A new economic report is critical of the Williams Cos. natural gas pipeline it wants to build carrying natural gas from New Jersey into New York. It contends the pipeline will cost residents $1.25 billion and not create the promised local jobs.
The report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis also contends the pipeline’s price tag is 17% higher than the National Grid’s estimate. The energy research think tank also contends there won’t be the project benefits of the project as promised.
“The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has examined the project and concludes the pipeline is unnecessary,” declared the Institute.
“The arguments that they’re trying to come up with now are not convincing, and rate payers in New York are not going to benefit from this, but they’ll be forced to pay for it if this thing were approved, and I don’t think that that’s good policy,” said Suzanne Mattei, energy policy analyst and report author reported Gothamist.
Gothamist is a New York City–centric blog operated by New York Public Radio. Williams is waiting on a final go-ahead from the Department of Environmental Conservation which closed a 45-day public comment period last month.
The report had two key findings.
- Downstate New Yorkers would be on the hook for construction costs—likely higher than projected—and developer profits if the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) gas pipeline is built.
2) The NESE would provide no direct permanent jobs in New York, only about 9% of the construction jobs would be sited in New York, and NESE profits would largely go out of state to a Tulsa-based company.
The Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement Project involves an underwater pipeline connecting New Jersey to New York City. Another pipeline project, the Constitution pipeline would be a 125-mile pipeline from Pennsylvania into New York.
Click here for Gothamist