Spire Pipeline in the news once again

By Editor | September 14, 2023 |

By Carmen Ensinger

Spire STL has been pumping natural gas deep underground through the counties of Greene, Scott and Jersey for over four years now. But the mark they left on the landowners whose land they went through is still making the news.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has filed a petition in Greene County Circuit Court on Aug. 23 against Spire STL Pipeline, LLC and Michels Corporation for a Rule to Show Cause to why the natural gas pipeline should not be held in indirect civil contempt for failing to follow an order to fix problems along the pipeline they installed that runs through Scott, Greene and Jersey counties.
The issue dates back to 2020 when the Attorney General’s office filed a complaint against the two companies alleging numerous violations of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act.
According to documents filed in court, the complaint alleged that on April 23 and May 2 2018, the Illinois EPA inspected several private properties on which the defendants were conducting excavation and construction activities associated with the pipeline project.
During these inspections, the EPA observed failing or inadequate runoff controls; subsoils washed away from the pipeline project construction site onto adjacent private lands; sediment-laden stormwater discharging from the pipeline project construction site into tile risers, private ponds, ditches and streams; and turbid, brown waters in private ponds, ditches and streams receiving stormwater from the pipeline project construction site.
On Aug. 8, 2022, in response to a citizen complaint, Illinois EPA conducted an inspection of several private properties on which defendant Spire conducted site reclamation activities associated with construction in the Pipeline ROW.
EPA inspected a property located southwest of the intersection of Gourley Road and Rt. 106 near Alsey in Scott County. They observed an area within the Pipeline ROW on Property 1 where the pipeline had been constructed underneath an unnamed tributary of Little Sandy Creek. They observed active erosion of the stream bank, exposed tree roots, bank sediments slipping into the stream and several locations with significant amounts of sediment deposition. Further south, several trees had fallen as a result of the land slip and at the base of the slop active erosion had created a channelized flow carrying silt-laden water northwards towards the unnamed tributary of Little Sandy Creek.
EPA also inspected a property located south of 1000 North Road and west of US Rt. 67 near Carrollton. Here, the pipeline had been constructed under Macoupin Creek. EPA observed a 20 base by 6-foot-deep area of the bank of Macoupin Creek within the Pipeline ROW where soil appeared to have been excavated. Within this area, they observed active erosion, exposed tree roots and sediment deposition to Macoupin Creek.
At another property, just a short distance south of this property, they inspected another property where they observed an area of a farm field where crops were not growing. Within this area of the farm field, the EPA observed 6-inch to 1-foot deep gullies, pieces of matting and construction debris and excavated rock. They also observed subsidence that appeared to be occurring within the Pipeline ROW and sediment deposition in a roadside ditch tributary to Macoupin Creek.
Another area of the same farm field had 3-foot to 4-foot-deep gullies that drained into a roadside ditch tributary to Macoupin Creek. Within this area of the farm field, EPA observed the embankment slipping into the roadside ditch and sediment deposition in the roadside ditch.
This latest petition basically asks that Spire and Michels be held in direct civil contempt and be fined an undisclosed amount for not complying with the original 2019 consent order plus, be forced to comply with the 2019 consent order.
Spire has been in the news since the pipeline construction began. Once it was completed, area farmers began complaining that the company had left their land basically in a mess.
It has been fraught with controversy almost since the day it went online. In order to operate, Spire had to apply for and receive a Certificate of Operation through the Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission (FERC). To receive this, they had to basically prove they were needed in the area.
However, after they went online, this was challenged and on June 21, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated and remanded back to the Commission, the 2018 certificate the Commission had issued to Spire, holding that the Commission improperly relied on a single precedent agreement between spire and its affiliated shipper to establish need and failed to adequately weigh the project benefits against the adverse effects.
In light of this decision, Spire submitted an application in July of 2021 for a temporary certificate seeking to continue operations to serve customers through the 2021-22 winter heating season. They were issued a 90-day certificate to ensure that the pipeline could continue operating as the Commission considered the July application.
That order was extended on Dec. 3, 2021 and it wasn’t until December of 2022 that FERC finally granted a permanent certificate for Spire to operate the natural gas pipeline in Illinois and Missouri.