Capitol Confidential with Dan Clark

Capitol Confidential with Dan Clark

New York's utility regulator may endorse pipeline project

Mark Ruffalo has a thing or two to say about it.

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Dan Clark
Sep 17, 2025
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Good afternoon — It’s Wednesday and Constitution Day.

In today’s CapCon:

  • New York’s utility regulator could offer an endorsement Thursday of a controversial pipeline project. Mark Ruffalo hates it.

  • Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie endorsed Zohran Mamdani in the race for New York City mayor but their alignment on policy is nothing new.

  • These lawmakers want to extend regulations New York is implementing for kids on social media to everyone else.

  • A new bill targets the anticipated surge of energy consumption from data centers as artificial intelligence expands.

Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Donald J. Trump, Mark Ruffalo, Carl E. Heastie, Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Gounardes, Alex Bores

🔊 CapCon Pod: If you subscribe to CapCon today, you’ll get the latest episode of the Capitol Confidential podcast to your inbox Thursday morning. We’re back after a summer hiatus.

I had a great conversation with Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Pamela Hunter about her work on the dais, in insurance law and the Sex Offender Registration Act.


Pipeline opponents rallied in Albany this month (Jim Franco/Times Union)

🔥 Pipeline proposal part of Public Service Commission’s agenda Thursday

Environmental advocates could be dealt another blow this week in their fight against a natural gas pipeline being considered by the state to run below New York Harbor.

The pipeline — the Northeast Enhancement Supply project — has been rejected before by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. But Williams, the company behind it, is taking another shot at state approval this year.

The pipeline was revived after Gov. Kathy Hochul had a conversation with President Donald J. Trump about energy supply and costs in New York, something that’s at the forefront of the state’s mandated transition toward renewable sources.

Hochul has said she didn’t promise the pipeline to Trump. The choice is ultimately up to the Department of Environmental Conservation, which could make its choice soon. Public comment has closed.

But that determination could be influenced this week by a decision from another state agency: the Public Service Commission.

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