Above Photo: David Wassenaar | Facebook
BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) –
Sunday, anti-pipeline hikers reached the end of the line on their two-week trek following the path of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline across the Shenandoah Valley and central Virginia.
The hikers celebrated the completion of their travels by joining supporters for a special Sunday service at Union Hill Baptist Church in Buckingham County.
Members of this church say their community stands to lose a lot if the pipeline is built. Cheering and applause greeted the small group of activist walkers as they approached the small church Sunday.
They completed a 16-day, 150 mile hike in what was billed as ‘Walking the Line: Into the Heart of Virginia.’
“The whole walk was supposed to be a celebration, a celebration of the land, of the people, what exists here, not a protest, not a fight against something, because when you fight against something you create more of what you’re fighting against,” Lee White of Walking the Line said.
The anti-pipeline activists walked the proposed route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline from where it would cross the Virginia and West Virginia border to Buckingham County, the proposed location of one of the pipeline’s three compressor stations.
“This church, our community, is undeniably against the pipeline and the compressor station,” Pastor Paul Wilson of Union Hill Baptist Church said.
The compressor station would be located about a mile from the church.
“It’s detrimental for us, its detrimental for here. It takes away any personal identity, it takes away from what this community is about,” Wilson said.
Pipeline opponents from all over central Virginia came out to support the Buckingham community in its fight. “This event is really to celebrate the courage of the people, the landowners that are standing up in opposition to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline,” Ernie Reed, president of Friends of Nelson, said.
NBC29 reached out to Dominion Energy for comment about the journey these walkers took and the proposed compressor station, and have not heard back at this time.