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The Permian Highway Pipeline, proposed to stretch 430 miles from Waha, Texas to the Gulf Coast, has been delayed due to the “slower than anticipated pace of regulatory approvals.”
Kinder Morgan, the infrastructure company that will build and operate the proposed pipeline, announced the setback last week during its third-quarter results release for 2019.
While construction has begun on the Permian Highway Pipeline near Waha, Texas, the project is now expected to be in-service early in 2021, said KMI President Kim Dang in a statement. Previously, the proposed in-service date for the PHP was the fourth quarter of 2020.
“We also made excellent progress on our Permian Highway Pipeline project, with nearly 85 percent of the right-of-way secured along the route and construction activities underway on the western spread,” Dang said in a press release. “Given the slower than anticipated pace of regulatory approvals, the project is now expected to be in service early in 2021. As with (the Gulf Coast Exchange Pipeline), this project is critical to the development of resources and the reduction of flaring in the Permian Basin.”
According to Kinder Morgan, the approximately $2 billion project will generate an estimated 2,500 local construction jobs and 18 full-time jobs.
Another Kinder Morgan pipeline, the Gulf Coast Express Pipeline (GCX), went into service in September ahead of schedule, Chief Executive Officer Steve Kean said in a press release.
On Oct. 16, the City of San Marcos joined the cities of Kyle and Austin, the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association and the Texas Real Estate Advocacy and Defense Coalition in issuing a notice of intent to sue the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in connection to the Permian Highway Pipeline.
During Kyle Mayor Travis Mitchell’s State of the City Address on Tuesday, Mitchell was met with an applause from the audience after bringing up the pipeline’s delay.
“I think there is a place for oil and gas in the state of Texas,” Mitchell said during his speech. “I believe it is critical and vital as well as all different kinds of energy research and production. But it is not right for oil and gas companies to be able to come through our jurisdiction with impunity and the City of Kyle not have anything to say about it.”
