A federal appeals court on Tuesday halted plans for a controversial underwater natural gas pipeline that would skirt the shores of New York City and New Jersey and that has won the fervent backing of the Trump administration.
The ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia centered on the granting of a water permit by New Jersey regulators, a decision the court described as “arbitrary and capricious.”
The $1 billion Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline would be a 23-mile extension to an existing natural gas network and would run mostly under Raritan Bay and New York Harbor. Once complete, it would deliver gas from Pennsylvania to the New York City region. The pipeline was approved last fall by Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York and Philip D. Murphy, who was then the governor of New Jersey, despite having been rejected repeatedly in the past.
At the time, Ms. Hochul cited soaring energy demands and costs, and the subsequent need to “govern in reality,” for her decision. (The federal Clean Water Act allows states to approve or veto a project — by granting or withholding water permits — after ascertaining whether the project would negatively affect their water quality.)
Both states approved the water permits for the first time last fall, paving the way for the gas pipeline to proceed. At the time, Michael B. Gerrard, an environmental law professor at Columbia University, predicted that lawsuits would follow because regulators in New York and New Jersey had “reversed themselves.”
The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental nonprofit, filed lawsuits in federal appeals courts covering New Jersey and New York challenging whether state regulators had established sufficient safeguards to protect the affected bodies of water in both states.
In June, federal judges in New York deemed that they had. But it was a different story this week in Philadelphia, where the court ruled that water protections were lacking in New Jersey.
This new legal wrinkle temporarily halts a major energy project that has been championed by President Trump, who has tried to block renewable energy endeavors in the Northeast while pushing for additional oil and gas infrastructure.
In April, energy executives, labor leaders and members of the Trump administration officially announced the pipeline on the grounds of a World War II-era naval air station in coastal Brooklyn, surrounded by the city’s largest natural marshland.
White House officials, including Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, spoke about energy independence and abundance, patriotism and affordability.
But until regulators in New Jersey decide what to do next, the project, for the moment, has been thwarted.
“We are monitoring the situation,” said Ken Lovett, Ms. Hochul’s communications adviser for energy and the environment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Williams Companies, the energy company based in Tulsa, Okla., that proposed the pipeline, said it was reviewing the court’s decision.
For now, all eyes are on New Jersey.
“This ruling formally stops the New Jersey side of the project unless or until a new water quality certificate is issued, and it functionally likely stops the New York side, too, since the pipeline is so integrated,” said Mark Izeman, senior attorney for environmental health at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
New Jersey regulators will either issue a new certification or deny the water permit. Both options are possible with a new governor in the state, Mikie Sherrill.
“It will now be up to Governor Sherrill to re-evaluate the integrity of this massive pipeline,” Mr. Izeman said. “This presents an early environmental test for the new administration.”
Ms. Sherrill’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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