The cancellation of a proposed natural gas pipeline into New York may be a sign of challenges ahead for other projects, both at the grassroots level and in Washington, D.C., according to energy analysts.

Anti-fossil-fuel activists have grown more successful in recent years, but Williams Cos. Inc.'s move to scrap the Constitution Pipeline Co. LLC project earned a rare designation in the history of energy infrastructure, according to Katie Bays, co-founder of energy consultancy Sandhill Strategy.

"It does take a lot to kill a pipeline project," Bays said. "There's really only a handful that have been killed by public policy. I think that was certainly a milestone."

Williams announced it would shelve the project after years of opposition from New York and environmentalists. The proposed line from Pennsylvania's shale gas fields became a symbol of the movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground and a trend of Northeast states with ambitious clean energy goals denying key water permits to pipeline projects.

After Constitution won a favorable ruling at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Bays suspected Williams would have to choose between building it and another pipeline, the Northeast Supply Enhancement project. Constitution became so mired in acrimonious politics that continuing to do battle with New York over the project likely would have closed the door to other plans, Bays said.

New York has also opposed the Northeast Supply Enhancement proposal, and the line continues to face headwinds, analysts said. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration has refused to grant a water permit to that project as well, as the state uses all policy options to achieve its clean energy goals.

"Because you're dealing with a pretty sophisticated developer here in Williams, I think their read was that Gov. Cuomo was somewhat determined to prevent the project from going through, either for climate-related reasons or out of solidarity with opponents," said Rob Rains, senior energy analyst at institutional research firm Washington Analysis LLC. "I think that we are continuing to observe an escalation that has really raised the profile of this issue and has brought about some ... unusual pushback in various locales, not just in the Northeast."

Canceling Constitution is not "terribly material" for Williams, given the scale of the midstream giant's operations, according to Stephen Ellis, energy and utilities strategist at Morningstar. But it does speak to challenges that Williams and other pipeline operators may continue to have on the East Coast, Ellis said. Other big projects facing a similar fight include Equitrans Midstream Corp.'s Mountain Valley pipeline and Dominion Energy Inc.'s Atlantic Coast project, Ellis said.

Ellis said there is a clear takeaway: Project developers need to be exceedingly careful about how they engage stakeholders on the ground. Ellis noted that the Equitrans and Dominion pipelines are further along and are dealing with different issues, so they have better chance of going forward, if at a higher cost than anticipated.

Emboldening environmental opposition

Bays sees potential ripple effects for other high-profile projects facing opposition beyond New York, including the PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC gas system, TC Energy Corp.'s Keystone XL and Enbridge Inc.'s Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement in Minnesota.

"There are other pipelines that are the target of environmental interference, and to see a pipeline get canceled certainly emboldens environmental groups," Bays said.

Environmentalists long opposed to the project cheered Constitution's fate and celebrated the setback for gas supplies produced through hydraulic fracturing.

"We are thrilled to see the fracked gas Constitution Pipeline has finally been cancelled," Kelly Martin, director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, said in a statement. "There are a lot of Pennsylvanians and New Yorkers who will breathe a little easier knowing this project is dead."

Riverkeeper, an environmental group focused on protecting the Hudson River and New York City drinking water, said scrapping the project would benefit about 250 bodies of water, sensitive ecological areas and springs in its path.

The cancellation was "a crucial and conclusive victory ... for all states and communities around the country that seek to prevent major gas infrastructure projects from harming them, their waters and their climate," Richard Webster, director of legal programs at Riverkeeper, said in a statement.

The reactions signal that the cautious alliance between environmental groups and gas industry forged to accelerate coal-to-gas switching in the nation's power sector has ended, Rains said.

"We are well beyond that brief moment of solidarity, and we are just at the forefront of this chapter, really, where there is increased pressure to halt new gas pipelines and shift towards all renewable power or all clean power," Rains said.

FERC could be more careful

The decision could also reverberate at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the analysts said.

Bays noted that FERC broke with tradition by allowing some construction to move forward on Constitution before it was fully permitted. That allowed Williams to fell trees on a family farm in the pipeline's path, raising the question of whether FERC will ever again allow a project to move forward before it is fully permitted.

"I think time has shown that that was an error on FERC's part to let projects start construction and cause permanent and lasting damage without having all of their t's crossed and i's dotted," Bays said.

The Trump administration has attempted to limit state power over pipeline permits granted under the Clean Water Act. If a Democrat prevails in the presidential election this year, the industry and environmentalists could see an about-face in FERC's tolerance for states disinclined to award those permits, Rains said. FERC could also adopt a more stringent process to analyze the need for pipelines when it decides whether to grant a certificate of necessity to projects, Rains added.