ST. LOUIS – On Aug. 17, natural gas company Spire STL Pipeline LLC took to the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri for the Eastern Division in hopes of obtaining private property for an ongoing public project.
The defendants in the case are said to have interest in acreage that it alleges is "needed for the construction and operation of a 65-mile steel natural gas pipeline that will connect with the existing Rockies Express Pipeline in Scott County, Illinois, through St. Charles County, Missouri and St. Louis County, Missouri, before terminating at the Enable Mississippi River Transmission Line," the suit states.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines and granted construction of the project. The certificate states that Spire can “acquire the same by the exercise of the right of eminent domain in the district court in which such property may be located,” according to the claim.
Spire also added FERC has determined the project is necessary when it comes to obtaining easements for real property and the operation of a new natural gas transmission line that would offer natural gas to those in Missouri and Illinois. The land in question sits on corporate boundaries in St. Charles County, Missouri.
Spire also said that it was unable to get in contact with the recorded owners of a property identified as the Borgschulte Property, despite reaching out several times. Spire alleges it provided a landowner information letter and a handful of good faith offers to purchase the property to the record owners, but they didn’t respond. The good faith offer was good through Aug. 15.
Spire reiterated that it met all other requirements needed to move forward with the project. It asked the court the notices it filed be considered enough, and that it would have the right to condemn the easements, and that it would acquire the ownership and title of the easements after providing the correct compensation. It also asked for any awards and decrees that the court saw fit.
Spire is represented by Pamela J. Meanes and Paul T. Sonderegger Thompson Coburn in St. Louis.