Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE)

The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is the City’s leading real estate trade association representing commercial, residential, and institutional property owners, builders, managers, investors, brokers, salespeople, and other organizations and individuals active in New York City real estate. 

I am writing in support of the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE), which is a critical expansion of Transco's existing infrastructure to provide customers access to an additional 400 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, which is enough to meet the daily needs of approximately 2.3 million homes.  A safely implemented project will provide service to National Grid's service territory in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island. 

The Transco pipeline has reliably served the New York City area for more than 60 years and currently provides half of the gas consumed in NYC. The project will establish a critical new link to additional supplies for New York City, making access to natural gas more reliable via the safest method for transporting energy. Thanks to increased natural gas displacing fuel oils, New York City is currently experiencing its cleanest air in over 50 years. This project will help NYC continue the progress it has made improving air quality and reducing ground-level air pollution.  

This project could not come at a more crucial time for New York City, as it continues to experience significant economic and population growth. The recently released New York State Energy Plan cites the mounting challenge of addressing this increasing demand, while at the same time maintaining system reliability. Moreover, the State acknowledges that it does not expect to meet its renewable energy goals – 70 percent renewable electricity by 2030 – as the deployment of large-scale projects continues to face monumental hurdles. Increasing the availability of cleaner, more reliable energy to meet demand will allow the city to sustain and build on its positive momentum while also ensuring that additional growth can be managed without reliance on higher-polluting sources of energy.  

We respectfully request that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation approves this crucial project.