If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) does not grant an extension to operate the St. Louis Spire gas pipeline beyond Dec. 13, St. Louis residents serviced by the utility could face a very cold winter, according to a Spire attorney.
Future service by the STL Spire Pipeline is again in limbo after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Spire’s request last month to stay a District of Columbia Court of Appeal ruling that determined the FERC did not thoroughly evaluate the pipeline before approving it in 2018, according to media reports.
“If you take Spire STL Pipeline out of service, not only will you not have reliable gas service that comes into the St. Louis region, you also will not have an ability to replenish the reserves, which means that if there's a cold snap at the beginning of winter, or anytime during winter, and then a subsequent cold snap that relies on that available reserve amount of capacity that's behind the city gates, you will have not been able to replenish it,” said Sean Jamieson, general counsel with Spire Resources.
Of the 650,000 homes and businesses that Spire Missouri serves in the St. Louis region, 400,000 are projected to experience gas outages if the pipeline is forced to stop service.
“There's still going to be gas coming into the region but there could be real problems of getting people reliable gas service,” Jamieson told the St. Louis Record. “The models that are being run show a worst-case scenario up to 60% of the homes and businesses in the St Louis region could go without reliable gas service.”
As a result, Spire is now looking to the FERC to extend their certificate to operate beyond Dec. 13.
“There is overwhelming support to keep this pipeline in operation and not just overwhelming support from Spire, not just from government officials that represent constituents in the region that would be effected, not only from United States Senators who have been following this issue but also from community advocacy groups and even our opponent, EDF, are saying that the pipeline should remain in service this winter,” Jamieson said.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) filed a lawsuit against FERC, Spire, and the pipeline after a certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) had been issued alleging that there were flaws in the pipeline.
EDF has since stated in reply comments filed with the court on Oct. 5 that they have learned new information that makes them believe the pipeline is necessary to operate over the winter.
Electric heaters are not a viable alternative, according to Jamieson.
“It is not clear to me that the electric grid can handle a wholesale replacement of natural gas demand with electric demand so if we're not going to have gas, that load difference has to be managed and supplied by the electric grid and the electric grid is not prepared for that,” he added. “You’ve now complicated the problem with the worst-case scenario of having rolling blackouts because of this.”
EDF did not immediately reply to requests for comment.