The Constitution Pipeline is being developed by Williams Companies, a large operator of pipelines across the United States. The pipeline would have the ability to carry up to 650 million cubic feet of gas a day, according to the company, enough to serve about 3 million homes. Williams first received federal approvals to build the pipeline more than a decade ago, but the project hit a snag when the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation declined to issue a water quality permit in 2016. The project continued to languish until the developers resubmitted applications to state and federal regulators earlier this year. While the Constitution Pipeline itself will not carry gas into Connecticut, its terminus in New York will link up with two existing pipelines — the Tennessee and Iroquois systems — that serve both the state and the wider region. Those pipelines already operate at or near capacity, officials say, creating a supply bottleneck particularly during winter months when gas is used to both heat homes and fuel the power plants that produce the bulk of the region’s electricity. In order to reduce that bottleneck, pipeline operators in Connecticut are pursuing their own expansion projects.
Constitution Pipeline: What to know about the controversial gas project
