Georgia Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry issued his decision Tuesday, denying Kinder Morgan a certificate that would have given the company power to force the sale of easements of private land to build the Palmetto Pipeline. “It is noted that my review of this matter is focused on whether the pipeline would be a public convenience and necessity,” McMurry wrote in his decision letter. Kinder Morgan, a major Texas-based energy corporation, proposes to spend about $1 billion to build a 360-mile pipeline to carry gasoline, diesel fuel and fuel-grade ethanol from its existing pipeline at Belton, South Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida, with distribution terminals near Augusta and Savannah.