U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin was in Binghamton on Monday to make the case for a natural gas pipeline that failed to get permits when it was first proposed. Environmentalists want the state to reject the project for good.
Zeldin is a New Yorker, something he mentioned several times on Monday.
Before joining the Trump administration, Zeldin was a New York state senator and a member of Congress representing part of Long Island. In 2022, he ran for governor and was defeated by Governor Kathy Hochul.
Zeldin came to Binghamton on Monday to urge support for the Constitution pipeline project. If built, the pipeline would go through the Catskills and Southern Tier to connect with other pipelines near Albany. From there he said it would go to New England states.
“Millions of New Englanders are desperate for New York to allow a pipeline to be built through it to deliver Pennsylvania gas to millions of New Englanders,” he said.
The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) determined the proposed Constitution pipeline application was incomplete three times. The developer withdrew the application last year. The company behind the pipeline has also lost federal lawsuits that challenged the DEC’s authority.
Last year, Governor Kathy Hochul visited the White House to talk to President Trump about congestion pricing in New York City. Trump also raised the issue of the Constitution pipeline. The president wants to increase domestic oil and gas production and lower renewable energy efforts.
Zeldin said he was present for the talk between the governor and the president.
“I've heard the governor express a desire to get the Constitution pipeline over the finish line. I’ve been part of those conversations you’ve just referenced and that was her position until it wasn't,” he told reporters on Monday.
Ken Lovett is the energy and environment communications advisor to Governor Hochul. In a statement to WSKG he said,
"Lee Zeldin’s deliberate distortions don’t change the fact that the EPA under his direction has looked to take this country backward at the expense of the health and wellbeing of the everyday Americans his agency is supposed to protect.
“Governor Hochul as part of her all-of-the-above energy strategy to keep the lights on and costs down has expressed an openness to natural gas as long as the proposals comply with all state laws and regulations.
“The state Department of Environmental Conservation determined NESE [Another pipeline] met those requirements while the proposed Constitution pipeline application three times was deemed incomplete before the developer pulled it. Under Governor Hochul, New York will continue to be a clean energy and climate leader, even in the face of unending roadblocks put up by Washington Republicans.”
During his Binghamton visit, Zeldin said the pipeline will help with American energy independence.
It would also bring fracking to New York State. Fracking has been banned in New York since 2014.
“I believe stronger now than I ever have in the past that New York should be reversing its ban on the extraction of natural gas,” he said.
He said the Constitution pipeline would bring more municipal taxes and business revenue across the region.
Zeldin said fracking technology used in the U.S. is safer than ever before and it poses no harm to the environment.
A couple of hours after Zeldin spoke in front of the Broome County Courthouse, over 40 protesters gathered a block away outside Binghamton City Hall to voice their opposition to fracking and the Constitution pipeline.
Biologist Sandra Steingraber, a leader in the anti-fracking movement, was among them.
“Fourteen years ago New York State banned fracking on the grounds that fracking imperiled water and human health and that no technology, no rules, no regulations could mitigate the dangers of this form of gas extraction,” she said.
The DEC based its approval of the fracking ban on scientific research conducted over several years.
“We now have five times as much evidence as we did 12 years ago. And those data all say the same thing which is fracking imperils water, air, and health,” Steingraber said.
Those gathered believe Zeldin’s visit to Binghamton is part of an effort by President Trump and the gas industry to override the will of New Yorkers, who in large numbers supported a ban on fracking.
Zeldin said the fracking ban was forced on people by Albany. He also criticized solar farms, which he said are also being forced on the people of New York and destroying valuable farmland.
