The company planning to build the Byhalia Connection pipeline on Friday announced that it is abandoning the project, bringing a sudden end to one of the biggest environmental controversies in recent Memphis history.
The project, which would have put a crude oil pipeline through mostly Black South Memphis neighborhoods, sparked a complex legal and public relations battle that was fought in multiple venues, from the Memphis City Council to the court of national public opinion.
Local opponents and celebrities such as Al Gore, Danny Glover and Jane Fonda voiced opposition — the former vice president visited Memphis and called the project "a reckless, racist rip-off.”