The Northeast: Everyone Wants Affordable Energy. Nobody Wants to Cut the Ribbon

June 12, 2026

By Gordon Tomb

Northeastern states are scrambling to address rising energy costs. New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and others are even considering abandoning some of their most restrictive Green New Deal-style emissions policies to increase the supply of affordable sources.

Such new energy projects are among the most difficult endeavors to bring to fruition. Requiring massive investments and at least a modicum of public support, they have no chance of becoming reality without people of influence standing for their success.

Take the proposed Constitution Pipeline for instance. The benefits of this 125-mile-long pipeline, which would deliver Pennsylvania natural gas to energy-starved New York and New England, are so numerous, one might wonder why it hasn’t already been built. Except that the project is among many such enterprises that have languished in a regulatory morass fueled by anti-development activists and nurtured by incompetent political leadership.

Yet, new life is stirring for this much-needed supply line. Having first proposed the project in 2013, Williams Companies, a Tulsa-based firm, received federal approvals more than a decade ago. In 2016, the company sidelined the project after New York regulators denied a water-quality permit.

Earlier this year, Williams resubmitted applications to regulators, projecting the pipeline to be in service by early 2028. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has received more than 600 comments since January as part of its review.

“The need for this project is well documented,” said Jim Welty, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, in comments to FERC. “Customers throughout New York and New England have experienced significant supply disruptions in recent years due to inadequate natural gas supply and constrained access to the market.”

New England has “resorted to importing natural gas from foreign nations, located thousands of miles away because a more efficient … manner to connect to domestically produced natural gas currently does not exist,” noted Welty.

Connecticut State Sen. Ryan Fazio, a Republican, said Constitution would mitigate New England’s high gas prices, saving customers up to $8.5 billion over the project’s life.

“Historically, peak winter gas prices in the region have averaged at least 2.5 times the national benchmark, and daily price fluctuations can reach up to 30 times the average annual levels due to (pipeline) capacity limitations,” he said.

The 30-inch-diameter pipeline would run from gas fields in northeast Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna County to upstate New York. Connecting with the Iroquois and Tennessee interstate systems, Constitution would deliver enough gas for 3 million homes, or about three percent of Pennsylvania’s current production.

Williams estimates that construction will create 2,500 jobs, generating nearly $300 million in direct labor income and almost $1 billion in total economic output.

Producers of natural gas have long struggled with a lack of pipelines to match production capacity and market needs. The Marcellus region “is by far the most prolific natural gas production area in the U.S., accounting for about one-third of the nation’s daily output,” notes Housley Carr, an energy writer and analyst for RBN Energy.

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