A Fulton County Superior Court judge has upheld state Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry’s decision prohibiting a pipeline company from using eminent domain for its project. 

McMurry declared that Kinder Morgan’s Palmetto Pipeline project failed to necessitate awarding a certificate of public convenience. Such a certificate would have granted the company the ability to use eminent domain in acquiring easements and rights-of-way for the pipeline.

Judge Kimberly Adams threw out Kinder Morgan’s appeal Tuesday.

“I am pleased with the judgment of the court in affirming GDOT’s decision that the pipeline does not constitute a public convenience and necessity,” Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell McMurry said. “We are not making determinations as to the importance of the project to the state; only whether the pipeline company should be permitted to use the powers of condemnation to obtain easements to accomplish its construction.”

In February 2015, Georgia Department of Transportation received an application from Palmetto Products Pipe Line LLC requesting a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a proposed petroleum pipeline that would run 360 miles from the Georgia-South Carolina border near Augusta to the Georgia-Florida border, including 12 counties in Georgia.

In May 2015, the commissioner denied the application for the certificate citing evidence that the pipeline would not constitute a public convenience or necessity sufficient to allow the use of eminent domain.

Kinder Morgan officials have maintained there is a need for the pipeline, citing the number of long-term commitments the company received before it started the permitting and approval process. The DOT received more than 3,000 public comments by mail or online, and there also were seven public meetings and two public hearings.

McMurry, in his May 19 decision, said there was little evidence of increased demand for gasoline in the area and there was no support for the claim it would lower gas prices in the area. Kinder Morgan officials refuted those assertions in their appeal.

The pipeline is expected to traverse 39 miles of Effingham County, the single longest stretch in any of the 12 Georgia counties it will cross. The project is expected to cost $1 billion and create 1,200 jobs during its construction, according to Kinder Morgan. Once finished, it will lead to 28 permanent jobs.

Kinder Morgan is expected to apply for its permits to begin construction with the various appropriate regulatory agencies soon. Work on the pipeline is anticipated to begin this year, with a completion date of late 2017.