Rehearing Request of Trump’s Illegal Wind-for-Gas Shakedown

Filed September 29, 2025

By Tyson Slocum

Today in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dockets CP17-101-007 and  CP20-49-001 we request rehearing of FERC’s decision to approve Williams Companies’ Northeast Supply Enhancement Project, a proposed 37 mile-long natural gas pipeline running from Pennsylvania through New Jersey to New York despite evidence that the project is part of an illegal shakedown by President Donald J. Trump.

Read the full filing here: ShakedownRehearing

Public Citizen requests rehearing of the Commission’s August 28 order issuing a certificate of public convenience and necessity for The Williams Companies’ Northeast Supply Enhancement natural gas pipeline. The Commission erroneously dismissed our protest that Williams’ May 29 petition for a reissuance of its certificate authority is the product of an illegal political shakedown involving the President of the United States, agencies under his control, and the Governor of the State of New York. The Commission incorrectly discharged our claims as mere “speculation”. The unlawful quid pro quo scheme to greenlight the Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline cannot be construed as speculative when Harrison Fields, the Trump White House’s principal deputy press secretary, explicitly confirmed key details in a formal statement to journalists. The Commission is bound by the Natural Gas Act to address credible allegations that a proposed jurisdictional pipeline is the product of an illicit shakedown involving the President of the United States.

Statement of Issues

1. 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.
2. On March 11, 2025, Barron’s published an interview with Williams Companies CEO Alan Armstrong during CERAWeek where he stated that “We’re not gonna go putting our neck out [to petition for the Northeast Supply Enhancement or Constitution natural gas pipelines] until they invite us with the red carpet rolled out … We’re not going to until the governors up there, collectively, including [New York Gov. Kathy] Hochul, say they’re going to come right out and be supportive of getting the infrastructure built”.
3. On March 13, President Donald J. Trump President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “[New York Governor] 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.”
4. That same day, President Trump posted on the social media platform the 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!”
5. After a month of negotiations between the Trump White House and the New York Governor failed to establish progress on building support in New York for approving the Northeast Supply Enhancement natural gas pipeline, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order on April 16 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 serious 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.
6. On April 21, Secretary Burgum 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”.
7. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released the analysis Interior Secretary Burgum cited in his April 21 social media post—with more than 27 pages fully redacted. The redactions mean that there is no public record detailing the alleged “flawed scientific methodologies” that necessitated the April 16 stop work order on Empire Wind. That redacted NOAA report is included as Exhibit A.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. One week later, Harrison Fields, the principal deputy press secretary for the Trump White House issued a statement to E&E News confirming that the Trump Administration 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”.
12. Ten days after the stop work order on Empire Wind was lifted, The Williams Companies submitted its 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.
13. Governor Hochul has held up her end of the quid pro quo deal, as she has truncated the public review and comment schedule for review of the pipeline.
14. The Commission dismissed our demand that it deny William Companies’ petition for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for Northeast Supply Enhancement, writing: “Public Citizen speculates that there was a quid pro quo involving stopping attacks on New York offshore wind projects and congestion pricing in exchange for New York’s support of the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project. Speculation is not relevant to our determination of whether there is a need for a proposed project and whether the proposed project will serve the public interest.” At ¶ 41.
15. But our protest cannot be considered mere speculation when details of the quid pro quo shakedown have been explicitly confirmed by Harrison Fields, the former principal deputy press secretary for the Trump White House. Mr. Fields issued a formal, official statement to a journalist confirming that the Trump Administration 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”, including the Northeast Supply Enhancement project.
16. The Commission has responsibilities to resolve these allegations by holding a hearing and obtaining an unredacted copy of NOAA’s Screening Analysis: A Summary of the Record for the Empire Wind Project-NMFS Fisheries Resources to determine whether its contents and conclusions support the April 16 stop work order.
    • Requests for sworn depositions of U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum regarding his April 16 stop work order of Empire Wind and its connections to reviving the Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline; U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick; Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Acting Director Walter D. Cruickshank regarding his May 19 letter rescinding of the stop work order; Harrison Fields, the former principal deputy press secretary for the Trump White House; and any other officials involved in the quid pro quo
18. The Commission’s standard of review requires consideration of whether the Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline has been proposed as part of an unlawful government conspiracy.
19. 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.
20. 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).
21. Even if the Commission determines a market need for the project exists (which FERC states at ¶ 41 of the order), the Commission can 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 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.”).

A pipeline at the center of an illegal quid pro quo conspiracy constitutes an adverse impact that must be weighed as part of the Commission’s public interest determination.