GALLATIN, Tenn. — A 470-mile interstate natural gas line that would begin in Sumner County and cut south through Middle Tennessee is moving into its early planning stages, and landowners along the possible path are starting to get notices in the mail.
Behind the Southeast Connector is Southern Natural Gas, which Kinder Morgan and Southern Co. each own half of through subsidiaries. Roughly 150 miles of the line would sit in Tennessee before it continues into Georgia and ends in Monroe County there.
As currently proposed, the route would touch about 10 Tennessee counties, running from Sumner, Macon and Trousdale through Smith, DeKalb and Cannon, then Warren, Coffee, Franklin and Marion. The plan also calls for compressor stations, which pressurize gas to keep it moving. The route is not final and could shift during federal review.
Kinder Morgan puts the Tennessee piece at about $1.3 billion. Its November fact sheet prices the entire line at roughly $7.6 billion, of which Kinder Morgan expects to cover about $3.1 billion. It forecasts around 7,000 short-term construction jobs over the full route and 50 permanent positions once the line is running.
A line like this carries gas across state lines to serve local utilities, power plants and big factories. It would link existing systems rather than serve homes directly, and the company has not shown whether residential customers would see more service or lower bills.
Nothing is approved yet. Kinder Morgan intends to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to start a pre-filing review by the end of 2026, then file a formal certificate application in the third quarter of 2027. Construction would begin in late 2028 at the earliest, with service phased in by late 2030. The review will give landowners, agencies and the public chances to weigh in.
Gas pipelines already stretch more than 77,000 miles across Tennessee, and Kinder Morgan runs an existing line through the Knoxville area. The company says it pays more than $38 million a year in state and local taxes across Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.
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