Deep into Missouri’s feverish summer, a St. Louis hardware store owner found his customers clamoring for something surprising: electric space heaters.

1. The $287 MillionPipeline No One Needed? How
Spire’s Ambitions Almost Left St. Louis Without Heat
DeepintoMissouri’s feverishsummer, aSt. Louis hardware store owner
found his customers clamoring for something surprising:electric space
heaters.
“The weather was warm, and it was strange that people were worriedabout
it,”said Don Heberer, owner of Rathbone Hardware. He estimates that he
soldabout 20 percent more space heaters thannormal for that time of year.
The reason? The local gas utility company was warning people that come
winter, they might not have heat.

2. Spire Inc., an investor-ownedgas conglomerate, issuedthe warnings last year
after a court orderedit toshut down its new 65-mile STL pipeline. The court
ruledthat the company hadn’t provedto federal regulatorsthat the
customer-funded$287millionproject was evenneeded.
Spire’s only buyer for the gas from the pipeline was the utility it owns, Spire
Missouri Inc. Critics saidSpire was self-dealing at the expense of captive gas
customers.
The court decisionleft Spire —and St. Louis — witha problem. The company
had spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars disconnecting its
customers fromthe city’s existing pipelines androuting themtoits own.
Without the new pipeline, Spire warnedthat a winter stormcouldleave up
to 400,000 customerswithout heat inthe depths of winter.
The energy company quickly undertook a bare-knuckle marketing campaign
to warn the public of the threat — and try toconvince themof the needfor
the pipeline.
In radio spots, social mediaads, and press releases toreporters, the utility
warnedthat people riskedfreezing. Missouri regulators at the Public Service
Commissionhave said that Spire “createdunnecessary panic andconfusion.”
Behindthe scenes, documents show the utility alsogot high-ranking
politicians, including Missouri’s governor, tointervene onits behalf.
At the same time, Spire was working on another strategic interest:
undercutting its biggest threat, the transitiontorenewable energy. Spire has

3. workedclosely withother gas utilitiesthat are waging a national campaign
against climate action, records show.
Spire and other members of the AmericanPublic Gas Associationfought
federal rules tophase out gas appliances in buildings. They lobbiedagainst
proposals tomake boilers and furnaces more efficient, according toan
internal industry message boardobtainedby the Energy and Policy Institute
and reviewedby Floodlight inpartnershipwithThe Intercept andthe
Missouri Independent.
Spire’s story is aninside look at how Americanenergy giants are endeavoring
to remainrelevant ina world questioning the usefulnessof gas as compared
withan all-electric systempoweredby renewable energy. For the gas
industry, it’s awar on two fronts:Get pipelines intothe ground, and resist
the shift away from fossil fuels inpeople’s homes.
“The reality is that the gas industry gets atonof its money — the vast
majority of its profit — from residential gas sales,”saidPanama Bartholomy,
executive director of the Building DecarbonizationCoalition, anonprofit that
advocates for electrification. “Soif electrificationstarts eating intothe
market share, particularly onthe residential side —that’s an existential
threat.”
And Spire’s campaigntokeepits pipeline openultimately worked. It’s
currently operating the line withatemporary permit while federal regulators
review the case. Inthe meantime, Spire is allowedtocharge Missouri
customers $2.4 millionamonth, according toregulatory filings made by the
Environmental Defense Fund.

4. Spire has defendedthe project, saying that last year’s Winter StormUri
provedthe STL pipeline was neededas a hedge against severe weather “to
improve reliability, supply diversity, andprovide the St. Louis regionwith
access tolower cost natural gas supply from the Appalachian basin,”
according to a statement fromSpire corporate communications director
Jason Merrill. Spire claims that the pipelinesavedcustomers $150millionin
gas prices during the stormbecause it gave themaccess togas from areas
unaffectedby the freeze.
The savings have not necessarily translatedintosmaller gas bills, saidGentry
Trotter, founder of Heat Up St. Louis, a nonprofit that helps residents with
their utility bills.
“The demand for Heat Up St. Louis is up by 65 percent;it is off the charts,”
Trotter said. “I know I have a high gas bill. My gas bill is $1,000.”
A Runon Electric Heaters
An announcer blaredover the St. Louis airwaves inNovember 2021:“Federal
issues inD.C. could cause the Spire STL pipeline toshut down in mid-
December.”
Spire didn’t restrict itsalertstoradioads. It sent its customers emails with
similar alarms. And it took toFacebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter with
messaging about the pipeline.
“I went to barber shops and hair salons, and they were talking about the
pipeline,”saidTrotter. “Call the hardware stores. I ain’t ever seenmore
heaters [for sale]inmy life.”

5. The panic after Spire’s announcements servedapurpose:tomake sure the
company got a temporary operating permit fromthe Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, eventhoughacourt had saidthat it wasn’t clear if
the pipeline was necessary.
Alongside the public messaging campaignwas a private one directedat
powerful officials whocould advocate on Spire’s behalf, public records show.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parsonwas one successful target.
“As you can imagine, a letter of support fromGovernor Parsonto FERC would
be extremely valuable,”readaJuly 27 email from Spire Missouri’s director of
government relations toanaide for the governor.
The email containeda draft letter urging FERC toissue the temporary permit.
Parson submittedaletter tothe commissionthree days later insupport of
the permit.
Spire startedmaking moves towardits first interstate pipeline in2016, with
the expectationthat federal regulators wouldapprove aguaranteedprofit
from customers. Interstatepipelinebuildersmust secure apermit fromFERC
after showing that there is an economic needfor the line and no
unreasonable environmental impact. Spire’spermit was approved, even
though twoFERC commissioners opposedit.
“Spire is not an outlier, it’s anextreme example of a pattern,”saidGillian
Giannetti, asenior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council who
focuses on the regulatory agency.

6. Since 1999, FERC has approved487 gas pipelines andrejectedonly two,
according to congressional testimony.
But during Spire’s applicationprocess, then-Commissioner RichardGlick
wrote that the pipeline lookedlike an effort “toenrichSpire’s corporate
parent rather than a neededpiece of energy infrastructure.”
Glick, who was appointedto FERC by former President DonaldTrumpand
made chair by President Joe Biden, pointedout the obvious:Demandfor gas
in the regionwas flat or declining. St. Louis was already getting all the gas it
neededfromother pipelines. AndSpire plannedtosell the gas from the
pipeline toits own subsidiary —meaning that it would be able to cut out any
middlemen and make more money on bothsides of the deal.
Despite Glick’s reservations, FERC issuedthe permit in2018, allowing Spireto
earn up to a 14 percent returnonequity on the cost of the pipeline. (Under
its temporary permit, Spire says it is making 8 percent.)
Soon after, the Environmental Defense Fundsued. Their objectionwas
simple:FERC hadn’t done its homework. In June 2021, afederal court agreed
withthe environmental groupand told FERC to reassessthe needfor the
pipeline inorder toprotect the public from possible “self-dealing.”
“FERC historically has done the least policing of whether there was need,”
said James Coleman, an energy law professor at SouthernMethodist
University.