Regulators Direct Spire to Clean Up Damaged Properties
Date Posted: March 14, 2024
Posted In: News, Projects,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Wednesday ordered the region’s natural gas utility, Spire, to repair more than a dozen private properties it damaged when building its controversial Spire STL natural gas pipeline.
Spire said Wednesday it was happy to take the steps, and in fact had made the pitch itself to FERC.
“We are committed to doing the right thing,” said Sean Jamieson, general counsel for Spire STL Pipeline. He touted the orders as an important step toward a “mutual goal of full restoration” along the entirety of the project.
But at least one farmer said he is skeptical about what FERC’s orders mean for his land.
“It’s too premature here to figure out what’s going on,” said Marc Steckel, a Carrollton, Illinois, resident who owns farmland traversed by the Spire pipeline.
Spire, based in St. Louis, has faced years of criticism about damages along the path of the 65-mile pipeline that cuts through farmland and forests in Illinois, before entering north St. Louis County.