On a sunny Sunday afternoon on The Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, anti-pipeline advocates marched through Gateway National Recreation Area to Fort Tilden Beach carrying a 50 foot puppet of a snake. Using puppetry, song, and dance, they drew a comparison between a proposed pipeline project—which would extend from Pennsylvania to the Rockaway Peninsula—and an ancient Lakota end-of-times prophecy.
The black snake prophecy—which has played a central role in Indigenous anti-pipeline struggles in North America—warns of a black snake that will slither across the land, contaminating water and bringing sickness to communities. Drawing on that imagery, advocates expressed concern that the proposed Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline could pose similar threats to the environment and public health.
In recent months, local advocates and elected officials have banded together to oppose the Williams NESE pipeline, citing concerns over long-term health risks, environmental damage and the state’s commitment to reducing fossil-fuel dependence. Some advocates warn that New Yorkers, especially those in coastal neighborhoods, may suffer negative health impacts if the pipeline moves forward.
The Williams NESE pipeline is currently awaiting approval by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which previously rejected the project in 2019 and 2020 for violating New York’s water quality standards. Despite no approval from the DEC yet, Williams Companies—the corporation behind the project—is planning to have the pipeline operational by 2027.
In May 2025, Williams Companies brought the proposal back to life after President Donald Trump pushed for pipeline expansion during talks with Governor Kathy Hochul. The White House says Hochul caved to Trump and agreed to allow the NESE pipeline, along with another pipeline, in order to save an offshore wind farm.
Hochul denies that any deal was made, and claims that state agencies will do an impartial review of the proposal.
The DEC emphasized to The Footprint that they are still reviewing the Williams NESE pipeline, and that they are “committed to protecting public health.”
When asked if the agency has a deadline for its decision, the DEC said they “don’t have a specific date.”
Environmental advocates, health experts, and more than 130 elected officials, including Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, have urged Governor Hochul to stop the Williams NESE pipeline.
But on September 18th, the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) endorsed the pipeline. The Public Service Commission is New York State’s regulatory body that oversees the electric, gas, water, and telecommunication industries.
Their ruling does not have a formal role in determining the pipeline’s fate, however, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says that the DEC “may be influenced by the PSC’s evaluation.”
Some advocates think the Public Service Commission’s decision is evidence that Governor Hochul may be planning to allow the project to move forward.
“This is an indication that Governor Hochul is not prioritizing leadership for the 21st century,” said Kim Fraczek, Director of Sane Energy Project. “She’s prioritizing big corporate donors that she’s concerned about in the short term so she can get re-elected in 2026.”
Advocates say that if the pipeline is built, health risks would be unavoidable.
According to Sandra Steingraber, co-founder and Senior Scientist of Concerned Health Professionals of New York, the health threats posed by the Williams NESE pipeline fall into four categories: air pollution leaks, water pollution leaks, the resuspension of buried legacy pollutants, and accidents.
Fraczek said “frontline” communities in Staten Island, coastal Brooklyn, and The Rockaways that are closest to the pipeline have the highest risk of facing negative health impacts.
Steingraber said that if the Williams NESE pipeline is built, it is “inevitable” that “cancer causing air pollutants” will be released into the air.
“Gas pipeline leaks represent profound risks to our air quality,” said Carmi Orenstein, co-founder and Program Director of Concerned Health Professionals of New York. “We know that these leaks of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, interfere with progress to fight climate change—as if that’s not enough—but they also make air more dangerous to breathe.”
Orenstein said that methane leaks increase levels of PM2.5, “a dangerous type of particulate pollution for which there is actually no safe level of exposure.” According to the Environmental Protection Agency, PM2.5 stands for “fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.”
Short-term exposures to PM2.5 have been associated with “premature mortality, increased hospital admissions for heart or lung causes, acute and chronic bronchitis, asthma attacks, emergency room visits, respiratory symptoms, and restricted activity days,” according to California Air Resources Board, an agency of the government of California that aims to reduce air pollution. They say long-term exposure has been linked to “premature death, particularly in people who have chronic heart or lung diseases, and reduced lung function growth in children.”
The Williams NESE pipeline would also leak water pollutants “that could contaminate wetlands and waterways,” according to Steingraber.
Based on the project map, the pipeline would pass by several of New York City’s busiest beaches, including Coney Island and the Rockaways. Advocates say water contamination could potentially endanger swimmers.
Fordham Law Professor and environmental advocate Zephyr Teachout claimed pipelines leak methane, benzene, arsenic, lead, and mercury and that contaminated waters are a threat to coastal communities’ health.
“Even without a major rupture the risk of leak is ongoing,” Teachout said. “Skin irritation, that’s what we’re talking about with this pipeline. Headaches, fatigue, damage to the heart, to the kidneys, the neurological system.”
Additionally, Steingraber said the process of constructing the pipeline would stir up harmful toxins from the sea floor.
“It’s going to kick up long buried legacy pollutants including PCBs,” explained Steingraber.
Polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs, are a group of industrial chemicals which were banned in the US in the 1970s. They can cause “a multitude of serious adverse health effects” including both “carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Steingraber said that the biggest danger in resuspending toxins from the seafloor is that some of them, like PCBs, will evaporate when stirred up and exposed to air. Then, “they will settle back to the ground,” and can get into gardens and homes.
In 2020, the DEC rejected the Water Quality Certificate for the Williams NESE pipeline because it found that construction beneath the sea floor would dig up and release contaminants including PCBs, as well as mercury, copper, arsenic, silver, nickel, lead, zinc, and dioxin/furan. Advocates emphasize that the danger remains the same in 2025.
The last category of health risks Steingraber warned of are accidents, including explosions, which she said could be “catastrophic.”
On average, “a pipeline catches fire every 4 days and results in an explosion every 11 days, an injury every 5 days, and a fatality every 26 days,” across “more than 2.7 million miles of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines in the United States,” according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“There is no way to bring the explosion risk down to zero,” Steingraber said. “Typically compressor stations and pipelines are placed in low populated areas,” but “this is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.”
Steingraber said “the risk of accidents may not be higher than any other pipeline, but the human cost would be so much greater because of the population density.”
According to Steingraber, there is nothing that could be done to eliminate the inherent health risks posed by the pipeline.
“We always like to think there must be some tech fix to these things,” said Steingraber. “But some problems are not fixable, and these things fall into that category. You could require all kinds of monitoring systems, but that’s just gonna tell people they’ve been exposed, that’s not gonna prevent exposure.”
Anti-pipeline advocates are confident that New York State law has their back when it comes to the Williams NESE pipeline, but they worry the DEC might ignore it due to federal pressure.
In addition to previously rejecting water quality permits for the Williams NESE pipeline, the DEC ruled in 2020 that the project was “inconsistent with the energy and climate policies, laws, and goals of the State,” because it could delay New York’s legally mandated transition to renewable energy.
According to Fraczek, “there is no legal way that the state of New York could approve this pipeline.” However, Fraczek thinks the Public Service Commission’s decision shows that “law doesn’t matter.”
Despite feeling “really dismal about what potentially may be coming out of the DEC,” Fraczek said that Sane Energy Project and the Stop the Williams Pipeline Coalition are not giving up yet.