Not even the legal equivalent of a fastball under the chin could stop a Texas pipeline builder from clearing acres of brush that Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Josh Beckett claims is critical habitat for the endangered ocelot.
A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Laredo by two of Beckett’s companies asks a judge to stop any further work on the natural gas pipeline and specify what the builder must do under the Endangered Species Act. The companies filed a motion for a temporary restraining order Wednesday that included a statement from Beckett describing two occasions when he saw what he believes were ocelots.
But the clearing of about 40 acres of thick native scrub on a 7,000-acre hunting ranch about 100 miles southwest of San Antonio was finished earlier this month despite a warning Beckett’s lawyers sent to Eagle Ford Midstream LP and its parent NET Midstream in August.
The pipeline company had obtained an easement across Beckett’s Herradura Ranch in state court, according to the lawsuit. Beckett Ventures Inc. and Hall of Fame Land Ventures LP claim that they urged the company to choose a shorter, direct path rather than the diagonal swath that was cleared.
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