Williams Companies announced Monday they have been granted the clean water permits they need for their Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Pipeline Project.
After three rejections, New York and New Jersey finally granted permission for the $1 billion underwater pipeline that will expand the delivery of natural gas from Pennsylvania to the New York City area, adding enough capacity to power over 2 million homes.
CEO Chad Zamarin told “The Claman Countdown” he gives credit to the team who did not give up on the proposal.
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“There is a huge energy affordability reality that I think is coming home to roost and at the end of the day in Pennsylvania, you mentioned where we’re going to source the gas,” he told FOX Business anchor Liz Claman. “We can produce natural gas for the cost equivalent of 50 cents per gallon of gasoline. Natural gas production in the United States is our energy affordability and reliability superpower.”
While the pipeline has been met with some criticism from New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Zamarin ensured that natural gas infrastructure is needed for “reliable, affordable and clean energy” in the United States.
“Natural gas has actually been our most powerful decarbonization tool,” Zamarin said. “Over the last 10 years, we’ve driven down emissions. More than 60 percent of the emissions reductions in the United States were because of natural gas displacing higher emissions fuels. In New York City, we still burn fuel oil. It’s three times the national average cost for natural gas in New York City, and at times of the winter, 30 times the national average cost of natural gas when just one state away we produce the most affordable natural gas on the planet.”
As many voters have voiced their concerns about the rising cost of natural gas utilities, the Williams Companies CEO pointed to a previous project expected to reduce consumer costs.
“There was a report issued by S&P last week on our Constitution Pipeline Project, which is a project to bring low-cost, affordable natural gas to New England states, and it shows that over the life of the project, it would reduce cost to the consumers in New England by over $11.5 billion and so, there is a direct impact,” he responded.
Zamarin stressed the importance of advocating for “energy affordability and reliability.”
“We’ve got to continue to educate consumers, elected officials on the importance of bringing natural gas to bear to make sure that we’ve got energy affordability and reliability for our consumers,” he said. “I think, finally, those voices are being raised, and we’re seeing a more rational approach to energy infrastructure.”
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