The once dead Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project, a pipeline that would bring fracked gas from central Pennsylvania through New Jersey and into New York City, is now one more step towards revival. Last Friday, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation issued a Water Quality Certification Permit for the construction of the project, effectively reversing its legal position under the Federal Clean Water Act in 2019 and 2020.
While environmental advocates and legal experts are preparing to stop NESE again, they are also looking ahead to the inevitable revival of its companion project, the Constitution Pipeline that would run through Upstate New York.
Radio Catskill’s Genevieve Hartnett spoke with Mark Izeman, Senior Attorney for Environmental Health at the National Resources Defense Council and Board Member of Catskill Mountainkeeper about the increased federal pressure pushing these pipeline projects forward and how statewide opposition can stop them.