BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) – A federal study recommending that a U.S. spy agency remain in St. Louis rather than move to Illinois contains geographical errors that officials in the losing state hope will bolster their efforts to win the $1.6 billion project.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has preliminarily selected a blighted section of north St. Louis for its new western regional headquarters rather than a site near Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County.

The Belleville News-Democrat (bit.ly/25VtdOy ) reports that the April 1 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ final environmental impact statement confuses St. Clair County with counties sharing the same name in Missouri and Michigan.

Political leaders in Illinois successfully lobbied the defense mapping agency to extend what had been a 15-day public comment period on the preliminary decision until May 2.