Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to raise the maximum allowable operating pressure on a stretch of its Line EU in Leavenworth County, Kansas, from 150 pounds per square inch gauge to 333 psig. The company filed the request on July 15, 2026, covering a 13,100-foot segment of the 8-inch-diameter line. Southern Star, based at 4700 State Route 56 in Owensboro, Kentucky, calls it the Line EU MAOP Uprate Project.
Southern Star filed the request as a prior notice under sections 157.205 and 157.208 of the Commission's regulations under the Natural Gas Act, relying on the blanket certificate FERC issued the company in Docket No. CP82-479-000. A blanket certificate lets a pipeline operator carry out certain routine changes to its system under a standing authorization instead of seeking a new certificate for each one, as long as no one objects. Southern Star says the higher pressure limit will support facilities it plans to install under that same automatic authorization.
How the review works
Anyone can respond to the filing in one of three ways: file a protest, file a motion to intervene, or file a comment. None of the three carries a fee, and the deadline for all of them is 5 p.m. Eastern time on September 25, 2026.
If no protest is filed by that deadline, or a protest is filed and then withdrawn within 30 days after it, the project is deemed authorized the day after the protest deadline. If a protest is filed and stays on the docket through those 30 days, the Commission itself takes up the request. Only parties who file a motion to intervene, rather than a protest or comment, can later seek rehearing of a Commission order or challenge it in federal circuit court. A protest can also serve as a motion to intervene if the filer says it is seeking both.
Who to contact
Questions about the request go to Jennifer Matthews, Southern Star's regulatory manager, at (270) 316-2972 or Jennifer.Matthews@southernstar.com. FERC's Office of Public Participation, at (202) 502-6595 or OPP@ferc.gov, helps the public with filings such as interventions and comments.
