<article><p class="lead">The proposed 500mn cf/d (14mn m3/d) Northern Access project is the latest natural gas pipeline that regulators in New York have blocked by denying its developers a required water permit.</p><p>The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on 8 April denied the permit after finding the proposed pipeline failed to avoid adverse impacts to wetlands, streams and fish. The agency raised concerns with a construction technique that would block the flow of streams when digging trenches for pipelines, rather than a costly method that drills underneath streams.</p><p>National Fuel Gas, which is developing the 97-mile pipeline, said water quality effects would be "temporary and minor" and argued the state was trying to set a standard that could not be met by any infrastructure projects that crosses streams or wetlands. The pipeline, planned to come on line in 2018, would transport gas from Pennsylvania to New York, the northeast US and Canada. </p><p>New York governor Andrew Cuomo's (D) administration has halted other natural gas pipelines amid pressure from activists and landowners concerned about climate change and environmental damage during pipeline construction. The state's water permit denials have blocked projects already approved by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and are likely to <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1436118">continue</a> under President Donald Trump.</p><p>The New York DEC last year used a water permit to block the 628mn cf/d Constitution natural gas pipeline, which would transport shale gas produced in Pennsylvania to New York and New England. Williams, Cabot Oil &amp; Gas, Piedmont Natural Gas and WGL Holding have challenged the permit denial in court, but even a victory might not force the state to approve a water permit.</p><p>And the Millennium Pipeline is suing the New York DEC over allegedly delaying its decision on a water permit needed to build a 126mn cf/d expansion called the Valley Lateral project that was supposed to start construction last year. </p><p>One exception is Dominion Energy's New Market expansion project, which will add compression equipment to increase natural gas deliveries by 108mn cf/d into the Iroquois Gas Transmission system and to the Schenectady and Albany area. New York DEC issued a needed air emissions permit for the project last year. Construction of the $159mn project started on 28 March and it is expected to be complete by the end of 2017.</p></article>
