Environmental activists filed a lawsuit July 20 to appeal a New Jersey permit for a natural gas pipeline through Raritan and Lower New York bays, that would convey gas produced in Pennsylvania to New York.
The group Clean Ocean Action seeks to overturn a state tidelands license for the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project, a planned 23.4-mile, 26” diameter pipeline also known as Transco, to be built by gas distributor Williams, Tulsa, Okla.
Clean Ocean Action campaigned for the state Tidelands Resource Council and Department of Environmental Protection to block permitting the pipeline’s 6-mile connection under the New Jersey bay bottom. In spring 2026 that pressure led to cancellation of an April 1 Tidelands council meeting.
But when the council convened again May 6, At the May 6, 2026, it approved a 7-year license for the Transco pipeline route, “despite over 95% of public testimony opposing the license identifying many harms and no benefits to New Jersey,” Clean Ocean Action said in announcing its new lawsuit.
“There can be no compromise that excuses this conduct and allows state-owned tidelands to be used and damaged without any public benefit contrary to the statutes designed to prevent this outcome,” said the group’s lawyer Andrew J. Provence.
Williams’ original application for Transco in 2017 attracted opposition for years from environmental and community groups. Williams formally withdrew its plans in 2024 after permit denials from New Jersey and New York agencies stymied the NESE project.
With the return of a second Trump administration in May 2025, regional politics over the project abruptly shifted when the administration and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul agreed to help revive gas line permits in exchange for allowing the Empire Wind offshore project to move forward.
