After Trump Speech, Groups and Electeds Reaffirm Fracking Ban and Stopping Constitution Pipeline

SYRACUSE, NY (10/13/2026) (readMedia)-- During President Trump's speech in Syracuse on Friday, he spoke about drilling in New York and building more pipelines. He previously has spoken about overturning New York's fracking ban and skirting New York's approval process to force through the Constitution Pipeline.

Many environmental advocates joined in the protest ahead of the event, and in response to President Trump's remarks, elected officials, advocates, and local residents issued the following statements:

"New York rejected fracking to protect our water and public health. The DEC denied the Constitution Pipeline because the company failed to show it could protect the waterways along its route and the courts upheld this decision. Now President Trump wants to revive the pipeline as data centers drive demand for more gas. The companies building the gas pipeline and those building the data centers will reap all the profits, while New York ratepayers are left paying for the pipeline's construction for decades. This is just one more dirty deal Trump is trying to dump on New Yorkers to power more corporate profits for his buddies. New York should stand by its decisions, protect our water, and refuse to make ratepayers finance this deal," said Assemblymember Anna Kelles.

Onondaga County Legislator Maurice Brown said: "New Yorkers already banned fracking given the harm it does to water and health. More than a decade later, we're not going to go back on that just to fuel more of the AI data centers New Yorkers don't want. Trump is already doing enough damage - we won't let him poison our water and jack up our energy bills by steamrolling decisions that were already made by New Yorkers."

Tanja Konwinski, a resident of Warnerville, NY who lives along the route of the proposed Constitution Pipeline said: "When Trump boasts about bringing back fracking and forcing the Constitution Pipeline, he's boasting about putting my family within the incineration zone of possible explosions. He's boasting about threatening our drinking water, about inviting higher cancer rates into already underserved rural communities. Health care systems that are stressed and facing increasing and continued cuts to federal support. None of this will do anything to improve our daily lives, relieve the cost of living, or confront climate change; it would only benefit the fossil fuel and AI data center industries and destroy our future with it. Governor Hochul please, stand strong and do not allow this administration to sacrifice our water or make New York State's decisions."

Renee Vogelsang, NY Director of Frack Action, said: "New York already banned fracking to protect our health, and New York already decided not to allow the Constitution Pipeline to carve its way through our communities and poison our water. These decisions were made by New Yorkers ten years ago, and they still belong to New York. We won't let Trump trample New York's right to protect our own environment just so he can make fossil fuel and Big Tech billionaires richer while raising our energy bills to pay for it. New Yorkers overwhelmingly oppose this dangerous pipeline and the mega AI data centers that he likely wants the fracked gas to fuel."

Ravo Root, Political Director, Citizen Action of New York, said: "Donald Trump would like to poison our land, water, and air through reckless and dangerous fracked gas pipelines. Rather than actually helping working-class people. Trump would prefer to have cuts to essential services like healthcare, housing, and food assistance all while giving tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. Trump has continued to make a mockery of the working-class by making things more expensive and destroying our livelihoods."

"I moved from Western Pennsylvania to New York to escape the threats posed by the oil and gas industry. After witnessing firsthand the harm this industry causes, I chose New York because of its commitment to protecting public health and the environment. New Yorkers fought hard to ban fracking and stop the Constitution Pipeline, and I'm proud to stand alongside my new neighbors to defend those victories against efforts to put corporate profits ahead of our communities," said Hilary Flint, Program Director of Center for Organizing.

Andy Mager, Coordinator of Syracuse Cultural Workers, said: "Donald Trump doesn't represent New York and we join with our neighbors to reject his efforts to revive the dangerous fossil fuel industry and slow our transition to renewable energy."

Chol Majok, At-Large Councilor, Syracuse, NY said: "As New Yorkers, we refuse to let the clock be turned back on our clean water and environmental protections. Our communities are already confronting a severe lead crisis that continues to endanger our children and elderly population. Adding the toxic threat of hydraulic fracturing to an existing public health emergency is unacceptable. New Yorkers said NO to fracking years ago, and our position remains unchanged: Mr. President, keep fracking out of New York."

"New Yorkers have been crystal clear: we value clean water, healthy communities, cheaper renewables, and lower bills - not dirty, dangerous, and expensive fracked gas. Anyone who doesn't get that doesn't get New York," said Katherine Nadeau, Environmental Advocates NY's Deputy Executive Director.

"New Yorkers fought long and hard to ban fracking, and now we have even more scientific evidence that we did the right thing to protect our air, water and climate," said Yvonne Taylor, Vice President of Seneca Lake Guardian. "We have already rejected the Constitution Pipeline for the same reasons. Neither Donald Trump, nor anyone else for that matter is welcome to challenge our deeply rooted rights to public health and our commitment to the environment."

BACKGROUND

The Williams Company, with President Trump's support, is trying to revive the long-denied Constitution Pipeline project. The 30 inch fracked gas mega pipeline's planned route in 2016 was approximately 124 miles from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania through New York's Southern Tier, through the Western Catskills, and into the Capital Region. The Constitution Pipeline was denied in 2016 by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation given the threats it posed to water quality including from dredging, erosion, sedimentation, and changes in turbidity, among other risks. These dangers could impair drinking water and sensitive streams, including high quality trout habitats.

New York State's 2016 decision to deny the Constitution Pipeline was upheld by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, a decision which the U.S. Supreme Court considered and let stand. Now the Williams Company and the Trump Administration are trying to circumvent New York State's authority and force the pipeline through by asking FERC to revive a decade old application, despite the fact that the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated it. Governor Hochul and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation have argued that the state must have water quality review authority over the pipeline under Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act.

The Constitution Pipeline also poses significant costs to local residents, with industry insiders and analysts increasingly concerned about how the pipeline would raise ratepayer costs. Bloomberg News further reports that no utility has agreed to purchase the gas. The pipeline is not needed to increase gas capacity. With the Williams Company focused on providing power to AI data centers, New Yorkers are concerned that's what they're planning for with the Constitution Pipeline.

There is major opposition to the Constitution Pipeline and fracking. There was a massive movement against fracking that resulted in New York banning the practice in 2015. Leading up to 2016, thousands of New Yorkers protested the Constitution Pipeline and led a major movement to stop it. Now, residents along the proposed route are again holding many information sessions and are seeing broad and deep opposition to the pipeline. In September of 2025, 40 state lawmakers sent a letter against the Constitution and NESE pipelines. As the state legislators noted, pipelines like the Constitution are very expensive, and ratepayers ultimately end up paying higher rates, along with threats to local economic engines including agriculture, small businesses, tourism, fishing, and recreation.