"For written reasons to be assigned at a later date, the Court hereby grants the preliminary injunction, and defendant and intervenors are hereby enjoined from taking any further action on this project in order to prevent further irreparable harm until this matter can be tried on the merits," the document said on Friday.
The court reviewed evidence presented during a preliminary injunction hearing in early February by environmental groups. The groups filed a lawsuit after serious concerns that the 162-mile pipeline would cause irreparable damage to the Atchafalaya Basin.
The groups also raised concerns that construction of the pipeline would damage natural flood protections in the basin, which protect millions of people in coastal Louisiana and the Mississippi River valley from Mississippi flood waters, the release said. The Bayou Bridge pipeline project is supposed to connect to the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to the release.