Kinder Morgan's 85.000 mile of pipelines facilitate the extraction and production of natural gas (72,000 miles of its pipelines), gasoline and crude oil, which causes climate change. In particular, the construction of new fossil fuel pipelines allows the expansion of fossil fuel extraction, which is incompatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement.    

Kinder Morgan has a long record of oil spills, fires and explosions in it's terminals and pipelines. In its two decades of existence Kinder Morgan is responsible for over 1800 oil and chemical spill violations of which nearly 500 from pipelines. In 2005 210,000 litres of crude oil leaked at the Sumas Tank Farm (part of the Trans Mountain Pipeline) of which a part leaked into the nearby Kilgard Creek. Due to Kinder Morgans failing to properly mark the Trans Mountain Pipeline a backhoe broke the line resulting in an oil leak of 250,000 litres in July2007. In May 2009 another 200,000 litres of oil leaked out of Kinder Morgan's tanks at Burnaby Mountain facility. 

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has cited Kinder Morgan several times for failing to execute required inspection, safety testing, monitoring and maintenance of its pipelines and failing to notify authorities about spills when they occur. 

Besides its pipeline operations, Kinder Morgan has several coal export operations. The non-profit research and communication centre Sightline Institute, listed several violations regarding Kinder Morgan's coal terminals. The company has been fined for violations of the US Clean Air Act, Pollution Control Act, Ocean Dumping Act, federal Renewable Fuels Standard, safety violations, labour and workplace violations.

Kinder Morgan has been cited for several workplace safety violations in the United States. Several explosions have occurred at Kinder Morgan’s pipelines and terminals which resulted in deaths and (severe) injuries of their employees. In 2004 a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan (KMGP Services Company Inc.) was fined $500,000 by the California Fire Marshal for a 'completely preventable' tragedy that killed five people and injured four.  In 2007 a Kinder Morgan subsidiary was found guilty for several felonies in connection to an explosion that killed five people. In 2012 a gas leak from a Kinder Morgan pipeline initiated an explosion at a plant owned by Pemex Exploración y producción, a subsidiary of Mexico’s state oil company Pemex. On July 13, 2016, a U.S. Federal Court ruled that Kinder Morgan should face the charges of gross negligence and negligence for the explosion.

The case of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project has shown that Kinder Morgan pushes through projects even when they violates Indigenous rights. When it owned and operated the project Kinder Morgan violated Indigenous rights including the right of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), receiving opposition from many First Nations that would be directly impacted by the pipeline. The Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade has prepared a risk assessment on the expansion of the pipeline through the territory of the Secwepemc people, which have rejected the project.