The city of Danville has for years fought to block a controversial conversion project by one of the country’s largest owners of oil and gas pipelines. Now Kinder Morgan has announced plans to scrap the project.
The Tennessee Gas Pipeline travels through 18 Kentucky counties stretching from the Ohio state border in the northeast to the Tennessee border in the south.
In Danville, the pipeline runs through an elementary school, a main thoroughfare and the city’s water supply. Residents were concerned when Kinder Morgan announced plans to reverse the pipeline’s flow and send a more hazardous mix of natural gas by-products through it.
Kentucky Conservation Committee Executive Director Lane Boldman says the pipeline was not designed to handle natural gas liquids.
Boldman told WFPL, "Reversing the flow of natural gas liquids that are much more volatile, you know, you shouldn’t be using communities as guinea pigs.”
But Last week, Kinder Morgan announced plans to scrap the project and will instead continue to provide natural gas service. CEO Steven Kean said in a conference call with investors the company wasn’t seeing enough customers sign-up for the new service.
