ETP crude line work continues despite ruling

Seven weeks after a Louisiana state district judge suspended a key permit for construction of Energy Transfer Partners' (ETP) 480,000 b/d Bayou Bridge crude pipeline, work has continued unabated.

Judge Alvin Turner in St James Parish last month found that the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) failed to properly consider emergency plans for the area in case of an accident. He sent the process back to the agency and ordered ETP to "develop effective environmental protection and emergency or contingency plans relative to evacuation in the event of a spill or other disaster … PRIOR to the continued issuance of said permit".

The Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, which sued to challenge the permit on behalf of area residents, crawfish farms, environmentalists and others, said at the time it believed ETP needed to stop work along the 16 miles of the route leading into St James covered by the coastal use permit in question.

Lisa Jordan, the clinic's director, did not respond to a request for comment.

But DNR, which appealed Turner's ruling to a state appellate court on 22 May, said there is "not change on the construction in our jurisdiction" and that the appeal puts the district court judgment on hold.

ETP, which declined to comment, previously has said the segment from Lake Charles to St James in Louisiana would be in operation by December. It owns 60pc of the project, with US independent refiner Phillips 66 owning the rest.

A section of Bayou Bridge from Nederland, Texas, to Lake Charles, Louisiana, is in operation.