The Energy Department will put up to $42 million toward a 125-mile gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New York

The Energy Department has committed up to $42 million in Defense Production Act Title III funding to the Constitution Pipeline, a proposed 125-mile natural gas line that would run from Pennsylvania to New York. The money is meant for permitting and pre-construction work rather than for laying pipe. Energy Secretary Chris Wright presents the line as a way to widen gas supply in the Northeast, while the project’s own history shows how hard that corridor has been to build.

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The sponsor is Constitution Pipeline Company, LLC, and the department says the line would carry gas to Northeast markets that have limited access to affordable supply. Nothing in the announcement says the pipeline is approved, financed in full or scheduled for construction.

Defense Production Act Title III money and what it pays for

According to the Energy Department’s announcement, dated Oct. 19, the funds will cover pre-construction and permitting work. That includes environmental reviews and assessments, engineering and site-preparation work, and other costs tied to winning the regulatory approvals the project still needs. Once permits are complete, the department says the authority could also support complementary natural gas infrastructure. The release uses the phrase “up to $42 million,” which sets a ceiling, not a promised disbursement.

The legal footing is an April 20, 2026 presidential determination under section 303 of the Defense Production Act, which declares natural gas pipelines, compression, processing and storage industrial resources essential to national defense. The memorandum reasons that private industry cannot be expected to supply that capacity in time because of financing limits, long equipment lead times and permitting delays. Under the statute’s section 303 text, the government may buy or commit to buy industrial resources and develop production capabilities, and actions above $50 million face extra notice and waiting requirements unless waived. The $42 million ceiling sits below that figure. The department also says $1 billion in federal funding has been appropriated for energy projects it deems critical to national security.

A pipeline stalled since 2016

The project is not new. Williams Cos. was the original developer, and New York state denied a key water permit in 2016, after which Williams dropped the effort. E&E News reported that the project was formally canceled in February 2020, and that in March 2025 Wright said on Fox Business it was “quite likely” a pipeline of this kind would be under construction by the end of 2025, without naming the project.

Developers resubmitted applications to state and federal regulators in 2025, and the Connecticut Mirror reported in September 2025 that Williams estimated construction would start the following year and service would begin near the end of 2027, pending approvals. Williams says the line could carry up to 650 million cubic feet of gas per day, enough for about 3 million homes. The same report said the Wall Street Journal had tied the revival to talks between the Trump administration and New York over the Empire Wind project, a link Gov. Kathy Hochul denied making as an explicit promise.

Geography matters to the pitch. The Connecticut Mirror report explains that the pipeline would not carry gas into Connecticut directly; its New York end would connect to the Tennessee and Iroquois systems, which serve the wider region and already run at or near capacity, creating winter supply bottlenecks. Iroquois owners want compressors that would add 125 million cubic feet per day, an 8.3 percent increase, and Enbridge plans an Algonquin expansion by 2029. Kinder Morgan, which operates the Tennessee system, says more pipeline capacity is needed. That context is why supporters describe the Constitution line as relief for pinch points rather than a standalone supply source.

Who says it lowers bills, and who disagrees

Wright argued in the department’s release that “despite America having an abundant supply of low-cost natural gas, tens of millions of Americans have limited access,” and that the project “will also reduce the risk of blackouts during periods of peak electricity demand,” while making the country more secure. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who chairs the National Energy Dominance Council, said the president is “choosing abundance over government-imposed scarcity.” The department adds that the line will “dramatically lower electricity and home heating costs across the region,” a claim the release states without published modeling.

Critics quoted in the Connecticut Mirror report make a different case. The Sierra Club’s Connecticut director, Samantha Dynowski, criticized the project as serving fossil fuel interests, and opponents argue it conflicts with state laws requiring carbon-free electricity by 2040. They also say new gas imports will not fix high regional energy prices. President Trump has claimed the line could cut energy costs by up to $5,000 per family in the Northeast, a figure critics call inflated.

For now the federal money buys studies, engineering and permit applications. Whether New York regulators and federal agencies approve the route is the open question, and neither the department’s announcement nor its funding amount settles it.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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