SHREVEPORT, La.—The Trump administration’s attitude toward permitting reform is “the most significant change in my lifetime” for the natural gas business, Kinder Morgan’s vice president of public affairs said March 20 at Hart Energy’s DUG Gas Conference & Expo.

Allen Fore said the administration has “the staff in place, judges in place, the things that are out there to make things happen significantly.”

Ronald Reagan had some of the same principles as Trump on downsizing government and reforming regulations, Fore said, but had to walk some of it back because Democrats controlled Congress for much of his time in office from 1981 to 1989.

With Trump, “I know we've got to work around the margins with tariffs, and we're working on those things too, but let's not miss the forest for the trees,” Fore said.

The potential for regulatory reform is a game changer, Fore said.

“It is not going to give us carte blanche to do whatever we want,” he said. “There are ways we can permit projects without waiting years and years to get things done. So we’re very excited about that and looking forward to seeing how these things play out.”

Fore pointed to the U.S. Northeast as an area where the politics have already changed as a result of the new administration.

“You have political leadership in the Northeast talking again about potential pipeline construction to bring natural gas service, additional natural gas service to the area that could be Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York,” he said. “There's real serious talk about the need for additional capacity for natural gas in that region and trying to figure out ways to make it happen.”

Kinder Morgan has three major pipelines in development it expects to begin operations in the next few years:

  • Mississippi Crossing, from northwest Mississippi to western Alabama, has a planned 2028 start date;
  • South Expansion, from eastern Mississippi to the Atlantic coast, has a 2028 planned start date; and
  • Trident, a Texas line that will connect the Katy hub near Houston to Port Arthur, has a planned 2027 start date.

Those projects plus Kinder’s existing infrastructure put the company in a good position to service the coming demand from AI and data centers, Fore said. He credited the vision of founder Rich Kinder, who is now executive chairman.

“If you look at our system map and how we are situated across the country, that's his vision,” Fore said. “He’s often said the most valuable asset is pipe that’s already in the ground.”

That network gives Kinder Morgan the ability to reach data centers without much extra building, Fore said.

“It puts us in a position of capitalizing on those investments,” he said. “We fully expect to be a major player in that space.”

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