Federal: Appeals court voids New Jersey water certification for Raritan Bay gas pipeline expansion
The Third Circuit sent the Northeast Supply Enhancement certification back to New Jersey regulators, holding that monitoring plans needing only “review” and unexplained contaminant findings could not support it.
Pipeline and other energy developers whose projects need a New Jersey water quality certification now face a federal appeals court ruling that conditions deferring key plans to later agency “review” cannot carry an approval. In a federal decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on September 8, 2026 vacated the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's (“NJDEP”) certification for Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company's Northeast Supply Enhancement (“NESE”) project and remanded it to the agency. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. N.J. Dep't of Env't Prot., Nos. 26-1252 & 26-1253 (3d Cir. Sept. 8, 2026) (precedential).
Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. N.J. Dep't of Env't Prot., Nos. 26-1252 & 26-1253 (3d Cir. Sept. 8, 2026); 33 U.S.C. § 1341; 15 U.S.C. § 717r(d)(1); N.J. Admin. Code § 7:7-12.7