President Donald Trump is threatening to once again stop construction of the Sunrise Wind turbine project off Long Island, saying Gov. Kathy Hochul broke an agreement to support the long-stalled Constitution Pipeline and help deliver lower-cost natural gas to New England and upstate New York.
“The pipeline is being held up by the governor of New York,” Trump stressed. “She made a deal with us to allow us to build it and she’s holding it up and Connecticut is suffering and all of New England is suffering and upstate New York is really suffering.”
Trump said the agreement involved two offshore wind projects, Sunrise Wind off Long Island and the proposed New England Wind project off Massachusetts. He indicated both could now be in jeopardy.
“We made a deal with the governor and she broke the deal,” Trump said. “So I guess we’re withdrawing those windmills.”
The remarks revive a dispute that earlier this year resulted in a federal stop-work order on Sunrise Wind, one of the largest offshore wind projects in the country.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, a former Congressman and state Senator from Long Island, has also pushed for renewed pipeline construction.
“We believe that we should build a new Constitution Pipeline to deliver natural gas from Pennsylvania to New England,” Zeldin said as he stood alongside Trump on the Kennedy tarmac. “We believe that New York should reverse its ban on the extraction of natural gas.”
Supporters of expanded natural gas infrastructure argue New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act has restricted affordable energy development while driving residents and businesses toward higher utility costs.
Critics contend the law’s aggressive mandates on fossil fuels, combined with opposition to pipelines and natural gas production, have contributed to some of the nation’s highest energy costs and raised concerns about grid reliability as electricity demand continues to grow.