The retired math and science teacher rarely shops for clothes. She tries to limit her grocery spending to stay within budget. And when the temperature drops, the 73-year-old throws on a sweater rather than turning up the thermostat in her Kendall Park home.
So, of course, her stance is obvious on a planned $1 billion pipeline that would run under New Jersey to stabilize energy costs for New Yorkers.
Complete and total opposition.
“They’re pushing it, and they want to build it fast,” Chakravarti said at a recent event opposing the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline. “And we’re devastated.”
As much as Chakravarti cares about curbing energy costs, she’s much more worried about what laying a new natural gas pipeline will mean for the environment, she said. She thought the plan was dead only to learn in May that it is being proposed for the fourth time in 10 years.
“Oh, my God,” Chakravarti said. “I couldn’t sleep that night.”
Welcome to the conundrum incoming New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill will face come January. Following an election in which affordability and utility rates were dominant themes, Sherrill’s administration will have to perform a high-wire act, balancing dread over rising costs with concerns about the environment.
And her priorities for the future of Garden State energy policy could easily be overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s affection for Big Oil.
Democratic politicians have long pushed for expanding the renewable energy supply through wind and solar. Environmental groups say projects like the Northeast Supply Enhancement, which would start in Pennsylvania and run under Raritan Bay and the New York Harbor , will have a damaging impact on waterways and marine life.
But the federal government has more authority in approving pipeline projects than states, Shawn LaTourette , the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s commissioner, told NJ Advance Media.
And rising utility costs combined with inflation and New Jersey’s high cost of living could have a major influence over future policy, according to Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.
Both New York and New Jersey have recently granted permits to the 23-mile-long pipeline, with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul saying the state needs to “govern in reality.” The project now has all of the permits it needs from New York , Pennsylvania and the federal government. It has also secured most of the required New Jersey permits after a key approval on Nov. 7.
Once the federal government approves a pipeline, New Jersey’s only way to stop it is by identifying existing state environmental regulations that would be violated, LaTourette said.
Like it or not, Sherrill’s administration could find itself signing off on projects her base doesn’t support.
“It would be very difficult, I think, in this environment, to say no to projects that energy companies are portraying as important to the supply that’s needed to provide adequate electricity,” Rasmussen said.
A Matter of Affordability?
It all comes down to dollars and cents.
That’s the argument from Williams Companies , the Oklahoma -based energy provider behind the pipeline.
New York officials say the pipeline will help stabilize utility prices and keep the lights on. The project will also spur job creation and increase state and local tax revenue in New Jersey, according to the company.
Williams Companies declined to comment for this story and referred to a statement on the latest permit application that calls the NESE pipeline “critical.”
“There is increasing recognition that energy affordability directly impacts everyday affordability,” CEO Chad Zamarin said in the announcement.
Affordability, whether you support renewable energy or natural gas, has been top of mind for New Jerseyans. And it was put in the spotlight again this past election cycle with Sherrill promising to declare a state of emergency to freeze utility rate hikes on Day 1 of her administration.
The average bill in New Jersey this past summer soared by about 20% — with some residents doing a double-take when they saw monthly charges reach $500. Price surges are expected next summer too.
More than half the state’s residents reported difficulty with paying for groceries, mortgage, health care, rent and utilities, a July Rutgers-Eagleton poll showed.
“I think we know that affordability writ-large was the thing that was most on voters’ minds,” Rasmussen said. “Certainly in New Jersey and certainly around the country.”
Bringing down those costs was a “mandate” put forth by voters who elected Sherrill, she said in an emailed statement to NJ Advance Media.
But the NESE pipeline “does nothing” to lower electric bills for New Jersey residents, she contends.
After her Day 1 freeze, Sherrill has promised to “drive new power into the grid, including solar, battery storage, modernizing natural gas infrastructure, and investing in nuclear energy for the long-term.”
However, the NESE pipeline is advancing as energy demands skyrocket and Trump pushes for growth in the oil and gas industry instead of renewables like solar and wind.
Natural gas made up nearly half of New Jersey’s total electricity generation in 2023 and nuclear provided 42%, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Offshore wind projects favored by Democrats have faced major difficulties in New Jersey , including an extensive regulatory process, wildlife controversies, financial hurdles and supply chain issues.
Local leaders are doing their best to work within a challenging atmosphere for Democratic priorities, according to Hochul.
“We are facing a war against clean energy from Washington Republicans, including our New York delegation,” she said in a statement, “which is why we have adopted an all-of-the-above approach that includes a continued commitment to renewables and nuclear power to ensure grid reliability and affordability.”
A new pipeline expanding access to gas is expected to lower utility expenses in the short term, according to Carey King, a research scientist and assistant director at the University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute.
But the bottom line is not so simple.
The pipeline is being billed as a way to increase supply and help stabilize rates, but it will also carry immediate rate increases for its customers.
National Grid , the supplier for New York customers, in July cited potential long-term savings from the project. But it also said it expected rates would go up by about 3.5% to fund the pipeline construction.
“So the fact that this is an affordability thing is actually a lie,” said Rachel Dawn Davis , the public policy and justice organizer for nonprofit Waterspirit. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Environmental Concern
The Franklin Township compressor station would be a half-mile from Chakravarti’s house.
There, a new 32,000-horsepower station would maintain the flow and pressure of natural gas, exposing businesses, schools, homes and a nearby Buddhist temple to toxins and greenhouse gasses, environmental advocates say.
And that’s just part of the concerns about the pipeline plan, which calls for Sayreville and Old Bridge to host three total miles of onshore pipe.
Nonprofit leaders, local New Jersey officials and families — some of whom gathered at a press conference in Aberdeen on Nov. 10 and at a rally Thursday — consider the NESE pipeline a threat to their health and the environment.
The NESE pipeline, if built, would come with serious consequences, said Allison McLeod , the deputy director of the state’s League of Conservation Voters.
Building the pipeline under Raritan Bay and the New York Harbor would mean dredging for the steel pipe and releasing sediment with toxins like mercury and copper into the water, environmental groups said.
In 2020, New York denied pipeline permits because the work was “inconsistent” with state climate laws, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation said at the time.
Now, the state says revised EPA Clean Water Act rules from 2023 (which did not apply to the prior project application) mean different “ecological considerations” in 2025. Williams Companies must comply with specific measures to minimize harm to local waters, Hochul also said.
New Jersey has similar environmental regulations on the books and also rejected the pipeline permits in 2019 and 2020.
After New York denied the permits in 2020, New Jersey followed suit because the project was no longer viable, according to LaTourette.
But this time is different.
The new pipeline application reduced its “adverse impacts.” Dredging for the project was deemed safe, and the compressor station was moved to not disrupt wetlands as it previously would have, he said.
The state hears the concerns about the pipeline, but can act only on the regulations in place, according to LaTourette.
“There’s a difference between having a concern and demonstrating a fact that proves that concern to be true,” he said.
Williams Companies showed it “had learned the lessons from coming before the New Jersey DEP in years past,” LaTourette added.
But advocates and local officials view the move as an about face.
“I’m speechless that they brought it back,” said Atlantic Highlands Mayor Lori Hohenleitner .
The Natural Resources Defense Council , plus other groups, are already challenging the pipeline’s approvals in court. The Eastern Environmental Law Center is working with New Jersey nonprofits as well. And yet, the NESE project moving ahead as it has could signal Democratic governors being more open to new natural gas infrastructure as energy costs increase.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s office referred requests for comment to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection . A decision on an air operating permit for the compressor station is expected by the end of the year, said Larry Hajna , a department spokesman.
Williams aims to have the NESE pipeline in operation by 2027. The White House and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission , which regulates natural gas pipelines that cross states, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Additional review has found the NESE pipeline to be in compliance with regulations in both New York and New Jersey, officials there said.
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