Groups Challenge New York State’s Approval of the NESE Pipeline Over Significant Risks to Water Quality

New York, NY —

A coalition of nonprofits sued the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today for approving the water quality certification for the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline. The DEC had previously denied the exact same pipeline two times for failing to demonstrate compliance with state water quality standards. Earthjustice represents NY/NJ Baykeeper, Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, Food & Water Watch, Surfrider, and Sierra Club in the case, with in-house attorneys representing the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

The proposed NESE natural gas pipeline would run from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, through Middlesex and Monmouth Counties in New Jersey, to New York City. The NESE project proposes building 17.6 miles of new pipeline in New York State under the New York Harbor. If built, the pipeline would tear up the harbor floor; destroy marine habitats; and suspend mercury, copper, PCBs and other toxins in the water.

The pipeline would also harm sensitive shellfish beds and fishing areas, and undercut billions of dollars New York has invested to improve water quality in the harbor. Earthjustice and NRDC previously filed comments to DEC in August 2025 asserting that the NESE gas pipeline project does not comply with New York’s water quality standards and, therefore, cannot be approved under section 401 of the Clean Water Act.

Quotes from those involved in the lawsuit:

“DEC’s approval is a 180 degree reversal — in 2020 it denied the exact same application. There’s nothing different in the substance of this application that shows that this project is any more likely to comply with the water quality standards than it was the last time around. The project hasn’t changed, the impacts haven’t changed — the only thing that has changed is DEC’s decision which it reversed with no reasonable explanation,” said Susan Kraham, Managing Attorney for Earthjustice’s Northeast Region.

“DEC’s decision to greenlight this harmful pipeline runs counter to its two prior determinations to reject the project over threats to the state’s water resources. There is nothing factually or legally different about the pipeline now that can justify DEC’s reversal. If built, the NESE pipeline would still pose a direct threat to fishing and shellfishing, marine habitats, and recreational uses throughout the Harbor,” said Jared Knicley, Managing Litigator at NRDC. “We’re suing to stop that from happening.”

“Playing politics with clean water endangers all New Yorkers,” said Roger Downs, Conservation Director of the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. “By approving the 401 Water Quality Certificate, the NYSDEC has undercut the same agency scientists that determined the NESE pipeline would cause unacceptable degradation of water quality and marine life to New York waters just a few years ago. We cannot compromise our laws and scientific principles just to appease the Trump administration’s overreach.”

“The Department of Environmental Conservation’s arbitrary reversal on this dangerous project is patently unacceptable,” said Erin Doran, Senior Staff Attorney at Food & Water Watch. “We cannot sacrifice New York’s water quality for another dirty fracked gas project.”

“A NESE gas pipeline would needlessly slice through 23 miles of marine habitat resuspending copper, mercury, and other contaminants in the Raritan Bay where we fish, boat and recreate,” said Greg Remaud, NY/NJ Baykeeper.

“The Surfrider Foundation is honored to stand with its fellow coalition partners in continuing this fight. The New York City chapter has been campaigning against this project for well over a decade, and with good reason: the pipeline remains unnecessary, expensive, dangerous to human and marine life, a cost burden for locals, and represents a major step backward for New York City and New Jersey residents and their climate future,” said Emily Bryant-Álvarez, Esq., Surfrider Foundation, New York City Chapter, Stop the Williams Pipeline Campaign Lead.

“By approving the NESE pipeline, New York State is endangering the health of our waterways and our communities, which have benefitted from decades of state and federal clean water policy. The initial denial of this project in 2020 was in the spirit of our state’s long history of environmental protection, but their arbitrary reversal is in the spirit of cynical politics,” said José Ramírez-Garofalo, President of the Protectors of Pine Oak Woods.