Bayou Bridge pipeline construction may temporarily resume in the Atchafalaya Basin, an appeals court ruled on Thursday.
A panel of judges from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Bayou Bridge is likely to succeed in its argument that a lower court "abused its discretion" when it stopped work on the project last month.
Environmental groups are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to revoke its permit for the pipeline to cross the Basin.
In that lawsuit, a U.S. Middle District of Louisiana judge granted the plaintiffs’ request to stop the work while the litigation plays out. In response, Bayou Bridge asked asked a temporary suspension of that order, which the appeals judges granted.
The judges also ordered an expedited hearing for Bayou Bridge’s appeal.
Bayou Bridge is a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners and its partner in the project, Phillips 66.
Read the order in full here.
