A federal judge who halted construction of a crude oil pipeline through a Louisiana swamp says the project's irreversible environmental damage outweighs the economic harm that a delay brings to the company building it.
U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick issued a 61-page ruling Tuesday explaining her decision to stop construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline in environmentally fragile Atchafalaya Basin.
Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC asked the judge to suspend her order while it appeals, but the judge refused.
Dick says her order only applies to the basin and doesn't prevent the company from working elsewhere along the pipeline's 162-mile-long (261-kilometer) path from Lake Charles to St. James Parish.
Environmental groups sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last month, claiming its permit approval violated environmental laws.