(MENAFN- Trend News Agency ) A federal judge in Baton Rouge has halted construction of the Bayou Bridge crude oil pipeline planned through the heart of the Atchafalaya Basin, granting the request of environmental groups opposed to the project, reports.
Saying she will later explain her ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick issued an order Friday prohibiting the companies building the pipeline from continuing construction. Work on the pipeline had begun in January, after final permits were approved.
In the order issuing a preliminary injunction, Dick wrote that she was enjoining further work on the pipeline "in order to prevent further irreparable harm until this matter can be tried on the merits."
In this case, Earthjustice brought a federal suit on Jan. 11 against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on behalf of the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association-West, the Waterkeeper Alliance and the Sierra Club. They allege the Corps acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" when it issued a key permit for the pipeline.
Those groups welcomed Dick's decision Friday.
'The court's ruling recognizes the serious threat this pipeline poses to the Atchafalaya Basin, one of our country's ecological and cultural crown jewels,' Jan Hasselman, an Earthjustice attorney, said in a statement. 'For now, at least, the Atchafalaya is safe from this company's incompetence and greed.'
A spokeswoman for Energy Transfer Partners, a joint owner of the pipeline project, declined comment. "The Judge did not issue any opinion explaining her order. Until such time as that is issued, and we can review, we will have no further comment," said Alexis Daniel in an email.
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