A federal appeals court threw out New Jersey’s water-quality certification for the Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline on Sept. 8, sending the approval back to state regulators three weeks after a different appeals court upheld New York’s certification for the same line.
Williams Cos. still says the ruling won’t move its schedule.
What the court found missing in the Section 401 certification
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia vacated the Clean Water Act Section 401 certification issued by the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection, holding that the agency left monitoring requirements unresolved and never adequately explained how dredging in Raritan Bay would meet state water-quality standards. The case, brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council, goes back to NJDEP for further proceedings.
About six miles of the line runs underwater through Raritan Bay. The dredging that gets it there is the whole fight, and it has been since the project’s first denial cycle years ago.
Why New York’s approval survived and New Jersey’s didn’t
The contrast is instructive for anyone writing a 401 certification. New York’s approval, upheld in late August, required compliance plans reviewed before applicable construction starts, an independent third-party monitor with stop-work authority, and specified pollutant limits. The Philadelphia court cited exactly those safeguards when it distinguished New York’s record from New Jersey’s.
So the problem wasn’t that New Jersey approved the dredging. It was that the state approved it without writing down how it would know the standards were being met. Conditions that exist on paper are reviewable. Conditions left for later aren’t.
What Northeast Supply Enhancement still has to clear
The project adds roughly 37 miles of pipe and related facilities to Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co.’s system, increasing capacity by 400,000 dekatherms per day to serve National Grid customers in New York City and Long Island. Williams continues to target fourth-quarter 2027 in-service.
Company spokesperson Cherice Corley told Reuters that Williams is working with state regulators on the court’s findings and doesn’t expect the decision to affect construction or the in-service date. That’s a defensible read if NJDEP can re-issue quickly with the monitoring language spelled out. It’s a much harder read if the agency has to redo the dredging analysis itself.
Contractors bidding marine work on the Raritan Bay segment now have a certification with no legal force and a sponsor holding a 2027 date. Those two things are not yet compatible.