Environmental groups ask to unwind Kinder Morgan's $5.2 billion pipelines as it pitches a $1.3 billion one
On October 1, environmental groups and landowners asked a federal appeals court to unwind Kinder Morgan's $5.2 billion Mississippi Crossing and South System Expansion 4 approvals. In Middle Tennessee, the company is already securing land for the next $1.3 billion leg.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
Landowners across ten Middle Tennessee counties are getting letters and follow-up calls this month from Kinder Morgan−0.24% — Kinder Morgan, down 0.24 percent as of its last quote land agents seeking permission to survey for the Southeast Connector, a proposed $1.3 billion natural gas pipeline 1. The terms are concrete: $500 to let a survey crew onto a parcel, a 50-foot easement, and a route that touches 99 properties in Coffee County alone 67.
A corridor assembled one county at a time
The line would be laid by Southern Natural Gas (SNG), a 50/50 venture between Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) and Southern Company (NYSE: SO), running about 150 miles of 48-inch pipe to tie the Tennessee Gas Pipeline system into the SNG network 67. Kinder Morgan calls it "market driven" and "no cost to taxpayers" 1. It is the newest segment of a corridor the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) certified in August when it approved the $5.2 billion Mississippi Crossing and South System Expansion 4 pair, $1.7 billion plus $3.5 billion 25. KMI's project backlog stood at $9.6 billion on June 30, roughly 92% of it natural gas and more than 60% tied to power generation, funded almost entirely from the company's own cash flow 5.
The demand case the CFO is making
Chief Financial Officer David Michels told a late-September fireside chat that requests to connect large loads at Southern Company, Dominion, Duke, Florida Power & Light and TVA exceed 200 gigawatts, with more than 50 gigawatts far enough along to equal over 8 billion cubic feet a day of gas if fired entirely with it 8. The 219 South open season, marketed at up to 530,000 dekatherms a day (about 510 million cubic feet), drew a "very strong and positive" response, and the final project could be multiple times bigger 38. The Connector's own open season closed on October 7, with results promised on the next earnings call 8.
A court petition and a two-day outage
On October 1 the Southern Environmental Law Center, Sierra~$10B — Sierra, private, latest valuation ~$10B Club counsel, ten community and environmental groups and two landowners asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to set aside the certificates for that $5.2 billion pair 2; SELC's front page now runs a campaign against a "$5B+ pipeline we don't need" 9. The system also showed a seam: Tennessee Gas declared force majeure on October 6 after isolating pipe feeding the Rio Bravo and Cenagas meters in Mexico, lifting it on October 8 and renewing Mexican worries about reliance on U.S. gas 4. Kinder Morgan's spending says which way it is betting: quarterly capital expenditure hit a 12-quarter high of $982 million in the second quarter, up 52% in a year 11.
Quarterly capex hit a 12-quarter high in Q2 2026, up 52% year over year
Data
| Capex | |
|---|---|
| Q3 '24 | $0.66B |
| Q4 '24 | $0.77B |
| Q1 '25 | $0.77B |
| Q2 '25 | $0.65B |
| Q3 '25 | $0.79B |
| Q4 '25 | $0.82B |
| Q1 '26 | $0.8B |
| Q2 '26 | $0.98B |
What October 21 decides
KMI reports third-quarter results on October 21, and Michels has promised Southeast Connector detail on that call 810. FERC pre-filing opens this quarter, with the formal process starting in December 7. Kinder Morgan is securing the next route before the first certificate has survived review.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
