By Ryan Schwach

A coalition of environmental groups are suing the state over its recent approval of a controversial natural gas pipeline to be built just a few miles off of Queens’ shores.

The organizations assert that the approval of the Williams Northeastern Supply Enhancement, the proposed 23.5 mile underwater fracked gas pipeline, violates the Clean Water Act and will bring negative environmental impacts to New York’s coastlines.

The suit was filed against the state Department of Environmental Conservation in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which attorneys for the groups say is the venue required for such cases that fall under the CWA.

They filed a similar suit against DEC’s counterpart in New Jersey, as well. Both agencies greenlit the proposed pipeline earlier this month.

Williams’ NESE Pipeline, which will be built less than 10 miles from Queens’ Rockaway peninsula, has been rejected three times before – once in 2018, again in 2019 and most recently in 2020 – for going against the state’s climate law and for water quality concerns.

Attorneys say that the pipeline application that went through this month is identical to those submitted in previous years, and should have been shot down for the same legal and environmental issues.

“Nothing has changed,” Jared Knicley, an attorney with the National Resources Defense Council, told the Eagle. “No facts have changed, nothing is really different to justify DEC’s reversal.”

Throughout those earlier rejections, and the fast-tracked process that led to the approval this time around, city locals and environmentalists have argued that the pipeline’s construction and operation could pose risks to the local environment and wildlife.

In order to build the 23.5 mile underwater gas pipeline, Oklahoma-based energy company Williams Transco would need to dredge up – or trench – the sea floor, potentially stirring up toxins that have been settling there for over half a century. In the worst case scenario, activists have warned about the catastrophic consequences should the pipe leak or explode.

“The pipeline would threaten water quality, churn up toxic sediment from a contaminated seabed, disturb sensitive wildlife habitat in New York Harbor,” a coalition of 130 elected officials said in a letter in August. “[NESE] would exacerbate a climate crisis by locking us into decades of further reliance on fracked natural gas.”

Environmental groups have also warned that the project’s construction costs would fall to the consumer, and would not ultimately lower energy bills as the pipeline’s proponents have claimed.

Much of the past criticism of the approval had been directed at Governor Kathy Hochul, who is not named in the suit.

Environmentalists accused Hochul of fast-tracking the approval for the pipeline in an alleged deal with President Trump, which Hochul has denied. In his second administration, Trump has pushed to revive the nation’s dependence on fracked gas and fossil fuels.

“Playing politics with clean water endangers all New Yorkers,” said Roger Downs, conservation director of the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. “By approving the 401 Water Quality Certificate, the NYSDEC has undercut the same agency scientists that determined the NESE pipeline would cause unacceptable degradation of water quality and marine life to New York waters just a few years ago. We cannot compromise our laws and scientific principles just to appease the Trump administration’s overreach.”

In a statement, DEC said it does not comment on pending litigation.

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.