Oct 15 Reuters - The U.S. Supreme Court refused federal law and the company's request to stay a lower court decision which vacated a federal permit to operate the company's STL pipeline in Maine.
Spire has warned that the shutdown of the 65-mile 105-kilometer pipeline could cause gas outages for as many as 400,000 in St. Louis this winter.
The company, however, has already had permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission FERC to continue operating the pipe through at least mid-December as Spire and FERC figure out what to do about the permit problem.
While we are disappointed by today s decision STL Pipeline will continue to operate under the currently effective emergency certificate issued by the FERC Scott Smith, president of Spire STL Pipeline, said in a statement.
FERC issued temporary emergency certificate to operate after the U.S. Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the certificate FERC issued for the roughly $285 million pipe in June 2018.
Spire said it will ask the Supreme Court to review the decision by Dec. 6 to invalidate its permanent certificate order of appeals court.
The appeals court said the problem with the 2018 certificate was that FERC found a market need for the pipeline despite one gas supplier, an affiliate of the line's operator, committing to use it.
FERC can determine the appropriate conditions for a temporary certificate and ensure continuity of service to the people of St. Louis, said the Environmental Defense Fund EDF noting FERC is poised to issue another temporary certificate to ensure reliability EDF brought the case that overturned the FERC permit.
The line, designed to deliver up to 0.4 billion cubic feet of gas per day, began operating in November 2017 and will continue for another two years.