What’s a Significant Impact? Fifth Circuit Rules Pipeline Can Go Forward

In the latest development in the eternal struggle between environmental groups and hydrocarbon pipeline developers, the Fifth Circuit recently discarded an injunction that was preventing construction of a pipeline through the Atchafalaya Basin, home of the country’s largest river swamp. The pipeline is meant to connect the controversial Dakota Access pipeline to refineries and export terminals in St. James Parish, Louisiana.

In order to construct the pipeline, Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC had to secure a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In order …

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State Seeks to Enter Court Battle Over Federal Red Snapper Rule

On September 22, 2017, the state of Louisiana sought to intervene in a conservation group’s lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regarding overfishing of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico this past summer. Louisiana wants to argue on behalf of the federal government that the conservation group’s lawsuit is moot because the rule it challenges has already expired.

Earlier this summer, the NMFS issued a temporary rule extending the fishing season for red snapper in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico …

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