3 arrested can challenge Louisiana pipeline trespass law

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press
A federal judge says demonstrators and a journalist may continue their challenge of a Louisiana law making it a felony to trespass in the area of a pipeline. But Judge Robert Summerhays says landowners and environmental and community groups don’t have legal standing to sue. The St. Martin Parish sheriff and district attorney had asked Summerhays to throw out the suit. Activists said they had landowners’ permission to protest on the land in the environmentally sensitive Atchafalaya Basin and have described the state law as part of a larger effort against environmental activism.