NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court's ruling allows construction to continue on a crude oil pipeline through an environmentally fragile Louisiana swamp.

A divided panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday vacated a lower court's preliminary injunction blocking construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline.

The panel's 2-1 decision was a victory for Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC, whose lawyers had urged the panel in April to throw out U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick's injunction.

Dick issued a preliminary injunction in February, stopping pipeline construction in the Atchafalaya Basin swamp until a lawsuit by project opponents is resolved.

Her injunction was suspended by a 5th Circuit panel in March, so construction continued even before Friday's ruling.

The company recently told the court that it expects to complete construction by October.