Are Democrats Bending to Trump’s Clean Energy Crackdown? New York Is a Test Case.

The fight over a natural gas pipeline has underscored a larger shift in how blue states are contending with Trump’s anti-green agenda.

Kathy Hochul

Hans Pennink/AP

Williams Companies Inc., a natural gas pipeline developer, is waiting on New York and New Jersey to approve water quality permits so it can break ground on a project the two states have been blocking for years.

What’s different this time? Donald Trump is president.

Environmental groups seeking to stop new natural gas infrastructure have long relied on blue states to help their cause. That calculus is shifting, advocates say. Democratic governors, contending with Trump’s crackdown on renewable energy, are showing more of a willingness to accept natural gas projects.