Updated at 5:40 pm Nov. 11, with comments from Spire officials and St. Louis elected officials

A federal committee will meet next week to discuss whether to allow Spire to continue operating a natural gas pipeline in Missouri and Illinois this winter.

The 65-mile Spire STL pipeline connects facilities in St. Louis County to the national network in Illinois and is currently operating under emergency orders until December 13. After the St. Louis incident, Missouri officials and supporters faced sharp criticism. Last week, the St. Louis-based utility company emailed customers to warn that if the emergency order is not extended, as many as 400,000 households and businesses will face gas shortages this winter.

"If there is no STL plumbing," part of the email read, "you may be asked to save energy by turning off the thermostat in your home or business and reducing the use of natural gas appliances (fireplaces, ovens, or other appliances)."

On Thursday, more than a dozen St. Louis officials submitted a formal comment to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, calling Spire’s e-mail "the worst type of fear spreading."

6th Ward Alderwoman Christine Ingrassia said at a press conference on the same day that the utility company’s behavior was "reckless" and caused unnecessary anxiety among residents.

“Communicating with customers and residents is one thing, but what they do is completely beyond the boundaries,” said Ingrassia, who signed the review with FERC.

Ingrassia said the risk of gas shortages this winter is very small, "Spire needs to make sure their customers know."

For Jesse Irwin, the owner of the local heating and cooling company Carondelet Mechanical, Spire’s e-mail caused his business inbox to be full, and Irwin received many inquiries from residents eager to move away from natural gas as an energy source. But now, Irving can't help many of them really switch to electric heating.

"The problem is that we have a shortage of equipment," Irving told St. Louis from the air. "And it's hard for us to buy electric air handlers all year, especially the small ones.... So there really is nothing to switch. There is also a shortage of propane. So [Spire's email] seems to irritate My customer base."

Spire officials insist that the company is working hard to emphasize the importance of the pipeline and to prepare for customers in case the pipeline is closed.

"This idea was never meant to attract attention," Missouri Spire President Scott Carter said at a press conference on Thursday, surrounded by dozens of uniformed employees. "We want to make sure that our customers stay informed."

Although the pipeline has received much attention in recent days, the legal challenges surrounding its operations have continued for months. In June, a three-judge panel of the Federal Court of Appeals ruled that FERC had improperly approved the construction of the pipeline in 2018 and failed to prove the need for it.

Lea Kosnik said that FERC's approval of the project "may be a bit selfish [by Spire] to outsiders, so what happened was an external group, the Environmental Protection Fund, and they decided to fight back.", University of Missouri Professor of Economics at the University of St. Louis. "They seek to review the pipeline's approval... and take it to court."

Kosnik's research interests include energy, regulation, and environmental economics, and she said she thinks "even the environmental protection fund will say,'Wow, we won.'"

"This court case is an opportunity to really let [FERC] think about how they approve these channels," she told the host Sharon Finsk on Thursday's show.

So far, FERC has extended its approval to allow the STL pipeline to operate until December 13. Spire hopes that the committee will further extend the deadline at next week's meeting, but utility officials said they could not guarantee it. STL pipeline general counsel Sean Jamieson said at a press conference on Thursday: "After December 13, it is uncertain whether this pipeline will continue to operate."

Nevertheless, Kosnik said that she believes that San Luis should not worry too much about the actual closure of the pipeline, especially because the Environmental Protection Fund has also promoted the extension of operating hours throughout the winter. She does believe that rising energy prices and rising energy costs are a potential problem.

At the same time, Irving said that electric solutions are meaningless in many situations—especially in St. Louis.

"Electric heating is really good in a small space, [but] we have a lot of brick structures in this city," he said. "They are large and difficult to heat-they require a lot of BTU. Gas is the solution [in these cases]. This is the way to go."

Owen said that his best advice for individual families now is to ensure that the stove keeps working this winter-replace the stove filter.

"You really don't want your equipment to break now," he explained. "This is the worst time when equipment must be replaced or repaired. You can avoid a lot of these things by simply replacing the stove filter with a cheap stove filter-for most people, you don’t want very expensive ones. Hypoallergenic stove filter app. You just want to get a normal pleated filter that allows you to have some air movement."

Kosnik added that as far as the region is concerned, the situation in Spire is a good reminder of the importance of ensuring mixed energy use in any particular community. "For example, you don't want to rely solely on coal, oil or natural gas or a pipeline," she said.

Regarding the worrying e-mail sent by Spire to consumers on November 4, Kosnik said, "Historically, the industry has tended to overreact when it comes to new and surprising regulations."

"So the industry usually says,'Oh my God, this will be really expensive-consumer bills will go up, we will have to close, we will go bankrupt.' ... The industry always says it will be Devastating," the professor said. "Then you know what, they figured out how to deal with it."

"Stone. Louis in the Sky" brings you the story of St. Louis and the stories of the people who live, work and create in our area. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill and Lara Hamdan. Jane Mather-Glass is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.

Follow Shahla on Twitter: @shahlafarzan

Kate Grumke contributed to this report.

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