"Appeals Court Allows Bayou Bridge Pipeline Construction To Proceed"

"A federal court of appeals on Thursday (March 15) put construction of the controversial Bayou Bridge oil pipeline back on track.

By a two-to-one vote, judges in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans struck down a ruling by a federal judge in Baton Rouge that had halted the pipeline's construction through the environmentally-sensitive Atchafalaya Basin.

In Thursday's appeals court decision, Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote that the district court "abused its discretion in granting a preliminary injunction" halting the pipeline's construction. The district court should have allowed the case to proceed with the Army Corps of Engineers providing its reasons for permitting the pipeline, she wrote."

Tristan Baurick reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune March 15, 2018.