Our business faces many risks and uncertainties. We have described below the most significantmaterial risks facing us. These risks and uncertainties could lead to events or circumstances that may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows, includingflows. There may be additional risks that we do not yet know of or that we do not currently perceive to be as material that may also materially adversely affect our ability to make distributions to our unitholders.business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

All of the information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent reports we may file with the SEC or make available to the public should be carefully considered and evaluated before investing in any securities issued by us.

The FERC regulates the rates we can charge for our natural gas transportation and storage and interstate ethane transportation operations. For our cost-based services, the FERC establishes both the maximum and minimum rates we can charge. The basic elements that the FERC considers are the costs of providing service, the volumes of gas being transported, the rate design, the allocation of costs between services, the capital structure and the rate of return a pipeline is permitted to earn. We may not be able to sell short-term services at attractiverecover our costs, including certain costs associated with pipeline integrity, through existing or future rates.

The FERC and/or our customers could challenge the maximum applicable rates or at all due to market conditions.

In the U.S., no comprehensive climate change legislation has been implemented at the federal level, but President Biden has shown that action to address climate change is an important part of his Administration's agenda. For example, in August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) passed which advanced numerous climate-related objectives. Additionally, the EPA has issued several rules regulating GHGs following the U.S. Supreme Court finding that GHGs are air pollutants under the CAA and the EPA's own endangerment finding for certain GHGs, including carbon dioxide and methane. The EPA regulates GHGs through various requirements, including permitting for GHG emissions from large stationary sources, annual reporting on GHG emissions from oil and gas facilities, New Source Performance Standards restricting methane emissions from new facilities in the natural gas transportation contracts expiresector, and needGHG emissions limits on vehicles (together with the DOT). The EPA's regulation of methane emissions has undergone significant changes. In December 2023, the EPA finalized its methane rules for new, modified, and reconstructed facilities, known as OOOOb, as well as standards for existing sources for the first time ever, known as OOOOc. Under the final rules, states have two years to prepare and submit their plans to impose methane emission controls on existing sources. The presumptive standards established under the final rules are generally the same for both new and existing sources and include enhanced leak detection survey requirements using optical gas imaging and other advanced monitoring to encourage the deployment of innovative technologies to detect and reduce methane emissions, reduction of emissions by 95% through capture and control systems, zero-emission requirements for certain devices, and the establishment of the "super emitter" response program that would allow third parties to make reports to the EPA of large methane emission events, triggering certain investigation and repair requirements. Fines and penalties for violations of these rules can be replacedsubstantial. It is likely that the final rules and its requirements will be subject to legal challenges. Compliance with the new rules may affect the amount we owe under the IRA, which amended the CAA to impose a first-time fee on the emission of methane from sources required to report their GHG emissions to the EPA. The methane emissions fee applies to excess methane emissions from certain facilities and starts at $900 per metric ton of leaked methane in 2024 and increases to $1,200 in 2025 and $1,500 in 2026 and thereafter. Compliance with the EPA's new final rules and standards would exempt an otherwise covered facility from the requirement to pay the methane fee. The requirements of the EPA's final methane rules could increase our operating costs and the costs of our customers, thereby adversely affecting our operations.

Governmental entities, including certain states and groups of states, have adopted or renewed. Overare considering legislation, regulations or other initiatives, such as GHG cap-and-trade programs, carbon taxes, GHG reporting and tracking programs, and emissions limits. At the past several years,international level, in February 2021 the U.S. rejoined the Paris Agreement, which requires member nations to submit non-binding GHG emissions reduction goals every five years. In April 2021, President Biden announced a new target for the U.S. to reduce GHG emissions 50%-52% from 2005 levels by 2030. In November 2021, the U.S. joined other nations for the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), during which nations including the U.S. made various commitments, including the Global Methane Pledge to reduce methane emissions 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. In December 2023, at the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), certain parties signed onto an agreement to transition "away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly, and equitable manner" and increase renewable energy capacity so as a resultto achieve net zero by 2050, although no timeline for doing so was set. The impact of current market conditions, wethe Paris Agreement, COP26, COP28 or other international conventions cannot be predicted at this time, and it is unclear what additional initiatives may be adopted or implemented, or whether similar efforts at future climate conferences will be successful and the potential resultant impact this may have renewed some expiring contracts at lower ratesupon our business or for shorter terms thanfinancial condition.

Governmental, scientific and public concern over the threat of climate change arising from GHG emissions has resulted in increasing political risks in the past. In additionU.S. The Biden Administration and future administrations could take various actions to normal contract expirations, in the 2018 to 2020 timeframe, transportation agreements associated with our Gulf South, Texas Gascurtail oil and Gulf Crossing Pipeline expansion projects, which were placed into service in 2008 and 2009, will expire. These projects were large, new pipeline expansions that were developed to serve growing production in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana and anchored primarily by ten-year firm transportation agreements with producers and priced based on then current market conditions. As the terms of these remaining expansion contracts expire in 2018 through 2020, we will have significantly more transportation contract expirations than we have had during the past several years. If these contracts are renewed, we expect that the new contracts will be at lower rates and for shorter contract terms than the contracts they are replacing. If these contracts are renewed at current market rates, the revenues earned from these transportation contracts would be materially lower than they are today. For a discussion of current developments, refer to Part II, Item 7, Firm Transportation Agreements.

Increasing attention to climate change, societal expectations on companies to address climate change, investor and societal expectations regarding ESG matters and disclosures, and consumer demand for alternative forms of energy may result in increased costs, reduced demand for our services, reduced profits, increased investigations and litigation, and negative impacts on our access to capital markets. Increasing attention to climate change and environmental conservation, for example, may result in demand shifts for oil and natural gas (basis differentials). Current marketproducts and additional governmental investigations and governmental and private litigation and other liabilities imposed against us or our customers. It is possible that such liability could be imposed without regard to our causation of or contribution to the asserted damage, or to other mitigating factors.

Climatic conditions and events could adversely impact our operations, pipelines and facilities, or those of our customers or suppliers.

Climatic events can cause disruptions to, delays in or suspension of our services, by interrupting our operations, causing loss of or damage to our facilities or equipment, or having similar impacts on our customers or third-party suppliers. In general, our operations could be significantly impacted by climatic conditions such as increased frequency and severity of storms, floods and wintry conditions. Our pipeline operations along coastal waters and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico could be adversely impacted by climatic conditions such as rising sea levels, subsidence and erosion, which could result in serious damage to our facilities and affect our ability to provide transportation services. Such damage could result in leakage, migration, releases or spills from our operations and could result in liability, remedial obligations or otherwise have a negative impact on operations. Such climactic conditions could also impact our customers' ability to utilize our services and third-party suppliers' ability to provide us with the products and services necessary to maintain operation of our facilities. We may incur significant damages as well as costs to repair or maintain our facilities, which could adversely affect our operations and the financial health of our business. In recent years, local governments and landowners in Louisiana have filed lawsuits against energy companies, alleging that their operations contributed to increased coastal rising seas and erosion and seeking substantial damages. Changing meteorological conditions, particularly temperature, may affect the amount, timing, or location of demand for energy or the products we transport, which may impact demand for our services.

We have entered into certain portionsfirm transportation contracts with shippers that utilize the design capacity of certain of our pipeline system, which has reduced transportation rates that can be charged inassets, based upon the affected areas and adversely affectedauthority we received from PHMSA to operate those pipelines at higher than normal operating pressures of up to 0.80 of the contract terms we can secure frompipeline's SMYS under issued permits with specific conditions. PHMSA retains discretion to withdraw or modify this authority. If PHMSA were to withdraw or materially modify such authority, it could affect our customers for available transportation capacity and for contracts being renewed or replaced. The prevailing market conditions may also lead someability to transport all of our customerscontracted quantities of natural gas on these pipeline assets and we could incur significant additional costs to seekreinstate this authority or to renegotiate existing contractsdevelop alternate ways to terms that are less attractive to us; for example, seeking a current price reduction in exchange for an extension of the contract term. We expect these market conditions to continue.

Our actual construction and development costs could exceed our forecasts,forecasts; our anticipated cash flow from construction and development projects will not be immediateimmediate; and our construction and development projects may not be completed on time or at all.all.

We are and have been engaged in multiple significantseveral construction projects involving our existing assets and the construction of new facilities for which we have expended or will expend significant capital. We expect to continue to engage in the construction of additional growth projects and modifications of our system. When we build a new pipeline or expand or modify an existing facility, the design, construction and development occurs over an extended period of time, and we will not receive any revenue or cash flow from that project until after it is placed ininto commercial service. Typically,On our interstate pipelines, there are several years between when the project is announced and when customers begin using the new facilities. During this period we spend capital and incur costs without receiving any of the financial benefits associated with the projects. The construction of new assets involves regulatory (federal, state, and local), landowner opposition, environmental, activist, legal, political, materials and labor costs, as well as operational and other risks that are difficult to predict and some are beyond our control. Any of these projectsA project may not be completed on time or at all due to a variety of factors, may be impacted by significant cost overruns or may be materially changed prior to completion as a result of developments or circumstances that we are not aware of when we commit to the project, including the inability of any shipper to provide adequate credit support or to otherwise perform their obligations under any precedent agreements.project. Any of these events could result in material unexpected costs or have a material adverse effect on our ability to realize the anticipated benefits from our growth projects.

Our natural gas transportationbusiness is dependent upon our computer systems, devices and networks (operational and information technology) to collect, process and store the data necessary to conduct almost all aspects of our business, including the operation of our pipeline and storage operations are subject to extensive regulation byfacilities and the FERC, including rulesrecording and regulations related to the ratesreporting of commercial and financial information. A failure or security breach impacting our operational or information technology, or that of certain of our third-party vendors or others with whom we can charge for our services anddo business, could negatively affect our ability to constructsafely and reliably operate our assets, resulting in delays in providing services for our customers, contamination or abandon facilities. Wedegradation of the products we transport and store, damage to or destruction of our or third-party facilities, catastrophic events, injury or death to our employees or third parties, the inadvertent release of hydrocarbons or the release of confidential information, which could result in reduced revenue or unexpected costs. Despite our security measures, the information and operational technology and infrastructure we rely on may be vulnerable to attacks by third parties, such as hackers, cybercriminals, nation-states, insiders or other third parties, or breached due to human error, malfeasance or other disruptions. Any failure of our computer systems, or those of our customers, suppliers or others with whom we do business, could materially disrupt our ability to operate our business. In addition, access, disclosure or other loss

Any investigation of a cybersecurity attack or other security incident may be inherently unpredictable and complex, and it may take significant time before the completion of any investigation and availability of full and reliable information. During such time, we may not know the extent of the harm or how best to remediate it, and certain errors or actions could be repeated or compounded before they are discovered and remediated, all or any of which could further increase the costs and consequences of a cybersecurity attack or other security incident, and our remediation efforts may not be successful. The inability to implement, maintain and upgrade adequate safeguards could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows, and financial condition. As the cybersecurity threat landscape continues to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities. Advances in computer capabilities, discoveries in the field of artificial intelligence, cryptography, inadequate facility security or other developments may result in a compromise or breach of the technology we use to safeguard confidential, personal, or otherwise protected information. As the breadth and complexity of the technologies we use continue to grow, including as a result of the use of mobile devices, cloud services, open-source software, social media and the increased reliance on devices connected to the internet, the potential risk of cyberattacks and cybersecurity incidents also increases. No security measure is infallible. Despite ongoing efforts to improve our ability to protect our systems from compromise, we may not be able to recover the full costprotect all of operating our pipelines, including earning a reasonable return.

We may face opposition to the operation of our pipelines and facilities, construction or expansion of our facilities and new pipeline projects from governmental officials, environmental groups, landowners, communities, tribal or local groups and other advocates. Such opposition could take many forms, including organized protests, attempts to block or sabotage our operations, acts of eco-terrorism, intervention in regulatory or administrative proceedings involving our assets, or lawsuits or other actions designed to prevent, disrupt or delay the operation of our assets and business. For example, repairing our pipelines often involves securing consent from individual landowners to access their property; one or more landowners may resist our efforts to make needed repairs, which could lead to an interruption in the operation of the affected pipeline or facility for a period of time that is significantly longer than would have otherwise been the case. Acts of sabotage or eco-terrorism could cause significant damage or injury or death to people, property or the environment and lead to extended interruptions of our operations and material damages and costs.

Market conditions, including the price differentials between natural gas supplies and market demand for natural gas, may reduce the transportation rates of an interstate pipeline that operates as a master limited partnership. The ultimate outcome of this proceeding could impact the maximum rates we can charge on certain portions of our FERC-regulated pipelines. The FERC has not finalized this proceeding.pipeline systems.

Effective December 22, 2017, the Tax CutsEach year a portion of our firm natural gas transportation contracts expire and Jobs Act changed several provisionsneed to be replaced or renewed. As a result of the federal tax code, including a reductionmarket conditions, we may renew some expiring contracts at lower rates or for shorter terms than in the maximum corporate tax rate. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law, filings have been made at the FERC requesting that the FERC require pipelines to lower theirpast. The transportation rates we are able to accountcharge customers are heavily influenced by market trends (both short and longer term), including the available supply, geographical location of natural gas production, the competition between producing basins, competition with other pipelines for lower corporate taxes. Followingsupply and markets, the effective datedemand for gas by end-users such as power plants, petrochemical facilities and LNG export facilities and the price differentials between the gas supplies and the market demand for the gas (basis differentials).

Changes in energy prices, including natural gas, oil and NGLs, impact the supply of and demand for those commodities, which impact our business.

Our customers, especially producers and certain plant operators, are directly impacted by changes in commodity prices. The prices of natural gas, oil and NGLs fluctuate in response to changes in both domestic and worldwide supply and demand, market uncertainty and a variety of additional factors, including for natural gas the law,realization of potential LNG exports and demand growth within the FERC orders granting certificates to construct proposed pipeline facilities have directed pipelines proposing new rates for service on those facilities to re-file such rates so that the rates reflect the reductionpower generation market. Volatility in the corporate tax rate,pricing levels of natural gas, oil and NGLs could adversely affect the FERC has issued data requests in pending certificate proceedings for proposed pipeline facilities requesting pipelines to explain the impactsbusinesses of the reduction in the corporate tax rate on the rate proposals in those proceedingscertain of our producer customers and to provide re-calculated initial rates for service on the proposed pipeline facilities. The FERC may enact other regulations or issue further requests to pipelines regarding the impact of the corporate tax rate change on the rates. The FERC’s establishment of a just and reasonable rate is based on many components, and the reduction in the corporate tax rate may only impact two such components, the allowance for income taxes and the amount for accumulated deferred income taxes. The FERC or our shippers may challenge our rates in the future, which could result in a new rate that may be lower thandefaults or the rates we currently charge. The FERC or our customers can challenge the existing rates on anynon-renewal of our pipelines. Such a challenge against uscontracted capacity when existing contracts expire. Commodity prices could adversely affect the operations of certain of our abilityindustrial customers, including the temporary closure or reduction of plant operations, resulting in decreased deliveries to charge rates that would cover futurethose customers. Future increases in our costs or even to continue to collect rates to maintain our current revenue levels that are designed to permit us a reasonable opportunity to recover current costs and depreciation and earn a reasonable return.

We are exposed to credit risk relating to default or bankruptcy by our customers.customers.

Credit risk relates to the risk of loss resulting from the default by a customer of its contractual obligations or the customer filing bankruptcy. We have credit risk with both our existing customers and those supporting our growth projects.

Our credit exposure also includes receivables for services provided, future performance under firm agreements and volumes of gas owed by customers for imbalances or gas loaned by us to them under certain NNS and PAL services.

We rely on a limited number of customers for a significant portion of revenues.

For 2017, while2023, no customer comprised 10% or more of our operating revenues, ourrevenues. However, the top ten customers under committed firm agreements comprised approximately 41%53% of our revenues.total projected operating revenues as of December 31, 2023. If any of our significant customers have credit or financial problems which result in bankruptcy, a delay or failure to pay for services provided by us, to post the required credit support for construction associated with our growth projects or existing contracts or to repay the gas they owe us, it could have a material adverse effect on our revenues.

Our revolving credit facility contains operating and financial covenants that may restrict our business and financing activities.

Our revolving credit facility contains operating and financial covenants that may restrict our ability to finance future operations or capital needs or to expand or pursue business activities. Our credit agreement limits our ability to make loans or investments, make material changes to the nature of our business, merge, consolidate or engage in asset sales, or grant liens or make negative pledges. This agreement also requires us to maintain a ratio of total consolidated debt to consolidated EBITDA (as defined in the credit agreement) of not more than 5.0 to 1.0, or up to 5.5 to 1.0 for the three quarters following a qualified acquisition or series of acquisitions, where the purchase price exceeds $100.0 million over a rolling 12-month period, which limits the amount of additional indebtedness we can incur to grow our business, and could require us to reduce indebtedness if our earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) decreases to a level that would cause us to breach this covenant. Future financing agreements we may enter into could contain similar or more restrictive covenants or may not be as favorable as those under our existing indebtedness.

Our ability to comply with the covenants and restrictions contained in our credit agreement may be affected by events beyond our control, including economic, financial and market conditions. If market or economic conditions or our financial performance deteriorate, our ability to comply with these covenants may be impaired. If we are not able to incur additional indebtedness, we may need to sell additional equity securities to raise needed capital, which could be dilutive to our existing equity holders, orrequired to seek other sources of funding that may be on less favorable terms. If we default under our credit agreement or another financing agreement, significant additional restrictions may become applicable, including a restriction on our ability to make distributions to unitholders.applicable. In addition, a default could result in a significant portion of our indebtedness becoming immediately due and payable, and our lenders could terminate their commitment to make further loans to us. If such event occurs, we would not have, and may not be able to obtain sufficient funds to make these accelerated payments.

As of December 31, 2023, we had $3.3 billion in principal amount of long-term debt outstanding. This level of debt requires significant portioninterest payments. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt obligations, or to refinance our obligations on commercially reasonable terms, would have a material adverse effect on our business. Our indebtedness could have important consequences. For example, it could:

We are a partnership holding company and our operating subsidiaries conduct all of our operations and own all of our operating assets. We have no significant assets other than the ownership interests in our subsidiaries. As a result, our ability to fulfill our debt will mature overobligations depends on the next five yearsperformance of our subsidiaries and will needtheir ability to distribute funds to us. The ability of our subsidiaries to make distributions to us may be paid or refinancedrestricted by, among other things, the provisions of existing and changesfuture indebtedness, applicable state partnership and limited liability company laws and other laws and regulations, including FERC policies.

Limited access to the debt markets and equity marketsincreases in interest rates could adversely affect our business.

A significant portion ofWe anticipate funding our debt is set to mature in the next five years, includingcapital and other spending requirements through our revolving credit facility. We may not be able to refinance our maturing debt on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, depending on numerous factors, including our financial condition and prospects at the time and the then current state of the banking and capital markets in the U.S.

Any disruption in the capitaldebt markets could require us to take additional measures to conserve cash until the markets stabilize or until we can arrange alternative credit arrangements or other funding for our business needs. Such measures could include reducing or delaying business activities, reducing our operations to lower expenses and reducing other discretionary uses of cash. We may be unable to execute our growth strategy or take advantage of certain business opportunities, any of which could negatively impact our business.

Climate change continues to attract considerable public and scientific attention. As a result, numerous proposals have been made and are likely to continue to be made at the international, national, regional and state levelsPandemics or other outbreaks of government to monitor and limit emissions of GHGs. While no comprehensive climate change legislation has been implemented at the federal level, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states or groupings of states have pursued legal initiatives in recent years that seek to reduce GHG emissions through efforts that include consideration of cap-and-trade programs, carbon taxes and GHG reporting and tracking programs, and regulations that directly limit GHG emissions from certain sources such as, for example, limitations on emissions of methane through equipment control and leak detection and repair requirements.

The global outbreak of the targetCOVID-19 pandemic and measures to mitigate the spread of cyberattacks or information security breaches thatCOVID-19 caused unprecedented disruptions to the global and U.S. economies and impacted global demand for oil and petrochemical products. Future pandemics and other outbreaks of contagious diseases could result in similar or worse impacts and significant business and operational disruptions, including business closures, supply chain disruptions, travel restrictions, stay-at-home orders and limitations on the unauthorized release, gathering, monitoring, misuse, lossavailability of workforces. Although our operations are considered essential critical infrastructure under current Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency guidelines, if significant portions of our workforce are unable to work effectively, including because of illness or destructionquarantines or from the impacts of proprietaryany potential future pandemics and other information, oroutbreaks of contagious diseases, our business could be materially adversely affected. We may also be unable to perform fully on our contracts, and our costs may increase as a result any potential future pandemics and other disruptionoutbreaks of operations. In addition, certain cyber-incidents may remain undetected for an extended period. As cyber-incidents continue to evolve, we will likely be required to expend additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to cyber-incidents. Our insurance coverage for cyberattackscontagious diseases. These cost increases may not be sufficient to cover allfully recoverable. It is possible that future pandemics and other outbreaks of contagious diseases could cause disruption in our customers' business; cause delay, or limit the losses we may experience as a result of such cyberattacks. Any cyberattacks that affect our facilities, or thoseability of our customers suppliers or others with whom we do businessto perform, including in making timely payments to us. Future pandemics and other outbreaks of contagious diseases could impact capital markets, which may impact our customers' financial position. Future pandemics and other outbreaks of contagious diseases may also have a material adversethe effect on our business, cause us a financial loss and/or damage our reputation.of increasing several of the other risk factors contained herein.

We do not own all of the land on which our pipelines, storage and other facilities are located, which could result in disruptions to our operations.

We do not own allSubstantial portions of the land on which our pipelines, storage and other facilities have beenare constructed and maintained on property owned by others pursuant to rights-of-way, easements, permits, licenses or consents, and we are subject to the possibility of more onerous terms and/or increased costs to retain necessary land use rights if we do not have valid rights-of-wayland use rights or if such rights-of-wayland use rights lapse or terminate. We obtainSome of the rights to construct and operate our pipelines, storage or other facilities on land owned by third parties and governmental agencies that we obtain are for a specific periodperiods of time. We cannot guarantee that we will always be able to renew, when necessary, existing rights-of-wayland use rights or obtain new rights-of-wayland use rights without experiencing significant costs.costs or experiencing landowner opposition. Any loss of these land use rights with respect to the operation of our real property,pipelines, storage and other facilities, through our inability to acquire or renew right-of-way or easement contracts or permits, licenses, consents or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholdersoperations.

We may not be successful in executing our strategy to grow and diversify our business.

We rely primarily on the revenues generated from our natural gas long-haul transportation and storage services. Negative developments in these services have significantly greater impact on our financial condition and results of operations than if we maintained more diverse assets. We are pursuing a strategy of growing and diversifying our business through acquisition and development of assets in complementary areas of the midstream energy sector, such as liquids transportation and storage assets. Our ability to grow, diversify and increase distributable cash flows will depend, in part, on our ability to expand our existing business lines and to close and execute on accretive acquisitions. We may not be successful in acquiring or developing such assets or may do so on terms that ultimately are not profitable. Any such transactions involve potential risks that may include, among other things:

Our ability to replace expiring gas storage contracts at attractive rates or on a long-term basis and to sell short-term services at attractive rates or at all are subject to market conditions.

We own and operate substantial natural gas storage facilities. The market for the storage and PAL services that we offer is impacted by the factors and market conditions discussed above for our transportation services, and is also impacted by natural gas price differentials between time periods, such as winter to summer (time period price spreads), and the volatility in time period price spreads. When market conditions cause a narrowing of time period price spreads and a decline in the price volatility of natural gas, these factors adversely impact the rates we can charge for our storage and PAL services.

There are a variety of operating risks inherent in transporting and storing natural gas, ethylene and NGLs, such as leaks and other forms of releases, explosions, fires, cyber-attackscybersecurity attacks and mechanical problems, some of which could have catastrophic consequences. Additionally, the nature and location of our business may make us susceptible to catastrophic losses from hurricanes or other named storms, particularly with regard to our assets in the Gulf Coast region, cold freezes, snow storms, windstorms, earthquakes, hail and other severe winter weather. Any of these or other similar occurrences could result in the disruption of our operations, substantial repair costs, personal injury or loss of human life, significant damage to property, environmental pollution, impairment of our operations and substantial financial losses. The location of pipelines in HCAs, which includes

We currently possess property, business interruption, cybercybersecurity threat and general liability insurance, but proceeds from such insurance coverage may not be adequate for all liabilities or expenses incurred or revenues lost. Moreover, such insurance may not be available in the future at commercially reasonable costs and terms. The insurance coverage we do obtain may contain large deductibles or fail to cover certain events, hazards or all potential losses.

Our business requires the retention and recruitment of a skilled workforce and the loss of such workforce could result in the failure to implement our business plans.

Our operations and management require the retention and recruitment of a skilled executive team and workforce including engineers, technical personnel and other professionals. In addition, many of our current employees are approaching retirement age and have significant institutional knowledge that must be transferred to other employees. If we are unable to (a) retain our current employees, (b) successfully complete the knowledge transfer and/or (c) recruit new employees of comparable knowledge and experience, our business could be negatively impacted.

Our business is highly competitive.

The principal elements of competition among pipeline systems are availability of capacity, rates, terms of service, access to gas supplies, flexibility and reliability of service. Additionally, the FERC's policies promote competition in natural gas markets by increasing the number of natural gas transportation options available to our customer base. Increased competition could reduce the volumes of product we transport or store or, in instances where we do not have long-term contracts with fixed rates, could cause us to decrease the transportation or storage rates we can charge our customers. Competition could intensify the negative impact of factors that adversely affect the demand for our services, such as adverse economic conditions, weather, higher fuel costs and taxes or other regulatory actions that increase the cost, or limit the use, of our facilities or products we transport and store.

Possible terrorist activities or military actions could adversely affect our business.

The continued threat of terrorism and the impact of retaliatory military and other action by the U.S. and its allies might lead to increased political, economic and financial market instability and volatility in prices for natural gas, which could affect the markets for our natural gas transportation and storage services. While we are taking steps that we believe are appropriate to increase the security of our assets, we may not be able to completely secure our assets or completely protect them against a terrorist attack.