About 127 Sumner County landowners will receive letters from a Houston-based energy company seeking permission to survey their property for a major natural gas pipeline.
Southern Natural Gas Company, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, plans to build the Southeast Connector Project, a roughly 150-mile pipeline running north to south across Tennessee. The project includes a 20-mile stretch through Sumner County, as Main Street Media of Tennessee first reported.
The draft route starts near Mitchellville and runs east, passing just north of Portland and Westmoreland. Kinder Morgan Vice President Allen Fore said the company has done preliminary analysis using desktop tools and aerial flyovers but now needs access to individual properties.
Landowners who agree to the survey will be paid a $500 fee. If Kinder Morgan selects a route across their land, easement negotiations would begin sometime in 2027, according to Fore.
"If we decide to go forward with a proposed route on that property, then we begin an easement discussion, and that's a real estate transaction," Fore said Thursday, Oct. 1.
The permanent easements would be 50 feet wide, accommodating trenches to bury 48-inch-diameter pipe at least three feet underground. Temporary easements for construction workspace would also be required.
Compressor station and timeline
Three compressor stations will be built along the pipeline's path. One will be in Sumner County. No site has been chosen.
The pipeline will cross 10 Tennessee counties: Sumner, Macon, Trousdale, Smith, DeKalb, Cannon, Warren, Coffee, Franklin and Marion. Kinder Morgan estimates about 760 landowners statewide will be affected.
Kinder Morgan plans to complete its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pre-filing request by late 2026, with the formal review process beginning in December 2026, according to Lebanon Democrat reporting. Construction is expected to start by the end of 2028. The company hopes to have gas flowing before the end of 2030.
What it means for landowners
Fore said the pipeline route will cross rural and agricultural areas. After construction, Kinder Morgan says it will restore affected properties by reseeding grass, replacing fences and compensating crop-land owners for lost yield if land is not ready to grow by the next season.
Kinder Morgan already operates 1,300 miles of pipeline in Tennessee with 110 employees and pays $8 million in state and local taxes, according to Fore. The company will also pay property taxes on the new pipeline. Kinder Morgan says the project will generate millions of dollars in new tax revenue for counties along the route at no cost to taxpayers. Hendersonville residents, as Sumner County taxpayers, fall under the county commission's jurisdiction over any infrastructure and tax decisions tied to the project.
No response from Sumner County government officials appears in public records as of publication. No public meeting or open house specific to Sumner County has been announced.
