Federal Energy Regulatory Commission directed pipeline company Spire to do more work to restore land impacted by the construction of its embattled Spire STL pipeline.
The St. Louis-based pipeline company has faced a barrage of landowner complaints for years in a saga that has drawn the notice of Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), landowner rights groups, environmentalists and state and federal regulators.
FERC issued a series of orders Wednesday to improve Spire’s efforts to restore land along the 65-mile project that stretches from western Illinois into St. Louis. The directives include 17 letter orders from staff that lay out how the pipeline company should resolve longstanding landowner concerns about its work restoring their properties.
Requirements laid out in the letters include removing construction debris and rocks on all impacted properties, restoring soil, replanting trees, resolving erosion issues, testing well water and repairing any damages to impacted roads and driveways. FERC will keep an inspector on-site until Spire completes its restoration, the commission ordered.
