A Baton Rouge judge has rejected environmental groups’ claim that Louisiana’s public record law applies to a private, for-profit company building a 162-mile-long crude oil pipeline in the state.
State District Court Judge Michael Caldwell said he sees no basis for ruling that Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC is acting as an “instrumentality of the state” by taking or expropriating more than 400 parcels of private property for the pipeline project.
But the judge gave the groups’ lawyers 15 days to amend their lawsuit against Bayou Bridge before he dismisses it.
The groups, including Atchafalaya Basinkeeper and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, sued last week for access to company records about the project.
A separate lawsuit seeking to block construction of the pipeline is pending in federal court.
