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Wright, Burgum and Zeldin Break Ground on NESE Pipeline Expansion for New York

April 14, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:06:50

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin appeared together on the Faulkner Focus for the groundbreaking of a pipeline expansion along the NESE corridor in New York, according to the segment. The program reported the project is expected to support direct and indirect jobs and add more than a half billion dollars to the regional economy, as stated in the broadcast.

Burgum said the project will bring affordable, reliable, secure energy to 2.3 million homes and save consumers and businesses billions of dollars over time, according to the segment. He said he, Wright and Zeldin were in the Oval Office with President Trump over a year earlier when the project came up, and that Trump — a New Yorker — pressed why New Yorkers pay more than the rest of the region when Pennsylvania now produces 20 percent of the nation’s natural gas, as stated in Burgum’s remarks.

Zeldin, a Long Islander, said the line runs about 10 miles of new 42-inch pipeline through New Jersey to the Rockaway Peninsula, carrying Pennsylvania gas to millions of downstate New Yorkers, according to the segment. He noted New York has banned in-state gas extraction and advocated for the Constitution Pipeline as a next project, as stated in his remarks. Wright said gasoline prices above $4 a gallon — still a dollar less than under the prior administration, as he put it — reflect a few weeks of dislocation from confronting Iran, and that more energy production lowers prices and bids up wages, according to the segment.

Why it matters

A joint groundbreaking by the energy, interior and environment chiefs makes the NESE expansion the administration’s showcase permitting win for the New York metro area, with named follow-on projects already queued behind it.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins the Faulkner Focus - April 14, 2026”, 2026-04-14 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-04-14). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.