Spire STL gas pipeline project gains permanent authorization from US' FERC after court action

Spire STL Pipeline gained a new certificate from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Dec. 15, ensuring the project can continue its operations in the aftermath of a 2021 court ruling that said FERC did not adequately scrutinize whether the natural gas pipeline project was needed.

While FERC has been mulling its answer to the court, the 65-mile, 400,000 Dt/d natural gas pipeline has continued to supply the St. Louis, Missouri, area under a temporary certificate FERC issued last year.

The continued service had been thrown into limbo in 2021 after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated FERC's certificate, finding the agency ignored record evidence of self-dealing when it approved the pipeline backed by a contract with a single affiliate.

In a briefing with reporters, Chairman Richard Glick said that after the Spire decision at FERC, "it's very clear that you have to ask for additional evidence of need, not rely on precedent agreements between affiliated companies."

The new authorization was approved by all five commissioners at FERC's monthly open meeting.

Glick said he was voting for the project because he agreed, "reluctantly," that the record shows that "I think there is a need for this project now," since Spire has disengaged the pipeline from another line that could have supplied gas and has taken "other actions that really made this the only viable pipeline" to serve the area.

Glick, who dissented on Spire's original authorization, also revisited his prior concerns that there was little record that the project was needed when FERC first approved it. And he lamented FERC's 16-month wait before acting on a rehearing request from opponents. The lag allowed the project to enter service before the court ruled on challenges.

Warning on restoration

Further, the chairman issued a warning about restoration, saying there are several tracts of land for which Spire has not adequately completed the restoration following construction. There are "a lot of different actions" FERC can take if the company continues to lag in that restoration, he said, including "rescinding the certificate itself."

Spire STL Pipeline welcomed the permanent authorization.

"Four times the FERC has looked at whether this pipeline is necessary [and] responded that the pipeline is necessary and should be approved in the public interest," said Sean Jamieson, Spire general counsel, in an interview. "I hope this chapter on whether this pipeline is necessary is closed," he said, asserting there has been "significant evidence in the record."

Jamieson also asserted that Spire is doing "everything we can do to perform the restoration work that we know is our obligation."

But he said Spire knows it lacks the legal right to be on certain landowner properties until access is allowed to perform restoration. The company is seeking help from FERC, the Illinois Department of Agriculture and other stakeholders to help reach a resolution, he said.

FERC's action drew criticism from the environmental group that launched the litigation.

"The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today improperly granted Spire STL Pipeline a permanent certificate based solely on claims made by the pipeline owner and its affiliate," Environmental Defesen Fund said in a statement. "Landowners, ratepayers, and other stakeholders with important perspectives on, and experiences with, the project were shut out from commenting or offering evidence about Spire's most recent claims despite requests to do so." The environmental group, which brought the intitial litigation challenging the project, said FERC "has again failed to fulfill its obligation."

Megan Gibson, deputy chief counsel, Niskanen Center, representing landowners, said that "Glick and a majority of the Commission got it right in that Spire never should have been approved in the first place, as there was no demonstrated evidence of market need at that time." She added she was hoping that "Spire heeds the commissioners' warning -- and finally properly and responsibly restores landowners' severely damaged properties."

The commission did not act on Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line's 829 MMcf/d Regional Energy Access project, which would connect northern Pennsylvania supplies to Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey customers, although the project had been listed on the agenda.