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State Sen. Robert Stewart, D-Selma, is hosting a meeting about the proposed pipeline expansion project that has been announced by Southern Natural Gas Company.

Stewart is partnering with organizations including Alabama Rivers Alliance, Black Belt Women Rising, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Energy Alabama, Friends of the Alabama River, Southern Environmental Law Center and The People’s Justice Council. The meeting will be Tuesday, Sept. 30, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at ArtsRevive.

The proposed gas line will be running parallel to the existing natural gas pipeline that is already running through 10 Alabama counties. Several meetings have been conducted by Kinder Morgan, which is affiliated with Southern Company. Alabama Power is also owned by Southern Company.

“Dallas County deserves a future built on safety, prosperity, and respect for our people—not pipelines that put our water, land and property rights at risk,” Stewart said. “This meeting is about empowering our community to understand what’s at stake and to make our voices heard. Our residents should not be forced to bear the costs and dangers of a project that threatens our way of life. I have an obligation to ensure that my constituents are informed.”

Cindy Lowery with Alabama Rivers Alliance said her organization will focus on many of the environmental concerns caused by the pipeline.

“We are concerned that these pipelines will be crossing a lot of our waterways, and it could have detrimental effects to them,” Lowery said. “We are also concerned that this will increase our reliance on fossil fuels to generate power. And part of the demand that they’re trying to fulfill is for the data centers that are popping up all over Georgia and Alabama. They consume a large amount of energy. We feel like a lot of the energy demands need to be met using renewable energy. It just seems like we are going in the wrong direction environmentally.”

In addition to the environmental concerns, Lowery said they will also be able to help local landowners learn about the project so that they can protect their rights as landowners. Most landowners affected by the pipeline should have already received a letter from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

At the meeting, Stewart and the other organizations will help landowners and stakeholders learn more about the proposed project (SSE4) that puts new gas pipelines in 10 Alabama counties, including Dallas County. They will also have maps of exactly where the new pipelines would go and learn about concerns that may impact your property and your community.

Lowery said they obtained those maps after Southern Natural Gas Company formally filed their project with FERC. The communities that would be impacted by the pipeline project would include Summerfield, Valley Grande, Fremont, Selma, Manila and Burnsville, which contains the compressor station. 

In a January 2025 story, the Selma Times-Journal reported that as many as 51 landowners along a 21-mile segment along northern Dallas County would be impacted by this pipeline expansion. 

For more information, log on to https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/docinfo?accession_num=20250703-5175 or alabamarivers.org/pipeline.