FERC Approved $5.2 Billion of Gas Pipe on Data-Center Forecasts. A Court Will Now Ask Who Needs It.

The suit lands before the first weld

On 1 October, landowners and community groups asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to take back 500 miles of approved pipeline↗ ¹. The target is FERC's 31 July certificate for the South System Expansion 4 and Mississippi Crossing projects, an estimated $5.2 billion of gas pipe across Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, with the fuel bill for utility customers on top ¹².

Kinder Morgan says the work is on budget and on schedule, with rights of way still being acquired and construction not yet started ³. Mississippi landowner Tony Hinton watched the route drawn through his pines: "I'd rather have the trees than the check. But that's sentiment" ⁴.

The need case is two reports against a forecast

The petition argues FERC certified the pair without testing demand. London Economics International, commissioned by the challengers, found plausible support for 16.4 percent of SSE4's capacity and no credible demand for more than 76 percent of it, or 83 percent of Mississippi Crossing↗ ². An IEEFA study filed at the commission↗ called the projects "an attempt by utilities to force their customers into subsidizing data centers" ⁵.

The buyers are the sellers' relatives. Southern Natural Gas, owned 50/50 by Kinder Morgan and Southern Company, would carry gas for Georgia Power, Alabama Power, Mississippi Power and Atlanta Gas Light ², under capacity contracts whose prices are confidential and passed through to ratepayers ⁵.

The buildout is booked; the demand is a forecast

Kinder Morgan carries SSE4 at about $3.5 billion and Mississippi Crossing at $1.7 billion inside a $9.6 billion backlog↗, more than 60 percent of it tied to power generation and local distribution companies, with first service due from 2028 ⁶.

Southern builds ahead of its sales: second-quarter capital spending of $3.13 billion, up 19 percent on the year, against revenue up 0.1 percent↗ ⁷. Its shares touched a 52-week low of $83.73 on 23 September ⁸.

The same demand forecast lands on two bills. Google volunteered to fund 96 megawatts of nuclear uprates at Vogtle and Hatch↗ through the proposed NU-1 tariff, which Georgia Power says shields customers who do not subscribe ⁸. The reservation charges for contracted gas capacity ride the fuel line on residential and small-business bills, by Georgia Power's own testimony ².

The other side has paper

FERC chairman Laura Swett says the region has "a clear need" for the pipe, and the commission's environmental review found impacts "less than significant" with mitigation↗ ⁹¹⁰.

Kinder Morgan's backlog rests on binding commitments generally covering more than 90 percent of planned capacity, and utilities across the Southeast count large-load connection requests above 200 gigawatts, with more than 50 gigawatts in advanced stages or under contract ³. A queue is not a power plant, and a contract between affiliates is not a market.

The calendar that decides it

The D.C. Circuit briefing, Southern's third-quarter print on 5 November and Georgia PSC dockets 44280 and 56002, which carry the Google tariff, come first ⁸. The Senate holds the Ratepayer Protection Act, passed by the House 417-3, to make data centers above 100 megawatts cover the grid costs they trigger ⁸.

Kinder Morgan is scouting the next 150 miles across Tennessee, with a pre-filing request it will complete this quarter↗ ¹¹, and Southern signed a 20-year deal for two-thirds of a further 1.2 Bcf/d expansion FERC approved on 10 September ⁹.

Whether the forecasts or the two reports are right, nothing in the record yet says. The demand case now has a docket number.