Federal Court Rejects NJ's Approval Of Natural Gas Pipeline Under Raritan Bay

SAYREVILLE, NJ — A proposed natural gas pipeline that would run for 23 miles under Raritan Bay suffered a major blow this week, when a federal appeals court voided a permit the project had previously received from the state of New Jersey.

The Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline was going to enter the ground in Sayreville and run for 23 miles under Raritan Bay. Its final destination is in Queens, where it will provide electricity and home heating for 2.3 million buildings in New York City and Long Island.

The pipeline is owned and operated by Williams Companies, a giant natural gas company.

But many local environmental groups were against the pipeline, arguing that digging the pipeline would stir up thousands of tons of sediment — which may be toxic — into Raritan Bay.

Digging the pipeline will involve dredging in Raritan Bay.

NY/NJ Baykeeper filed a lawsuit against the pipeline, and was joined by NJ Food & Water Watch, the NJ League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a Water Quality Certification permit the project had received from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) under Gov. Phil Murphy's administration. The three judges on the federal court ruled the NJ DEP awarded the water quality permit arbitrarily, after first rejecting it two times before.

Their ruling sends the certification back to the NJDEP, where it has to be reviewed again, according to this article. It will ultimately fall to Gov. Mikie Sherrill to decide whether the pipeline proceeds.

The NESE pipeline is not dead: The NJ DEP may revise the permit and issue it again.

Williams spokeswoman Cherice Corley told Reuters this week the company is working with state regulators to address the court's findings, and Williams remains committed to building the NESE pipeline.

"At this time, we do not expect the decision to adversely affect project construction or the anticipated in-service timeline," she said this week.

But Gregory Remaud, executive director of NY/NJ Baykeeper and who first filed the lawsuit the other groups joined onto, said the court's ruling this week is a major win for New Jersey environmental groups.

"This is an important victory for clean water, the Raritan Bay and the communities that depend on it," said Remaud. "Raritan Bay is a vital fishing, boating and ecological resource, and that the proposed pipeline threatens 23 miles of this important environment."

“(This) court ruling is a win for the waterways of New Jersey, the people who rely on them and the rule of law. This pipeline would not only have destroyed wetlands across New Jersey, but also would tear up the sea floor of Raritan Bay," said Jackson Garrity, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Another Jersey Shore advocacy group, Clean Ocean Action, warns recreational boating, fishing and commercial shipping in and out of the Port of New York/New Jersey will be severely disrupted by construction of the pipeline, which they call "Messy NESE."

Williams already received all the other permits it needs from the states of New York and New Jersey, and the company said it expected to start digging the pipe this summer. Some digging did start in Brooklyn, but not in New Jersey, likely because the pipeline was entangled in multiple lawsuits in this state. Williams plans to also build a natural gas compressor station near the Trap Rock Quarry in Franklin Township, NJ, to relieve gas pressure on the pipeline.

The first stretch of pipeline, 3.4 miles, would be built under the ground in Old Bridge/Sayreville. The pipeline would then enter Raritan Bay in Cliffwood Beach. It will run under Raritan Bay and Lower New York Bay and terminate in Rockaway, Queens. In total, the NESE pipeline will run for 23.4 miles, the bulk of it under the Raritan Bay seabed.

The NESE pipeline is an extension of the Transco pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to New York state and already runs for miles under New Jersey. Williams Companies also owns and operates the Transco pipeline.

Transco — and NESE should it get built — both carry natural gas fracked from the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachia region of Pennsylvania through New Jersey and to New York City/Long Island.

Williams has tried for years to build NESE. New York and New Jersey, led by Democrat governors, successfully stopped the project multiple times. But when President Donald Trump was re-elected for his second term, he opened the door for more fossil fuel development, one of the biggest issues he campaigned on.

Once Trump came back into office, Williams revived and expedited the NESE application.

A total of 25 towns along Raritan Bay, from Matawan to Sea Bright, already passed resolutions opposing the NESE pipeline.

Our most recent report on the NESE pipeline: Construction Delayed For NESE Natural Gas Pipeline Under Raritan Bay (July 2026)