Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP)

[eFinanceMarkets]

$ETP A federal judge yesterday refused to order a temporary halt to construction of Energy Transfer Partners' (ETP +1.3%) Bayou Bridge crude oil pipeline through a river swamp in Louisiana, in a setback for environmentalists challenging the project.

Environmental groups sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, claiming violations of the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws when it approved a permit for the project last month.

"Simply having an opposing opinion, or disagreeing with the mitigation plans imposed, is insufficient" to suspend construction of the pipeline, the judge wrote.

ETP plans to build the 162-mile pipeline from Lake Charles to St. James Parish, a path that crosses the environmentally fragile Atchafalaya Basin.