New York Can Meet Its Energy Needs without a New Pipeline

This policy brief argues that New York can meet its energy needs in New York City and Long Island through customer-focused solutions—energy efficiency, electrification, and demand response—rather than constructing the proposed $1 billion Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE) gas pipeline. The author contends that the pipeline is incompatible with the state's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) and that non-infrastructure alternatives are more cost-effective and beneficial for public health.

• The proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE) gas pipeline is incompatible with New York's climate goals established by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which mandates emissions reductions of 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050. National Grid's projections of growing gas use through 2035 contradict these targets.
• Customer-focused solutions, specifically energy efficiency, electrification, and demand response, are identified as the only viable path to achieve the necessary emissions cuts. While National Grid suggests alternatives like biomethane (RNG), hydrogen, and synthetic methane, these are estimated to cover less than 5 percent of the supply gap in high-demand scenarios.
• The author argues that National Grid's cost analysis underestimates the cost-effectiveness of the 'no infrastructure' option. The analysis allegedly omits the cost of additional investments needed to align the NESE scenario with climate goals, ignores air conditioner cost savings from heat pump adoption, fails to account for externality costs from pollution, and uses a 15-year net present value (NPV) calculation that masks long-term infrastructure costs.
• Transitioning away from gas and oil in buildings would provide public health benefits by reducing air pollution, which has been linked to growing premature mortality in New York state and neighboring states. Additionally, investments in efficiency and electrification are expected to create local jobs in the downstate economy.

APA

RMI (2020). New York Can Meet Its Energy Needs without a New Pipeline. https://rmi.org/resources/new-york-can-meet-its-energy-needs-without-a-new-pipeline/

Chicago

RMI. New York Can Meet Its Energy Needs without a New Pipeline. 2020. https://rmi.org/resources/new-york-can-meet-its-energy-needs-without-a-new-pipeline/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=New York Can Meet Its Energy Needs without a New Pipeline |date=28 February 2020 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/new-york-can-meet-its-energy-needs-without-a-new-pipeline/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2020new, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{New York Can Meet Its Energy Needs without a New Pipeline}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2020}, month = feb, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/new-york-can-meet-its-energy-needs-without-a-new-pipeline/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }