For an interstate natural gas pipeline, it was small but mighty: The 65-mile Spire STL Pipeline transformed the flow of gas in the St. Louis metro region when it came into service in 2019, bringing a promise of lower bills and better reliability to some 650,000 utility customers.
Now, federal energy regulators—following a scathing court mandate this year—are being forced to consider whether the pipeline construction was even necessary in the first place.
The pipeline was developed by an affiliate of the St. Louis-based gas utility, Spire Missouri, using a partnership common in the pipeline boom in the last two ...