Say NO to a Fossil Fuel Superhighway across the South!
Georgia can’t afford more harmful, expensive, unnecessary gas pipelines!
Two harmful, unnecessary, and expensive methane gas pipeline projects—the South System Expansion 4 (SSE4) and Mississippi Crossing—are currently being proposed to cut approximately 500 miles across Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, threatening communities and some of our most beloved landscapes.
In Georgia alone, the proposed SSE4 pipeline impacts 6 river watersheds—places where people fish, swim, farm, and get their drinking water. In some communities near compressor stations like Macon and Columbus, the pipeline will increase air pollution and expose communities to a greater risk of asthma, cancer, and heart attacks. Communities would also be exposed to possible gas leaks and even potential explosions. This is not to mention the threats to habitat and endangered wildlife.
These projects are part of a much larger expansion of methane gas across the South at a time when cleaner options are increasingly available and often cheaper. Utilities are proposing dozens of new gas-burning power plants to attract energy-hungry data centers and their profits. Utilities can earn big by building these expensive projects on the backs of billpayers. Georgia Power was recently approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to build 5 new methane-gas power plants across the state to support a 10 GW energy expansion—that’s equivalent to five Hoover Dams worth of energy. To make matters worse, much of this projected data center demand is speculative, if not outright implausible.
Hence why Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL), alongside partners in several states, including Science for Georgia, Alabama Rivers Alliance, Blackbelt Women Rising, Energy Alabama, and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, are opposing these projects. With the help of attorneys at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), we’re also formally intervening at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to stop this fossil fuel superhighway. But we need your help!
Sign the petition below and tell Secretary Reese the South can’t afford more harmful, expensive, unnecessary gas pipelines!
Deadline: March 18, 2026
LETTER TO THE FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION:
Dear Secretary Reese,
The proposed South System Expansion 4 and Mississippi Crossing pipeline projects pose an unnecessary risk to Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi’s communities, water, air, land, and wildlife. They would also lock the region into decades of dirty, expensive fossil fuels.
Together, these projects would add approximately 500 miles of new pipe, impact 18 river watersheds—places where people fish, swim, farm, and use drinking water—and put rare and beloved wildlife at risk. And if these projects are built, they will deepen our reliance on dirty, expensive, and climate-warming fossil fuels for decades.
The pipelines also cross through communities where residents have been disproportionately exposed to pollution for generations, including Black and Brown communities and communities with lower incomes. Approval of these projects would compound those harms, further exposing those groups to increased risks, including air pollution, pipeline leaks, and explosions.
These projects are part of a much larger expansion of methane gas across the South at a time when cleaner options are increasingly available and often cheaper. Utilities are proposing dozens of new gas-burning power plants in an attempt to attract energy-hungry data centers and the profits utilities can earn by building big, expensive projects on the backs of billpayers. Across six southern states, utilities have proposed adding 44,000 megawatts of new gas generation, dozens of new gas plants, by 2039. That’s roughly the amount of electricity that would be needed if the number of households nearly doubled (from 16 million to around 30 million). Much of these utilities’ projected data center demand is speculative—if not outright implausible.
Building pipelines and new gas plants based on shaky forecasts would lock families into decades of higher bills and more pollution. Methane gas is expensive and volatile, worsens our climate, and harms human health—especially communities already overburdened by pollution.
FERC’s draft environmental impact statement for these projects does not adequately address, analyze, or mitigate these risks, nor does it consider viable, cleaner, and more affordable alternatives to yet more methane gas. This failure is especially troubling because pipeline companies have not demonstrated a non-speculative need for these projects.
What’s more, the current public comment period on the DEIS is grossly insufficient for projects of this massive scale and complexity. These proposals span multiple states and hundreds of miles, implicate thousands of waterways, and raise serious concerns about adverse impacts on communities. FERC should extend the DEIS comment period so the public—including impacted landowners, communities and residents along the route—have a meaningful opportunity to review the analysis, understand the risks considered by FERC, and provide informed comments. A longer comment period is essential for a fair process and a sound decision.
For all of these reasons, FERC should not authorize the South System Expansion 4 and Mississippi Crossing projects. They pose unnecessary and unacceptable risks to our communities, public health, natural resources, and environment, and they would lock the region into dirty, expensive fossil fuels for decades.
Thank you for your attention,