Two years before Governor Cuomo’s May 2020 rejection of this controversial pipeline project (to transport shale gas from Pennsylvania to NYC), TGG demonstrated that Williams was substantially overstating employment and other economic benefits of the Project. TGG’s Expert Report on the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project Economic Impact Analysis for New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, commissioned by the Eastern Environmental Law Center (EELC) in May 2018, evaluates the economic impact study prepared for the proponent by Michael Lahr and Will Irving of Rutgers University.
TGG’s evaluation demonstrates that the Rutgers Analysis substantially overstates the jobs from building the Project – notably construction jobs in the tri-state area are overstated by 70-80%. Moreover, pipeline operations result in very small expenditures (and employment impacts) and have very little positive effect on the economy. The expert report was submitted as testimony at FERC in May 2018 by the EELC on behalf of NY/NJ Baykeeper, Food & Water Watch et al, as part of Intervenors’ Additional Comments on FERC’s March 2018 Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project.
