RICHMOND HILL -- Allen Fore, Kinder Morgan’s vice president of public affairs, was the first to speak at Tuesday’s public hearing at the Richmond Hill City Center regarding the company’s proposed Palmetto Pipeline Project.That was the last positive spin the 360-mile pipeline got for most of the rest of the night.Speaker after speaker stood up before a packed room to voice opposition to the pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s application to the Georgia Department of Transportation for a certificate of necessity and convenience.The DOT said 528 people showed up at the hearing, and the agency will hold another hearing May 7 in Waynesboro. It also will take written comments through May 15.If granted, the certificate will allow Kinder Morgan to use eminent domain to force property owners along the pipeline route to sell the company easements if they do not first come to a negotiated agreement.That’s something the company rarely uses, Fore said, and even then landowners are compensated.But even as he was speaking, it was clear this wasn’t Kinder Morgan’s night.Many of those who spoke Tuesday, including Richmond Hill resident Roy Hubbard, railed against the company behind the pipeline after asking why Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell McMurray is the only person to decide whether Kinder Morgan would get the certificate.“I have every respect for Commissioner McMurray’s long service for the Georgia DOT,” Hubbard said. “In my opinion, he should not be shouldered with the responsibility in deciding whether or not to apply such an invasive and potentially damaging rule such as the rule of eminent domain.