--- title: "Kinder Morgan's $3.1B Southeast Connector runs through 10 Tennessee counties, and the land fight starts now" description: "Ten counties got notices this month for a 150-mile stretch of the line Kinder Morgan sanctioned on October 21. How the land fight goes will help price the record $14.4 billion backlog." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Power" published: 2026-11-01T20:03:06.826Z modified: 2026-11-01T20:03:06.826Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/kinder-morgan-s-3-1b-southeast-connector-runs-through-10-tennessee-counties-and-the-land-fight-starts-now language: en keywords: "Kinder Morgan, Pipelines, Natural Gas, Data Centers, Eminent Domain, Tennessee" --- # Kinder Morgan's $3.1B Southeast Connector runs through 10 Tennessee counties, and the land fight starts now > Ten counties got notices this month for a 150-mile stretch of the line Kinder Morgan sanctioned on October 21. How the land fight goes will help price the record $14.4 billion backlog. ## Ten Tennessee counties got the letters this month [Letters landed in mailboxes across 10 Tennessee counties in October](https://wpln.org/post/kinder-morgan-plans-150-mile-methane-gas-pipeline-through-tennessee/) [1]. [Kinder Morgan](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/kinder-morgan), whose pipelines move about 40% of the gas produced in the United States, says it will either sign right-of-way contracts with those landowners or pursue their property in court, [the process called eminent domain](https://theinference.org/article/kinder-morgan-sued-141-landowners-for-a-5-2-billion-gas-corridor-foes-call-the-ai-demand-case-4x-overstated) [1]. The notices open the ground phase of the Southeast Connector, a 470-mile, 48-inch gas line, fatter than the 30-inch interstate norm, that the company sanctioned on October 21 [1][2]. ## The biggest slice of a $4.7 billion October bet Kinder Morgan's share of the project is about $3.1 billion, the largest of [three final investment decisions totaling $4.7 billion](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/kinder-morgan-to-invest-4-7-billion-in-two-gas-pipeline-projects-as-demand-surges/ar-AA2fPlHE) for the company in mid-October [2][3]. The line is designed to carry up to 2.6 billion cubic feet of gas a day, can grow to about 3.5 with more shipper commitments, and enters service in phases from late 2030 [1][3][4]. It is the biggest new entry in [a backlog that jumped from $9.6 billion to a record $14.4 billion this quarter](https://theinference.org/article/kinder-morgan-s-backlog-jumped-half-in-one-quarter-to-a-record-14-4-billion), which management prices at about 5.7 times project EBITDA, or roughly $2.5 billion of incremental annual EBITDA [5][6][4]. *Chart: **Southeast Connector takes the biggest slice of KMI's $4.7B October FID** Bar chart of Kinder Morgan's investment share in three projects sanctioned in October 2026: Southeast Connector $3.1 billion, Permian Link $1.6 billion, Bear Creek storage $0.12 billion.* *Kinder Morgan's share of three projects it sanctioned on October 21, 2026, in US dollars. Joint venture partners carry the rest of each project's cost. Sources: Reuters, Enerdata. [2][3]* ## Who the gas is for, the company is not saying The contracts are take-or-pay, meaning shippers pay for capacity whether gas flows or not, for 20 years or more [7][6]. What nobody outside the room can verify is [who those shippers are](https://theinference.org/article/ferc-approved-5-2-billion-of-gas-pipe-on-data-center-forecasts-a-court-will-now-ask-who-needs-it). Shelley Robbins of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy says the agreements are kept secret, so the public cannot see who the pipeline is actually for [1]. Opponents read the route as a data-center supply line: the Tennessee Valley Authority may build a dozen gas plants by 2031, is weighing two totaling 2.3 gigawatts in Trousdale County on the route, and a developer proposes a 1-gigawatt plant for the Project River data center near Chattanooga [1]. Robbins estimates the design volume could power about 17 gigawatts, about 45% of TVA's capacity [1]. The project also lands in [the largest American pipeline buildout in two decades, 193 projects totaling 17,000 miles](https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/pipeline-projects-booming-us-while-195337562.html) [1][8]. ## The math versus the ground Chief executive Kimberly Dang counters that [large-load interconnection requests across the Southeast now exceed 200 gigawatts](https://www.ogj.com/pipelines-transportation/pipelines/news/55413822/kinder-morgan-takes-fid-on-southeast-connector-permian-link-natural-gas-pipelines) [7]. Even she flags that 2026 earnings carried roughly $400 million of help from nonrecurring items and commodity prices that will not repeat [6][4]. The build itself is dearer: steel, pipe and compression costs have risen [6]. *Chart: **Quarterly capex has climbed toward Kinder Morgan's $4 billion-a-year plan** Line chart of Kinder Morgan quarterly capital expenditures from Q4 2024 through Q3 2026, rising from $0.772 billion to $1.045 billion, with Q3 2026 up 32 percent year over year.* *Quarterly capital expenditures from Kinder Morgan's SEC filings, USD billions, retrieved November 1, 2026. Management guides to roughly $4 billion of annual capex over the next few years. Sources: SEC filings, Zacks. [9][4]* ## What decides the return The route is not final. Kinder Morgan fixes it after environmental surveys and landowner meetings, the phase where costs, delays and opposition crystallize [1]. Watch three markers: how many landowners refuse to sign and face condemnation suits, whether the shippers are ever named, and whether TVA approves the Trousdale County plants that would anchor demand on the route [1]. Backlogs are signed on paper; pipelines get paid in easements. ## Takeaway Kinder Morgan's record $14.4 billion backlog now has to be bought foot by foot: how the right-of-way fight across 10 Tennessee counties goes helps price the roughly $2.5 billion of annual EBITDA it promises. ## Sources 1. [WPLN News, Kinder Morgan plans 150-mile methane gas pipeline through Tennessee, 28 October 2026](https://wpln.org/post/kinder-morgan-plans-150-mile-methane-gas-pipeline-through-tennessee/) 2. [Reuters via MSN, Kinder Morgan to invest $4.7 billion in two gas pipeline projects as demand surges, 21 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/kinder-morgan-to-invest-4-7-billion-in-two-gas-pipeline-projects-as-demand-surges/ar-AA2fPlHE) 3. [Enerdata, Kinder Morgan takes FID on two US gas pipeline projects, 23 October 2026](https://www.enerdata.net/publications/daily-energy-news/kinder-morgan-takes-fid-two-us-gas-pipeline-projects.html) 4. [Zacks via TradingView, KMI Q3 Earnings Call Highlights Record Pipeline Backlog Growth, 29 October 2026](https://www.tradingview.com/news/zacks:0b3443311094b:0-kmi-q3-earnings-call-highlights-record-pipeline-backlog-growth/) 5. [The Motley Fool via MSN, Kinder Morgan: 1 number from Q3 earnings every investor should see, 27 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/kinder-morgan-1-number-from-q3-earnings-every-investor-should-see/ar-AA2gaEYI) 6. [Seeking Alpha, Kinder Morgan outlines $14.4B backlog as Southeast Connector targets 2.6 Bcf/d and Permian Link enters service in 2030, 22 October 2026](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4655707-kinder-morgan-outlines-14_4b-backlog-as-southeast-connector-targets-2_6-bcf-d-and-permian) 7. [Oil & Gas Journal, Kinder Morgan takes FID on Southeast Connector, Permian Link natural gas pipelines, 22 October 2026](https://www.ogj.com/pipelines-transportation/pipelines/news/55413822/kinder-morgan-takes-fid-on-southeast-connector-permian-link-natural-gas-pipelines) 8. [Louisiana Illuminator via Yahoo News, Pipeline projects booming while federal regulations ease, report notes, 28 October 2026](https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/pipeline-projects-booming-us-while-195337562.html) 9. [Kinder Morgan quarterly figures from SEC filings, retrieved 1 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001506307) --- Kinder Morgan's $3.1B Southeast Connector runs through 10 Tennessee counties, and the land fight starts now — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/kinder-morgan-s-3-1b-southeast-connector-runs-through-10-tennessee-counties-and-the-land-fight-starts-now