By Ryan Schwach
A coalition of environmental groups are suing the state over its recent approval of a controversial natural gas pipeline to be built just a few miles off of Queens’ shores.
The organizations assert that the approval of the Williams Northeastern Supply Enhancement, the proposed 23.5 mile underwater fracked gas pipeline, violates the Clean Water Act and will bring negative environmental impacts to New York’s coastlines.
The suit was filed against the state Department of Environmental Conservation in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which attorneys for the groups say is the venue required for such cases that fall under the CWA.
They filed a similar suit against DEC’s counterpart in New Jersey, as well. Both agencies greenlit the proposed pipeline earlier this month.
Williams’ NESE Pipeline, which will be built less than 10 miles from Queens’ Rockaway peninsula, has been rejected three times before – once in 2018, again in 2019 and most recently in 2020 – for going against the state’s climate law and for water quality concerns.
Attorneys say that the pipeline application that went through this month is identical to those submitted in previous years, and should have been shot down for the same legal and environmental issues.
“Nothing has changed,” Jared Knicley, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Eagle. “No facts have changed, nothing is really different to justify DEC’s reversal.”
Throughout those earlier rejections, and the fast-tracked process that led to the approval this time around, city locals and environmentalists have argued that the pipeline’s construction and operation could pose risks to the local environment and wildlife.
In order to build the 23.5 mile underwater gas pipeline, Oklahoma-based energy company Williams Transco would need to dredge up – or trench – the sea floor, potentially stirring up toxins that have been settling there for over half a century. In the worst case scenario, activists have warned about the catastrophic consequences should the pipe leak or explode.