A 79-year-old landowner in western Georgia is challenging a major energy company after learning that a $3.5 billion natural gas pipeline project was moved away from a utility executive's home and routed across 2.5 miles of his private land. Donnie Peek bought his first 150-acre property in Muscogee County in 1967. Over the following decades, he expanded it into a 1,600-acre estate along the Chattahoochee River. After discovering the sudden route change, he filed a formal challenge with federal energy regulators. The Southern System Expansion 4 project is managed by Southern Natural Gas (SNG), a joint venture between energy companies Kinder Morgan and Southern Co. The project originally followed an existing utility easement that crossed four separate residential properties. Revised plans released earlier this year showed that developers had changed the route. The new plan sends the pipeline around the home of Chris Lane, a 25-year Southern Co. power plant manager, while placing the added burden on Peek's property.
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