McALLEN, Texas (AP) ? Not even the legal equivalent of a fastball under the chin could stop a Texas pipeline builder from clearing of 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 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. Eagle Ford Midstream also noted that e-mails it received from Beckett's lawyers in April requested an alternative route because of the impact on an irrigation system and the ranch's hunting business with no mention of endangered species. The pipeline company's environmental consultant evaluated the right-of-way for the project and determined the land "does not exhibit the necessary density, coverage or structure generally described for potential ocelot habitat." "[...] suitable ocelot habitat exists on the Herradura Ranch," Tewes wrote in a brief report filed with the court.
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