There were some bright lights in the pipeline dispute process. So rather than waiting, Spire used eminent domain, or a “quick take” legal process to gain access to private property before they had to pay to use the land, which undercuts farmers and takes the power out of their hands. About 50 farmers refused to hand over part of their property to be used for the Spire pipeline project. Spire had gained 92.8% access by landowners through compensation methods and eminent domain, the latter of which refers to the power of the government to convert private land to public use. Due to sloppy construction, topsoil was mixed with clay mud making it useless to farmers, and fields have been flooded. Although within the Spire environmental impact assessment, they were required under the EIA to take precautions to protect agriculture. Farmers make up the majority of actors involved in the lawsuit and owned 85.3% of the land utilized for Spire’s pipeline extension project.
Circuit challenging the FERC’s approval of the STL pipeline. On January 20, 2020, the Environmental Defense Fund filed a lawsuit to the U.S. June 2019, just after the installation of the pipeline, several farmers have issued complaints about runoff, losses of topsoil, and contamination to the IL EPA, citing an 80-page report showing images of their damaged fields. The largely agricultural/farmers who owned the land that Spire claimed through eminent domain to build are particularly unhappy. One likely reason for developing the pipeline is that Spire wanted to employ its own subsidiary.
Rather, Spire and the FERC relied on Spire’s own internal reports. Both believe that there was not a sufficient investigation into Spire’s claims of the need for the pipeline. Glick, along with the Environmental Defense Fund who is currently suing FERC over the approval of the pipeline, are not convinced that the additional pipeline is necessary. Additionally, the Commission concluded, prior to voting, that the natural gas would not be any cheaper if it were transported through this new pipeline. He argues that there is no evidence that an increased supply of natural gas is needed. In a dissent published in 2019 by Richard Glick, one of the Democrat commissioners who voted against, he questions the necessity of the pipeline. Two Democrat commissioners both voted against the pipeline. The Spire STL pipeline was approved in August of 2018 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on a 3-2 vote, after about two years of deliberation. Great Rivers urges action to protect also threatened and endangered species including the Indiana bat and the decurrent false aster while emphasizing the need to consider alternatives to the expansion of transmission lines for fracked natural gas, which is causing climate change. “ goes underneath the Missouri River, it goes underneath the Mississippi River…hat goes through these pipelines is not benign. Viel is concerned also that the pipeline would be installed through Spanish Lake neighborhood, which is predominantly African American. Louis County resident Juli Viel’s staunch demands for a more comprehensive environmental assessment of the potential impacts. In November, 2017, The Great Rivers Environmental Law Center filed a motion to intervene on the FERC’s review, responding primarily to St. Spire Energy is the fifth-largest publicly traded natural gas company in the United States and operates in Alabama, Mississippi, and Missouri. The pipeline is fully owned and operated by Spire STL Pipeline LLC, an offshoot of Spire Energy.
The second portion of the pipeline is 6 miles of acquired and modified steel pipes. Louis County consists of newly built steel pipes. The first 59 miles of it, beginning in Scott County and extending into St.