New Yorkers to foot bill for pipeline pushed by feds, new report says costs will rise

The federal government isn’t just encouraging New York to build a new pipeline that’s already been ruled a threat — it’s also making you pay for it, and a new independent analysis claims the project will cost 17% more than estimates from the utility company.

The once dead project was revived in July after the Trump administration announced its strong support for building new fossil fuel infrastructure. The pipeline is on a fast-tracked review after the Department of Environmental Conservation closed its 45-day public comment period last month despite rallies calling for more time as well as public hearings.

Its backers say that the pipeline will bring more natural gas to the area, lower energy expenses over time and bring jobs to the region. But the construction of the pipeline and its associated infrastructure costs will fall to New Yorkers already reeling from sky-high utility bills that show no sign of getting cheaper.

National Grid estimates that monthly residential bills would increase, on average, by $7.44 on Long Island and $7.61 in Brooklyn, Staten Island and parts of Queens. That is in addition to a rate hike pending with the Public Service that would increase the average monthly residential Con Edison bill by $26.69, or over 13%.

Con Edison customers are already paying around $50 more per month than they did three years ago. Over the last two years, National Grid customers are paying over $40 more on monthly bills.

Rate increases in New York almost always are decided by the state’s Public Service Commission. Given the interstate nature of the pipeline, the approval for this pipeline — and the new charges New Yorkers will have to pony up — rests solely with the Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission.

A report released this week by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, an energy research think tank, estimated the pipeline’s price tag at least $1.25 billion. That’s 17% more than National Grid’s estimate.

The report claims that the projected benefits of the project will likely fall short.

“ The arguments that they’re trying to come up with now are not convincing, and rate payers in New York are not going to benefit from this, but they’ll be forced to pay for it if this thing were approved, and I don’t think that that’s good policy,” said Suzanne Mattei, energy policy analyst and report author.

The pipeline owner Williams Company and local natural gas provider National Grid say that New Yorkers will get 13% more gas supply to address winter reliability risks and cheaper natural gas. Williams estimates that the increased supply will lower prices by $6 billion over the next 15 years while also providing more jobs in the Northeast region.

The pipeline would install about 17 miles of 26-inch diameter pipes under the ocean floor near Staten Island and the Rockaways with about 10 miles of additional pipelines in New Jersey. The proposed pipeline would bring enough fracked gas from Pennsylvania to serve more than 2 million New York City households.

The report claims that not many of the jobs created for the Northeast region will actually be located in the state of New York. Only 9% of the temporary construction jobs would be in the Empire State because offshore pipeline installation requires special skills.. The compressor stations would be located in New Jersey, meaning the permanent jobs may not go to New Yorkers.

National Grid has determined that the pipeline is necessary as a way to meet winter demand for heating.

“NESE will bolster reliability for our customers’ essential energy needs, while also lowering costs and reducing emissions, and the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission has confirmed the project’s critical need, public benefits, and environmental compliance,” Alexander Starr, National Grid’s spokesperson, wrote via email. “Even with moderate demand growth, the NESE Project provides a prudent reserve margin and flexibility to manage future uncertainties, electrification, economic development, extreme weather.”

The report refuted National Grid justification for the pipeline , stating that it isn’t supported by available data. Further, state laws require the reduction of natural gas use and not the increase.

While demand for natural gas has increased, the number of days of winter peak demand amounted to only a couple of days last year, and below the forecasted peaks despite a colder than expected winter, according to the state grid operator’s report.

In the next couple of years, many renewable energy projects will come online, providing enough energy to power more than three million homes. The Champlain Hudson Power Express, which will bring renewable energy from Canada next year, will provide 20% of New York City’s power.

The report was sent to the Governor’s office Wednesday morning signed by advocates, city and state elected officials calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to reject the pipeline and accelerate investment into more renewable energy,

“The Governor, at a time when the federal government has launched a full-on attack on renewables, is pushing an all-of-the-above approach that prioritizes affordability, grid reliability, and economic development,” said Ken Lovett, Hochul’s senior communications adviser for energy and environment. “She has made it clear that all proposed projects must be reviewed impartially by the required agencies to determine compliance with state and federal laws.”

The pipeline project was originally proposed in 2017, and encountered strong public opposition. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation denied the project multiple times because it violated the water quality standards.

“The pipeline is not better the second time around,” according to the report.