Pentagon Law Funds Stalled NY Gas Pipeline Revival
Defense Production Act funds target a 125-mile gas route New York regulators blocked nearly a decade ago.
The Trump administration is deploying a Cold War-era defense statute to resurrect the Constitution Pipeline, a 125-mile natural gas project New York regulators killed in 2016. The Department of Energy announced Monday it will provide up to $42 million under Title III of the Defense Production Act to fund permitting and pre-construction work connecting Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale to Northeast energy markets.
Williams Companies targets the fourth quarter of 2028 for the pipeline to enter service, pending regulatory approvals. The line would move up to 650,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day into existing interstate systems serving New York and surrounding states.
First proposed in 2012, the project received federal approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2014. Two years later, New York denied a required water-quality certification. Developers abandoned the route entirely in 2020, citing economic viability concerns after years of litigation. Constitution Pipeline Co. asked FERC to reissue its federal certificate in December 2025.
Pipeline capacity constraints have repeatedly forced the region onto costlier fuels during cold snaps. During Winter Storm Fern in January, petroleum briefly surpassed natural gas as New England’s leading source of electricity generation as power producers turned to oil amid tight gas supplies, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Those supply gaps hit consumers directly. The EIA forecasts heating oil prices will average 34% higher this winter than last. Households that rely primarily on heating oil — most of which are in the Northeast — are expected to spend about 21% more despite forecasts for milder weather.
Monday’s allocation follows an April presidential determination invoking the Defense Production Act to support domestic natural gas infrastructure. That order cited permitting delays, financing constraints and pipeline bottlenecks as threats to national security. Using the DPA for fossil fuel transport infrastructure marks a departure from the law’s traditional application to military manufacturing and critical mineral processing.
The funding announcement arrives alongside broader grid-security spending. Energy Secretary Chris Wright recently discussed a separate $50 million Energy Department investment to boost grid power and protect the national security power grid, according to FOX Business.
The revived Constitution Pipeline still faces unresolved state-level environmental reviews before any steel goes into the ground. New York has not signaled whether it will reconsider the water-quality certification denial that halted the original build.
