Environmentalists vow to fight Mobile pipeline plan

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — An environmental group plans to fight a judge's decision clearing the way for a pipeline to run through a lake that supplies Mobile's drinking water. Casi Callaway of Mobile Baykeeper says the group is "extremely disappointed" in the decision handed down by a state court judge on Friday. Plains Southcap wants to construct an interstate oil pipeline under a part of the Big Creek Lake watershed. The Mobile Area Water and Sewer System objected. But Circuit Judge Robert Smith says the state doesn't have the power to interfere since such projects are regulated by federal law. Opponents contend any leak from the pipeline could expose hundreds of thousands of people to chemical contamination. Plains Southcap says the pipeline will be safe. The water system says it's undecided on an appeal.