By Joseph M. Varon
As a past president of the New York Marine Education Association and a grandfather who takes his grandchildren, Noah and Sophie, to Long Island’s beaches, I care deeply about the waters and coastline that define our communities. Our shores are more than scenery — they are classrooms, playgrounds and lifelines. But if the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline is approved, those same waters could soon carry a very different legacy — one of pollution, higher utility bills and broken promises to protect our climate future.
This fracked-gas pipeline, last rejected in 2020 after massive public opposition, has been resurrected under pressure from President Trump. Now Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration is rushing the project through review with a truncated public-comment period and no public hearings — silencing the very people who will live with the consequences.
New Yorkers have already made our voices clear: More than 11,000 public comments were submitted against NESE earlier this month. Hundreds of people rallied across the Brooklyn Bridge. More than 130 elected officials signed a letter urging Hochul to stop this dangerous project. And yet the state continues to treat public input as a box-checking exercise, not a democratic responsibility.
The risks could not be clearer. The pipeline would bury 23 miles of fracked-gas infrastructure beneath New York Harbor, disturbing toxic chemicals long buried in the ocean floor. Williams Companies’ own plans call for excavating 23 miles of seabed, which is laced with industrial toxins like lead and dioxin that would be churned back into our waters. This would threaten marine life ranging from dolphins to endangered sea turtles — and it would put coastal communities at risk of contamination and explosions. Williams, the developer, has a record of safety violations and pipeline accidents nationwide.
And Long Islanders would be asked to pay for the privilege. National Grid — the utility backing the project — acknowledges that customer bills would rise by 3.5 percent, roughly $150 a year for the average household. The overall cost of the project would be upward of $3.2 billion, a tab to be passed on to National Grid customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties, Staten Island, Brooklyn and the Rockaways. That’s on top of rate hikes already planned for 2026. A several-billion-dollar pipeline will lock us into higher costs for decades while renewable projects are delayed or sidelined.
The irony is painful: New York’s climate law — the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019 — requires us to cut fossil fuel use dramatically in the years ahead. Building more gas pipelines isn’t just backward; it’s unlawful. Experts estimate that overbuilt gas infrastructure has already cost American households $179 billion in unnecessary spending. Why would we saddle Long Island families with the bill for obsolete infrastructure that will only accelerate the climate crisis?
The fossil fuel industry argues that we need more gas to keep the lights on while renewable projects catch up. Yet demand for fossil fuels is declining, thanks to policies passed that support energy efficiency and cleaner heating systems. Plus, New Yorkers overwhelmingly voted for the Environmental Bond Act ballot initiative in 2022, supporting a clear mandate for clean water, resilient infrastructure and renewable energy. State residents have spoken. We should be investing in offshore wind, solar and efficiency — not doubling down on fracked gas just because Trump is working to protect the fossil fuel lobby.
Hochul has a choice. She can stand with Long Island families who treasure our beaches, our health and our future. Or she can stand with pipeline companies looking for a quick profit at our expense, alongside Trump, who is working to empower those companies.
Long Island residents like me have already fought and won this battle once before. We’re ready to do it again. But we shouldn’t have to. The governor can — and must — reject NESE and any attempt to resurrect dead pipelines.
For me, this fight is about more than policy. It’s about leaving a safer, healthier world for my grandchildren, Noah and Sophie. Our communities deserve clean water, affordable energy and a government that listens to the people it serves. Let’s not let Trump’s pipeline scar our shores and burden our future.
Joseph M. Varon is a volunteer leader of Food & Water Watch and a past president of the New York Marine Education Association.
