The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved an order issuing a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the Spire STL Pipeline, which paves the way for the St. Louis region to receive a new source of natural gas.
Image: Pipelines. Photo: courtesy of outgunned21/FreeImages.com
With this approval, the pipeline will move forward with land acquisition and other pre-construction activities.
Spire STL Pipeline president Mike Geiselhart said: “This approval is great news for people who live and work in the St. Louis region.
“This project will provide access to new, abundant sources of domestic natural gas for homes and businesses across our area. The Spire STL Pipeline will improve resiliency and bring greater supply security for years to come.”
As a part of the certificate process, the pipeline held community meetings for landowners and community members and met all environmental, cultural and civil standards set by the FERC.
Throughout the process the pipeline location, construction plans, suppliers and materials were all selected to ensure the well-being and safety of communities along the route.
The 65-mile Spire STL Pipeline will interconnect with the existing Rockies Express Pipeline in Scott County, Illinois and run through Scott, Greene and Jersey counties in Illinois and St. Charles and St. Louis counties in Missouri.
With the approval, we will revise and finalize our construction plan, including a final timeline and targeted in-service date. Based upon our initial evaluation and work with our contractor, as well as our desire to avoid the added costs of wintertime construction, we anticipate the targeted in-service date will move to late calendar 2019.
The total project costs are expected to increase modestly to a range of $210 million – $225 million.
Spire Inc. affirms its existing earnings and capital spend guidance for fiscal 2018, as well as its long-term targets for earnings per share growth and capital expenditures. The timing of the project is anticipated to increase expenditures in fiscal 2019.
Source: Company Press Release