BATON ROUGE - A federal judge has refused to order a temporary halt to construction of a crude oil pipeline through an environmentally fragile river swamp in south Louisiana.

  

U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick on Tuesday denied environmental groups' request for a temporary restraining order that could have suspended work on the Bayou Bridge pipeline project pending a hearing next week.

  

The groups sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Jan. 11. The suit accuses the Corps of violating the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws when it approved a permit for the 162-mile-long (261-kilometer) pipeline project in December.

  

Dick scheduled a Feb. 8 hearing for environmental groups' request for a preliminary injunction that would block construction of the pipeline through the Atchafalaya (uh-CHAF-uh-LIE-uh) Basin until their lawsuit can be resolved.