Gas pipeline firms appeal federal judge's order to pay for canal erosion

http://www.nola.com/ ^ | 6/4/18 | Mark Schleifstein

[BBell]

Four natural gas pipeline companies that were ordered to repair some erosion along pipeline canals in Plaquemines Parish by a federal judge in August 2017 and May of this year have appealed their case to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The notice of appeal does not contain an explanation of why the rulings by U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo were being challenged.

"We are appealing because while the court awarded only $1,100 in money damages and ordered less than a third of the specific relief requested by the plaintiffs, important issues were wrongly decided and should be reversed on appeal," said Dave Conover, a spokesman for Kinder Morgan, the parent company for two of the pipeline firms.

Attorneys representing New Orleans-based Vintage Assets Inc. and other landowners who filed the suit against the pipeline companies did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

In August 2017, Milazzo found that Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC and Southern Natural Gas. Co. LLC, both subsidiaries of Kinder Morgan, and the privately owned High Point Gas Transmission LLC and High Point Gas Gathering LLC, had to repair some of the erosion that had occurred since 1953 along the paths of their canals through property largely owned by New Orleans-based Vintage Assets Inc. in the Breton Sound basin in Plaquemines Parish.

[BBell]

When the canals were dug by the oil companies they did a lot of irreparable damage when salt water flowed in and killed off the vegetation. It's going to take a lot of time and money to repair. It's too late for some places.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

These guys can fix it. USACoE loves them.

https://submar.com