A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Houston heard arguments this week on plans to build a 162-mile long pipeline through Louisiana swampland.
The Bayou Bridge pipeline is a joint venture of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners and Houston-based Phillips 6. But it’s opposed by environmentalists who contend the swampland is environmentally fragile. If you recall, Energy Transfer is the same company whose Dakota Access Pipeline sparked demonstrators and protests in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017.
The Bayou Bridge line is the last link in a network connecting the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota with refineries and export terminals in Louisiana.
The court hearing on Monday focused on a preliminary injunction by a lower court to stop construction in the Atchafayala Basin. The injunction issued by Baton Rouge-based U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick was suspended last month by a different panel of the appeals court. Judge Dick is presiding over a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC.