Trump Administration Puts Up to $42 Million Behind Revival of Stalled Constitution Natural Gas Pipeline
The Energy Department says Defense Production Act money will fund permitting and pre-construction work on the 125-mile line from Pennsylvania to New York. Secretary Chris Wright wants construction to start next spring.
The Trump administration is putting up to $42 million in federal money behind a natural gas pipeline that has been stuck for years.
The Department of Energy announced Monday that the funding, under Title III of the Defense Production Act, will support permitting and pre-construction work on the proposed Constitution Pipeline. The line would carry up to 650,000 dekatherms of gas a day over 125 miles from the Marcellus Shale in northeastern Pennsylvania into New York, connecting with existing interstate systems that serve the Northeast. Williams Companies, the developer, is targeting service in the fourth quarter of 2028, pending regulatory approvals.
What Wright said. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox Business that the money will help advance the environmental and permitting work needed before construction. "The answer to high prices is more supply to push prices down," he said. He added: "We hope construction begins next spring," with the pipeline in service by the winter of 2028.
Why the Northeast. Fox Business notes that pipeline limits have strained supply in the region. During Winter Storm Fern in January, petroleum briefly passed natural gas as New England's top source of electricity, according to the Energy Information Administration. The EIA also forecasts heating oil prices averaging 34% higher this winter than last, which would raise costs about 21% for households that mainly heat with oil, most of them in the Northeast, even with milder weather expected.
The history. The project was first proposed in 2012 and won federal approval in 2014. New York regulators denied a key water-quality certificate in 2016, and developers abandoned the project in 2020. It was revived, and in December 2025 the company asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reissue its federal certificate. The money follows an April presidential determination invoking the Defense Production Act for domestic gas infrastructure.
Still ahead. The pipeline faces federal and state regulatory hurdles before any construction. The $42 million is a ceiling ("up to"), and the report does not say how much has been disbursed. Fox Business does not include a response from New York officials or opponents in the portions we read.