re: Federal Judge Halts Bayou Bridge Pipeline..But Photos Show Damage Already Done

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What are those photos allegedly proving?

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Jody Meche, president of the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association-West, on a trip to the west side of the basin the day after the work stopped to see how far the construction of the pipeline had already gotten. The amount of damage done to the basin since construction began in mid January — and over the course of the two weeks it took for the judge to issue her decision — was breathtaking.

The pipeline route was filled with debris from pulverized cypress and tupelo trees. Dirt piles, some over 20 feet high, lined parts of the pipeline channel. And a swatch of trees up to 75 feet was cut along the part of the route we navigated along.

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Existing spoil banks created by trenched dirt that wasn’t put back where it was dug up during the construction of other pipelines, act as dams that stop the natural flow of water into the basin already. The spoil banks, which block water like a dam, will become permanent dams if the Bayou Bridge pipeline is built as planned.

“There are already miles of pipelines crisscrossing the basin that have decimated our water quality, creating hypoxic water that kills crawfish,” Meche said.

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