns: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”. Trump’s post followed a move by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to withdraw necessary approval of the New York congestion pricing program, which had taken effect in early January (a federal judge in May blocked the Trump Administration’s effort to stop the congestion pricing plan before its fate could be decided in court).
• Two days after the Trump Administration moved to block congestion pricing, New York Governor Kathy Hochul flew to Washington DC to meet in person with President Trump for an hour at the White House. Hochul had publicly attacked Trump as engaging in a “revenge tour” against New York State, declaring that Trump was “taking out his anger and frustration over the 35 felony convictions he received here in the state of New York, taking out on our own New Yorkers.”
• The February 21 meeting between Gov. Hochul and President Trump failed to resolve the congestion pricing dispute, so a second in-person meeting was scheduled for March 14.
• In between the February 21 and March 14 in person meetings, President Trump and members of his cabinet pivoted to a new policy priority in their negotiations with New York: revive the recently cancelled Northeast Supply Enhancement Project and Constitution pipelines, both proposed by Williams.
• On March 6, Energy Secretary Chris Wright declared his priority using federal authorities to expedite more natural gas pipelines into the northeast U.S.: “We’ve got millions of New England residents paying exceedingly high electricity and heating prices. The pipelines to bring the gas from Pennsylvania, a short distance, into those communities can lower their heating costs, lower their electricity costs, get more businesses and job opportunities booming in New England.”
• The day before the March 14 in-person meeting between Gov. Hochul and President Trump, Gov. Hochul’s social media post didn’t specifically mention gas pipelines would be part of the discussion with the President: “I’ll be heading to the White House tomorrow to meet with President Trump. There’s a lot to talk about: the massive success of congestion pricing, the impact of tariffs on New Yorkers, and much more.”
• The day before his in-person meeting with Gov. Hochul, President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “Kathy Hochul, very nice woman; she’s coming in tomorrow morning at nine o’clock to meet me on that [natural gas pipelines] and other things. I hope we don’t have to use the extraordinary powers of the federal government to get it done. But if we have to, we will, but I don’t think we’ll have to”[emphasis added].
• President Trump followed that his threat “to use the extraordinary powers of the federal government to” approve natural gas pipelines routed through New York with a post on the social media platform that he owns, declaring “We only need the final approval from New York State, whose people all want it. Otherwise, we’ll have to use other authorities. New York State has held up this project for many years, but we won’t let that happen any longer. We will use federal approval!”
• The March 14 meeting between Gov. Hochul and President Trump yielded no “formal agreements or decisions,” although Energy Secretary Wright said during a live Fox News interview hours after Trump’s meeting with Hochul that “I think it’s highly likely that this pipeline — there’s a couple of them, actually — get done” [emphasis added], with ClearView Energy Partners claiming that Trump could try to strike a deal with Hochul, “perhaps by trading pipeline approvals for another energy-relevant result,” like some kind of win for offshore wind.
• On April 16, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order to the Acting Director of the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, claiming “staff of the Department of the Interior has obtained information that raises serous issues with respect to the project approvals for the Empire Wind Project. The matters identified thus far suggest that approval for the project was rushed through by the prior Administration . . . I am directing you to exercise your authority to order Empire Wind to cease all construction activities on the Empire Wind Project.” Secretary Burgum elaborated on social media that he consulted with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to “halt all construction activities on the Empire Wind Project” because “the Biden administration rushed through its approval” of the project. Secretary Burgum later elaborated on social media that “Scientists at [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] have revealed that the Biden administration’s rushed approval of the Empire Wind project was built on bad & flawed science.” Secretary Burgum’s social media post links to a Fox News article citing a formal NOAA study that allegedly documented “flawed scientific methodologies” were used to approve Empire Wind. Gov. Hochul issued a statement sharply critical of the stop work order, with The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority declaring the stop work order was the product of “a shortsighted, political agenda”.
• The stop work order cost project sponsor Equinor $50 million a week, and by May 12 Equinor stated publicly that if the stop work order wasn’t resolved within days, the company would terminate the project.
• Then all of a sudden on May 19, with no explanation on how the “flawed scientific methodologies” were resolved, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Acting Director Walter D. Cruickshank rescinded the stop work order for Empire Wind.
• Interior Secretary Burgum strongly suggested the lifting of the stop work order was directly related to Gov. Hochul agreeing to support natural gas pipelines when he posted on social media on May 19 that “I am encouraged by Governor Hochul’s comments about her willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity.” Crucially, Secretary Burgum made no mention of whether Interior had resolved the Biden Administration permitting issues or other rationale for the April 16 stop work order. Instead, Burgum implied a direct link between the lifting of the stop work order and Gov. Hochul’s support for “critical pipeline capacity”. The deal to lift the stop work order in exchange for Gov. Hochul greenlighting support for natural gas pipelines, including Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, has been widely reported.
• One week later, the Trump White House issued a statement to E&E News confirming that it lifted the stop work order on Empire Wind only after New York Gov. Hochul “caved” to Trump and agreed to allow “two natural gas pipelines to advance”.
• Equinor chief executive Anders Opedal gave an interview to the Financial Times in which he confirmed that the stop work order was lifted after Gov. Hochul intervened with an offer to President Trump to support two gas pipelines, recalling that she called him at 4am Norway time on May 18 to relay she had reached a deal with President Trump. The stop work order was lifted the next day.

The Commission’s Standard of Review Requires Consideration of Whether The Pipeline Is Being Proposed As Part Of An Unlawful, Unscrupulous Government Conspiracy

The Natural Gas Act asserts that “the business of transporting and selling natural gas for ultimate distribution to the public is affected with a public interest.” Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act requires a certificate of public convenience and necessity be issued by the Commission prior to construction and operation of a new natural gas pipeline.

The Commission’s standard of review in authorizing a certificate of public convenience and necessity under § 7 rely upon its 1999 policy statement on pipeline authorizations. See Certification of New Interstate Natural Gas Pipeline Facilities, 88 FERC ¶ 61,227 (Sept. 15, 1999), clarified, 90 FERC ¶ 61,128 (Feb. 9, 2000), further clarified, 92 FERC ¶ 61,094 (July 28, 2000). The courts have distilled the policy statement into a two part test. First, the Commission evaluates “whether there is a market need for the proposed project,” Envtl. Def. Fund v. FERC, 2 F.4^th 953, 959 (D.C. Cir. 2021), including whether the project can be developed “without relying on subsidization by the sponsor’s existing customers,” City of Oberlin v. FERC, 937 F.3d 599, 602 (D.C. Cir. 2019) (quoting 88 FERC at ¶ 61750).

Second, if there is a market need for the project, FERC will approve the pipeline “only where the public benefits outweigh the project’s adverse impacts.” Citizens Action Coal. of Ind., Inc. v. FERC, 125 F.4th 229, 235 (D.C. Cir. 2025) (quoting Minisink Residents for Env’t Preservation & Safety v. FERC, 762 F.3d 97, 102 (D.C. Cir. 2014)). “FERC must consider ‘all factors bearing on the public interest.’” Citizens Action Coal. of Ind., Inc., 125 F.4th at 235 (quoting Food & Water Watch v. FERC, 104 F.4^th 336, 341 (D.C. Cir. 2024)); see also South Coast Air Quality Mgmt. Dist. v. FERC, 621 F.3d 1085, 1099 (9^th  Cir. 2010) (“FERC must consider all factors bearing on the public interest consistent with its mandate to fulfill the statutory purpose of the NGA, which is to encourage the development of adequate natural gas supplies at reasonable prices.”).

An unlawful, sordid political scheme involving an illegal stop work order in order to force a state’s governor to sign off on a pipeline constitute “adverse impacts” that harm the public interest.

The Energy Emergency Declaration Cited In The Petition Is Phonier Than A Three Dollar Bill

The Petition cites, at page 2, that President Trump’s January 20 executive order declaring a national energy emergency provides support for granting Northeast Supply Enhancement Project a certificate of public convenience and necessity. It does not, because the energy emergency declaration is meritless, contains zero factual evidence whatsoever, and is merely a political proclamation that cannot be relied upon for anything of substance.

The emergency declaration states, with no factual proof, that

The policies of the previous administration have driven our Nation into a national emergency, where a precariously inadequate and intermittent energy supply, and an increasingly unreliable grid, require swift and decisive action. Without immediate remedy, this situation will dramatically deteriorate in the near future due to a high demand for energy and natural resources to power the next generation of technology … Our Nation’s current inadequate development of domestic energy resources leaves us vulnerable to hostile foreign actors and poses an imminent and growing threat to the United States’ prosperity and national security. These numerous problems are most pronounced in our Nation’s Northeast and West Coast, where dangerous State and local policies jeopardize our Nation’s core national defense and security needs, and devastate the prosperity of not only local residents but the entire United States population. The United States’ insufficient energy production, transportation, refining, and generation constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to our Nation’s economy, national security, and foreign policy. In light of these findings, I hereby declare a national emergency.

This is laughably false. No country in the history of the world produces more oil and natural gas than the United States does today, as our oil and gas infrastructure is increasingly prioritized to accommodate increased volumes of petroleum and natural gas exports. The energy emergency proclamation blames “dangerous State and local policies” … “in our Nation’s Northeast and West Coast” without providing a shred of substantiation. The conditions cited in the energy emergency declaration are not confirmed in the Commission’s 2025 Summer Energy Market and Electric Reliability Assessment issued on May 15, 2025. This energy emergency executive order is political theater and has no applicability in a serious FERC proceeding.