KYLE, Texas — A multi-billion-dollar natural gas pipeline will soon be to coming to Central Texas.

  • Earlier City of Kyle passed ordinance restricting pipeline
  • Kinder Morgan filed a lawsuit against the city
  • Settlement requires Kinder Morgan to pay City of Kyle $2.7 million

On Friday during a special called meeting, Kyle City Council approved a settlement agreement with the Permian Highway Pipeline, LLC, and Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline, LLC. The agreement allows Kinder Morgan to construct the Permian Highway Pipeline (PHP) through the boundaries of the City of Kyle. It also provides protections for the city regarding how the pipeline affects existing infrastructure and future development projects.

PREVIOUS STORY: City of Kyle Considers Settlement in Lawsuit With Kinder Morgan

In July, Kinder Morgan filed a lawsuit against the City of Kyle for passing an ordinance regulating how pipelines can be installed in the city. The ordinance required Kinder Morgan to bury the pipeline 13-feet deep, to allow the city to put its wastewater lines or water lines streets over the top of the pipeline.

Kinder Morgan sued the city saying that state and federal law prohibits cities from regulating pipelines. The City of Kyle amended the ordinance on September 11 to address some of the claims that its ordinance was inconsistent with state and federal law.

“To be clear, this settlement has nothing to do with re-routing the pipeline out of the Hill Country,” said Travis Mitchell, Mayor, City of Kyle. “We still share in the concerns of thousands in our community who fear the impacts of the PHP on our safety and our environment. Settling this case has no bearing on those risks, which would have remained in full force either way.”

“In a perfect world, this pipeline would have been routed through unincorporated areas of Texas — preferably those areas already established with oil infrastructure — minimizing the effect on landowners, local governments and our environment,” said Mitchell. “Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. Our city council and city staff have worked diligently with Kinder Morgan to develop this framework that will provide protections to the city that otherwise are not granted through current state and federal regulations. One such protection born from the settlement is that Kinder Morgan is no longer legally allowed to convert the pipeline from natural gas to crude oil. As I see it, this negotiated point can be celebrated by all who have stood with us for the last year.”

The settlement agreement requires Kinder Morgan to remit to the City a payment of $2.7 million. The agreement also protects the City from incurring any undue financial burden from the pipeline on existing infrastructure, and requires Kinder Morgan to participate in the alleviation of conflicts between the pipeline and future infrastructure projects in the city.

“The question before our council has been how to leverage our limited city resources to carry this fight against an opponent with virtually unlimited resources,” said Mitchell. “We believe that this settlement agreement represents a better outcome than what we could have expected in a long and drawn out, and expensive, legal battle.”

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Kinder Morgan Settlement Agreement by Spectrum News on Scribd