Operational Spire STL gas pipeline passes environmental review at FERC

A draft environmental review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cleared Spire STL Pipeline's legally challenged natural gas transportation project and brought it closer to a new long-term authorization, even as the line continues to supply the greater St. Louis area.

The 65-mile, 400,000-Dt/d pipeline has been operating since December 2021 under a temporary certificate that FERC issued so the line could remain in service while the commission tackled issues raised by the US Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit. (CP17-40). The DC Circuit vacated the pipeline's certificate in June 2021 in a case brought by project opponent Environmental Defense Fund, which accused the company of self-dealing.

Though environmental concerns were not the reason for the legal setback for the Spire pipeline company, the positive draft environmental impact statement issued June 16 marked an important step toward a FERC decision on a long-term permit for the project. Industry observers have closely watched the developer's effort to regain the permit for signs of how the commission's efforts to update its approach to permitting natural gas infrastructure may take shape.

FERC staff said in the draft review for Spire that allowing the continued operation of the Spire pipeline would not result in significant environmental impacts. But FERC staff also recommended that the developer be required to take additional mitigation measures such as plants or fences "to reduce visual impacts on residences" from meter stations that the staff said disproportionately affect environmental justice communities. These communities, which FERC identifies according to a US Environmental Protection Agency definition, are populations that have historically been vulnerable to industrial development.

The permitting review stopped short of drawing conclusions about the potential climate impacts of the project.

The staff's approach in the Spire pipeline review was consistent with its work in other recent pipeline cases, following a decision in March by the Democratic majority of FERC commissioners. The commissioners decided to suspend an overhaul of the agency's pipeline permitting policy and revisit it after seeking more public comment. The FERC action came in the face of intense criticism, especially from Republican lawmakers and the oil and gas industry. The policy changes pressed FERC to take a harder look at the need for projects and their impacts on climate, among other revisions.

In the decision to vacate the Spire pipeline's original certificate, the DC Circuit said FERC had not adequately responded to challenges to a precedent agreement for gas transportation with an affiliate, the utility Spire Missouri Inc. which Spire STL Pipeline used to establish project need. Spire recently cited a report by Missouri utility regulators as evidence that the natural gas pipeline is needed and should receive long-term federal authorization.