The Latest: Louisiana oil pipeline's impact debated in court

The Latest on a court hearing over lawsuit a Louisiana oil pipeline (all times local):

11:10 a.m.

A court hearing over whether construction of a crude oil pipeline in an environmentally fragile Louisiana swamp will continue focused on whether enough would be done to make up for environmental impacts from the project.

An attorney for Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC told a federal appeals court panel in Houston Monday that it'll be providing "appropriate compensation" by re-establishing forested wetlands elsewhere in the swamp.

A lawyer for environmental groups suing to stop the construction say the project's considerable impacts haven't been taken into full consideration by federal regulators. He asked the panel to not permanently throw out a previous order that had stopped construction.

At least one judge seemed to downplay concerns by environmental groups that the project is "destroying wetlands."

A ruling was expected at a later date.

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6:22 a.m.

A company building a crude oil pipeline in Louisiana is asking a federal appeals court to throw out a judge's order that had halted construction work in an environmentally fragile swamp.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments Monday by attorneys for Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC, federal regulators and environmental groups opposed to the project.

In February, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick sided with environmental groups and issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily stopped all Bayou Bridge pipeline construction work in the Atchafalaya Basin until the groups' lawsuit over the project is resolved.

But a different panel from the appeals court agreed in March to suspend that order pending a final decision by the 5th Circuit.