Trump Visits NY As He Tramples on States' Rights, Tries to Force Fracked Gas Pipeline & AI Data Centers on NY

SYRACUSE, NY (10/09/2026) (readMedia)-- With Trump visiting Syracuse this evening, local groups are preparing to protest the presidents' visit and highlight how Trump is actively harming New York and New Yorkers. Frack Action will join them to sound the alarm on fracking, a major fracked gas pipeline and mega AI data centers. Renee Vogelsang, NY Director of Frack Action, issued the following statement:

"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."

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, and that the Constitution Pipeline could become a stranded asset. The pipeline is not needed to increase gas capacity.

There is major opposition to the Constitution Pipeline. Leading up to 2016, thousands of New Yorkers protested it and led a major movement to stop it. Now, residents along the 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.