EPA Chief Zeldin Travels to New York to Revive Williams' Long-Stalled Constitution Pipeline
According to Oklahoma Energy Today, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin travelled to Binghamton, New York on Monday to personally lobby state leaders to approve the Williams Companies’ Constitution Pipeline — a 125-mile natural gas pipeline that has been tied up in permitting disputes since before its 2014 proposal.
Zeldin urged New York to reverse its 2014 ban on natural gas extraction, including hydraulic fracturing, and to clear the regulatory path for the pipeline, which would transport gas from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, to Schoharie County, New York, passing through Broome, Chenango, and Delaware counties.
“It’s not like we don’t use natural gas and we’re proposing some new energy source that is controversial,” Zeldin said. “It is our primary source of energy right now, natural gas.”
The EPA administrator argued that pipeline transport is safer and more cost-effective than moving gas by truck or rail, and that completing the project would generate jobs and tax revenue for host communities. “When you tap into resources here, when you build these pipelines, these are jobs, good-paying jobs,” Zeldin said. “It helps with revenue for local communities. There’s a benefit for the state fiscally.”
The Constitution Pipeline has been a flashpoint in New York’s energy politics for years. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has authority under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act to deny permits to projects it deems a risk to state waterways — a provision it has used to block the pipeline. Zeldin has signalled support for rolling back elements of Section 401 enforcement as part of the EPA’s broader deregulatory agenda.
His visit did not go unopposed. Dozens of environmental advocates gathered outside Binghamton City Hall after Zeldin left the Broome County courthouse, demanding the state uphold its fracking ban. “We’re here today to say no fracking way,” said Renee Vogelsang of Frack Action New York.
What It Means for Subcontractors
The Constitution Pipeline has been a long-anticipated project for pipeline contractors in the Pennsylvania and New York corridor. If federal pressure on New York’s Section 401 review process advances, the 125-mile project would generate significant right-of-way clearing, horizontal directional drilling across Appalachian terrain, and above-ground facility installation work across four counties. Williams Companies, headquartered in Tulsa, is one of the largest midstream operators in North America. Any shift in New York’s regulatory posture — whether through federal rule changes or direct state approval — would be the first signal that this project has a live construction timeline after more than a decade in limbo.
