ST. LOUIS — Spire Pipeline is looking for long-term and short-term solutions right now for its pipeline to keep operating. On Friday, Spire filed two things with the Supreme Court.
The first is a petition to overturn the U.S. Court of Appeals decision to say Spire should have never been operating in the first place. The second filing is a request to grant Spire an with a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Certificate. The certificate gives Spire the ability to operate its pipeline fully.
The timeline of Spires contest to operate has been a confusing series of events. First, a federal appeals court decided in June the operation of Spire's pipeline was wrong. The court vacated FERC's 2018 approval of the pipeline, saying FERC did not sufficiently analyze whether it was needed since only one gas supplier, an affiliate of the line's operator, committed to use it.
The pipeline began operations in 2019. The court said Spire should never have been operating at that time. Spire has now gone to the Supreme Court to have that decision reversed.
Right now, Spire has temporary authorization to operate until Dec. 13 unless FERC grants Spire a certificate to operate before then.
FERC, Spire, and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) are what led to this filing. The initial question was whether or not Spire should be operating because the EDF has an issue with the pipeline cutting through farmland.
The Spire STL Pipeline runs about 65 miles from Scott County, Illinois, to St. Louis.