British stone. Louis-The company in St. Louis warned that if the natural gas pipeline operated by the utility company Spire fails to operate after December 13, it will have a “significant impact”.

The problem is the continued operation of the 65-mile, $285 million STL pipeline, which opened in November 2019 and provides natural gas to the region.

In June, the Federal Court of Appeals revoked the regulatory agency’s approval for the pipeline, saying that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did not fully analyze whether the pipeline was needed because only one natural gas supplier (an affiliate of the pipeline operator) committed to use the pipeline.

The ruling prompted St. Louis-based Spire to issue a warning that the area may be affected by natural gas shortages this winter, but FERC decided in September to allow Spire to continue operating the pipeline until at least December 13. The company and other companies in the region hope that FERC will extend the emergency order, especially after the US Supreme Court rejected Spire's request to continue operating the pipeline last month.

An executive at Anheuser-Busch, which has more than 3,000 employees in Missouri, told FERC that the company "takes seriously the consequences of the loss of STL pipelines."

Jim Bicklein, senior general manager of the St. Louis Brewery, said the brewer "relies on natural gas" to produce beer. "More than 30% of our cargo from the St. Louis brewery to wholesalers is used by trucks. Compressed natural gas."

"If the STL pipeline is closed, our brewery operations will be affected, and the sites we use near the brewery will also be closed, severely restricting our fleet," Bicklin told FERC in a letter. "This in turn will cause a ripple effect in our wider industry. As potential restrictions and interruptions extend beyond our own business and expand to other businesses, negative economic consequences for the entire St. Louis area are inevitable."

The filing of the lawsuit prompted the non-profit organization that the June ruling, called the Environmental Protection Fund, to downplay concerns about gas shortages in St. Louis. In its lawsuit, it argued that FERC failed to perform its statutory duties, causing damage to residents of the land along the pipeline route and taxpayers paying fees.

Read the full text on the St. Louis Business Journal website.

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