Gonzales County pipeline pathway secured

According to Kinder Morgan, all 53 tracts of land in Gonzales County affected by the company’s proposed Permian Highway pipeline have been acquired. Announced by multi-billion-dollar energy company Kinder Morgan in late 2018, the Permian Highway project is a planned 42-inch wide pipeline that would carry natural gas approximately 430 miles from the oil-rich West Texas Permian Basin to U.S. Gulf Coast and Mexico markets.

Preliminary maps have the pipeline running through 18.4 miles of the northern portion of Gonzales County, just south of the City of Waelder. With all of the affected tracts in county under Kinder Morgan control, the energy company said In October 2019 it now has 85% of the right-of-way secured along the route.

The last 15% has been a sticking point for Kinder Morgan, as the energy company has been entrenched in legal battles across the Texas Hill Country. The cities of Kyle, San Marcos and Austin, Hays County and other groups interested in conservation and landowners’ rights have either sued or threatened to sue Kinder Morgan over multiple issues relating to the proposed pipeline.

The Hill Country hang-ups have forced Kinder Morgan to push its in-service date from late 2020 to early 2021. Though even with the regulatory delay, construction activities on the pipeline have begun in West Texas near Waha.