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Must Bayou Bridge builders turn over company records since they seized land?

Posted at 8:41 AM, Nov 01, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-01 09:41:25-04

A panel of judges has been asked to determine whether pipeline companies authorized to seize land under eminent domain are subject to Louisiana’s open records laws even if they don’t receive tax dollars.

The Advocate is reporting the issue is before the Louisiana 1st Circuit Court of Appeal after a Baton Rouge judge sided with the company building Bayou Bridge. Environmental and corporate lawyers made their cases before a three-judge panel Wednesday morning.

Bayou Bridge is a 163-mile crude oil pipeline being built between Lake Charles and St. James. Builders have said it should be operational by the end of the year.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has argued that because Energy Transfer Partners is allowed to expropriate private property to build the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, the public should be permitted to scrutinize its business in the same way that a government agency is subject to scrutiny if it seizes land.

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