One of the largest U.S. pipeline companies is planning the first phase of what it says will be the largest natural gas pipeline expansion in the Pacific Northwest in 20 years in part to deliver more gas for data centers. 

On Sept. 1, a subsidiary of U.S. pipeline giant Williams began early stages of seeking a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build the Silver Spur Pipeline, an 88-mile connection between two major interstate gas transmission pipelines in Idaho and Nevada. 

The natural gas pipeline expansion is one of dozens planned or under construction across the U.S., fueled by abundant and relatively cheap natural gas unlocked by advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing over the last two decades. More recently, a boom in data centers and in liquified natural gas export terminals are creating voracious new appetites for gas. 

That includes in the Pacific Northwest, where a 2024 forecast by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council estimates that data center power demand could add up to 35 million megawatt-hours by 2029. That is nearly four times as much power as Seattle uses in a year.

Williams plans to help meet this demand by expanding its Northwest Pipeline system, which connects gas production areas in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to markets in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Earlier this year, Williams held a bidding period for utilities and other natural gas buyers to purchase space in an expansion called the Rockies Columbia Connector. The expansion would involve laying nearly 160 miles of new pipeline, including through the Washington side of the scenic and environmentally sensitive Columbia River Gorge. 

Williams has not yet filed permit applications for the 160-mile expansion. But in a March earnings call, Williams executives described the Silver Spur project in Idaho and Nevada as “the first phase of the Rockies Columbia Connector concept and one of the Pacific Northwest’s first major pipeline expansions in more than two decades.”

Any fossil fuel expansion in Washington and Oregon is likely to generate backlash in states with commitments to moving away from fossil fuels. Another energy company, TC Energy, faced a wave of opposition to a much smaller pipeline project called GTN Xpress that involved pushing more gas into Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia through an existing pipe. The project was ultimately completed, but only over objections from the governors, U.S. senators, and attorneys general of Oregon and Washington, amid many other officials. 

“I think people will be outraged,” said Audrey Leonard, staff attorney with Columbia Riverkeeper, which has been tracking and opposing the Rockies Columbia Connector expansion. “There’s a reason we haven’t seen new pipeline proposals in the Pacific Northwest in so long: it’s because we’ve been so good at fighting them.”

Williams has not yet said who would buy the additional gas from the Rockies Columbia Connector expansion. But in presentations to investors, the company included the project in a set of pipeline upgrades it says will help provide more gas for data centers as part of the rush to develop AI. The company is increasingly building more natural gas-fired power plants to keep up with data center demand, including dedicated (or “behind the meter”) gas plants in Ohio. 

The Columbia River region already hosts 2.3 gigawatts of data center power capacity across 12 counties, according to the Columbia Riverkeeper. Amazon is planning two more data center hubs, including a $5 billion complex spanning more than 550 acres west of Walla Walla. In Oregon, the Portland exurb of Hillsboro is also emerging as a data center hub, with 23 sites either built or in some phase of permitting or construction. The city in late July passed a 120-day moratorium on new data center applications.

The Silver Spur project would help deliver more gas to Idaho from a major natural gas trading hub in Opal, Wyoming. In an Oct. 2 filing with FERC, Williams said two Idaho utilities – Idaho Power Company and Intermountain Gas Company – have purchased all of the capacity on the Silver Spur pipeline. Idaho Power provides electricity to about 620,000 customers across southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. Intermountain Gas is a natural gas distribution company serving southern Idaho. 

Williams is proposing a new pipeline 24 inches in diameter to link its Northwest Pipeline near Twin Falls, Idaho, with the Ruby Pipeline in Elko County, Nevada. Owned by Kansas City-based Tallgrass Energy, the Ruby Pipeline delivers gas to parts of Utah, Nevada, northern California and southern Oregon.

Neither of the Idaho utilities buying gas from Silver Spur has specified how it would be used. However, the Boise area served by Idaho Power is another area being targeted for data centers. On 3,700 acres of public land near Boise, a subsidiary of Nevada-based Rhea Data is planning a 4-million-square-foot facility, local Bureau of Land Management officials told news station KTVB 7.

Williams is still in the early phases of seeking a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the Silver Spur project. The company must still file an official application, which will be followed by a series of meetings, public comment periods, and reviews by staff of FERC and other agencies.

Still, the company says it plans to complete Silver Spur by early 2030. Williams also says it can complete the larger Rockies Columbia Connector expansion by Nov. 1, 2030.