ST. MARTINVILLE –– Attorneys for Energy Transfer Partners faced tough questions from groups representing landowners opposed to the Bayou Bridge Pipeline at a pre-trial hearing on Nov. 16.
The Center for Constitutional Rights and the Atchafalaya Basinkeepers sued Energy Transfer Partners over the company's eminent domain claims for the pipeline project. The groups allege Energy Transfer Partners violated constitutional law when the company excavated and built on a piece of land spanning 38 acres without receiving the consent from all the landowners.
In addition to the claims that the group did not receive appropriate consent to use the land, the Center for Constitutional Rights also questions if the state of Louisiana is constitutionally allowed to claim eminent domain law for pipelines.
Bill Quigley of Loyola University Law School attended the eight-hour hearing.
"We were able to successfully establish several damaging facts about the Bayou Bridge Pipeline today," Quigley told the Louisiana Record. "Unfortunately the judge ruled that he would not dismiss the case before trial."
"We look forward to using those facts and the testimony of landowners and expert witnesses to right these injustices at the trial on Tuesday, Nov. 27," he said. "The health of our world depends on fights like these, and we’re not going to give up."