Kinder Morgan Holds Open House in Wimberley

By Emily Martin and Will Wadsworth
News Director and Assistant News Director

Energy Infrastructure company Kinder Morgan is making its case for a proposed natural gas pipeline through the Texas Hill Country after the company held the first of several open houses last night in Wimberley. The company scheduled four open houses across Central Texas in total, including two here in Hays County, and Kinder Morgan’s Vice President of Public Affairs Allen Fore said the company is considering further outreach.

“Maybe we’ll have some more meetings. I think the Hill Country Alliance talked about doing a panel discussion; I thought there may be some benefit in that. The key is exchange of information, and there are different ways and different means to do that,” Fore said.

Some residents were not satisfied with the way the Kinder Morgan Company conducted their open house at The Wimberley Community Center. Citizens raised concerns about potential loss of personal property and the environmental impacts of the proposed pipeline. Many at the event unsuccessfully called for a single representative to address the crowd. Several county officials were also in attendance to obtain more information about the project. Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said that he wants make sure the information Kinder Morgan gives him is consistent with plans moving forward.

“We’re all connected. So the aquifer, every bit of our county is connected; one part with the other. What you do with one part, you do to the whole and there’s no better example than with this. There are many concerns, there are many issues and I think that with a vigilant eye we can help mitigate a lot of this heartbreak we hope,” Becerra said.

Kinder Morgan hopes to begin construction on the pipeline by 2020.

Featured image by Emily Martin.