Ruby Pipeline

Ruby Pipeline
Ruby Pipeline
Location
CountryUnited States
Directioneast-west
StartOpal, Wyoming
Passes throughWyoming, Utah, Nevada, Oregon
ToMalin, Oregon
General information
Typenatural gas
OperatorTallgrass Energy Partners
Commissioned2010
Technical information
Length683 mi (1,099 km)
Maximum discharge
1.5 billion cubic feet per day (15 billion cubic metres per year)
Diameter42 in (1,067 mm)

The Ruby Pipeline is a 683-mile, 42-in. diameter natural gas pipeline running from Opal, Wyoming, to Malin, Oregon. The route crosses Northern Utah, and Northern Nevada. Ruby Pipeline, L.L.C., a child company of the El Paso Corporation, filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on January 27, 2009, authorizing the construction and operation of the Ruby Pipeline Project. On April 5, 2010, the FERC approved the application. Construction began on July 31, 2010, and the pipeline was placed in service on July 28, 2011. The pipe is 683 miles (1,099 km) long with an expected capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet per day (42×10^6 m3/d). As of 2026, it is estimated to be at around 50% utilization.

The El Paso Corporation was acquired by Kinder Morgan for $38 billion on May 25, 2012.

On April 1, 2022, Ruby Pipeline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company received bankruptcy court approval for a $282 million sale of its assets to Tallgrass Energy Partners, a Blackstone Group company.

Controversy

There is concern that the project crosses more than 1000 rivers and streams and, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, threatens some endangered fish species.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada petitioned the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency action blocking the pipeline. Despite not winning the injunction requests, the Court ultimately ruled in their favor, finding that environmental reviews for the pipeline's impacts to endangered fish species and sagebrush habitats did not comply with environmental laws.

Proposed data center

In 2026, Utah's Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA), in collaboration with Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary, announced the Stratos Project: a plan to construct a large data center campus in the Box Elder County of northern Utah, with energy infrastructure that would draw exclusively from the Ruby Pipeline. If completed, it is estimate the project could reach a capacity of 9 gigawatts generated by onsite natural gas power generation.

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Ruby Pipeline - Rextag Corporation". rextag.com. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
  2. ↑ "Ruby Pipeline > Project Summary". Archived from the original on 2010-08-16. Retrieved 2012-09-20.
  3. ↑ "Kinder Morgan Acquires El Paso". Yahoo Finance. Zacks Equity Research. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
  4. ↑ "Kinder Morgan's Ruby Pipeline files for bankruptcy". The Wall Street Journal. April 1, 2022. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  5. ↑ Knauth, Dietrich (13 January 2023). "Ruby Pipeline's bankruptcy plan based on $282 mln sale approved". Reuters. Retrieved 29 April 2026.
  6. ↑ "Another suit against Ruby Pipeline". Wyoming Business Report. Portland, Oregon. August 20, 2010. Archived from the original on February 27, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2023 – via Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "Court refuses to block Ruby Pipeline work". February 2011.
  8. ↑ Moilanen, Samantha; Means, Sean (April 25, 2026). "'Hyperscale' data center project in Utah — expected to generate and consume more power than entire state — nears final approval". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 30 April 2026.
  9. ↑ Anderson, Mike (April 28, 2026). "Scientists share concerns over proposed mega data center in Box Elder County". KSL News. Retrieved 30 April 2026.