Spire STL’s natural gas pipeline from Illinois to St. Louis faced a setback after the D.C. Circuit found Tuesday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ignored evidence of self-dealing and failed to seriously weigh the need for the pipeline when it approved the project.
Spire STL privately entered an agreement in 2016 with one of its affiliates, now Spire Missouri Inc., for about 87% of the pipeline’s expected capacity. The company later acknowledged natural gas demand in St. Louis would remain flat, but it told FERC the pipeline would have other benefits, including “enhancing reliability and supply security.”
FERC was ...