Above photo: Deborah Kushner.
On June 10, 2024 the Mountain Valley Pipeline announced it was ‘mechanically complete’ and the following day, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted MVP in-service status. But the MVP is far from complete.
No metallurgical report has been made public about the pipe that ruptured during hydrostatic testing May 1. Nor is there much information on a second hydrostatic test rupture on June 4 beyond MVP’s description of the incident as a ‘water release’ with an innocuous photo in its June 20, 2024 compliance report to FERC (description at top of pg 5, photo is top left, pg 11). A news report however, revealed the water that was discharged was non-potable, and thus may have polluted drinking water for several municipalities that draw water from the Roanoke River. MVP always has a scapegoat, and this time it blamed turbidity in the South Fork of the Roanoke River on rain, and denied a social media photo documented the rupture.
Like the May 1 pipe rupture, it was a community resident’s video that alerted the community. MVP continues to tout ‘good neighbor’ public policies, along with its false claims of the need for their fracked gas.
Terry Turpin, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) director of the Office of Energy Projects, on June 11 gave the final thumbs up for the MVP to begin operation, stating ‘We find that Mountain Valley has adequately stabilized the areas disturbed by construction and that restoration and stabilization of the construction work area is proceeding satisfactorily.’ The looming threat Turpin chose to ignore was the still-denuded steep slopes of both Poor Mountain and Peters Mountain. MVP’s total restoration is complete on 74% of the right-of-way (ROW), 33.5% of Spread G (a distance of 31.6 miles), and 8.6% complete on the slopes of the Jefferson National Forest (JNF), according to MVP’s July 2, 2024 Status Report on their construction status for the week ending June 14, 2024. Until vegetation firmly takes root to hold the erodible soils in place on these steep slopes, there exists immediate danger to the surrounding community. Summer’s high temperatures and the current drought will make growing vegetation difficult. The perpetually-shifting soils in this area are the only element holding the already-degraded pipe in place, at the beginning of an anticipated busy Atlantic hurricane season. Heavy machinery continues to work on the precipitous slopes, directly on top of the live pipe.
The dust construction produces is so thick it obscures visibility and covers adjoining forests, despite MVP’s stated plans for ‘fugitive dust control.’ Dust control measures have been only rarely observed on slopes.
Communities along the ROW are frequently reminded they are collateral damage to MVP. Violations here range from the immediate danger of explosion to the discovery that some of the emergency numbers on the yellow and white poles along the route are wrong, to the lack of courtesy, such as heavy construction work immediately adjacent to a convening church on a Sunday morning. Despite the green-light for the MVP to go in service, on-the-ground work in these endangered communities continues to keep themselves aware and safe.
Monroe County, WV is rural Appalachia. Few roads here are 2 lanes wide, and most are a single lane. Cars pass one another by both swerving off to their respective shoulders. Internet and cell service is scarce, and so communities are tighter here than in many other places.
When she was a toddler, Paula Mann’s family moved to her grandfather’s farm in Monroe County in the Hans Creek Valley in central Monroe County. Her mother inherited the farm, and then it went to Paula.
In the early 1990s, Paula’s severe allergies and chemical sensitivities confined her to her house. She used this time to study photography, using her family, the farm’s goats, chickens, pets and insects as subjects. Her art won a state fair prize in 1997.
When she first heard the MVP’s route was in close proximity to her farm, Paula thought, ‘Oh no – it will be a lot of construction and tearing things up.’ She recalls, ‘A lot of people were excited about getting money. I was more torn up about what it would do. I hate to see anyone’s property get torn up.’ She was concerned about the larger negative effects: ‘Impacts, water, land, lives, wildlife habitats.’
Paula’s farm is just a few hundred yards from the MVP’s ROW. Since construction began in 2018, dust from their work triggered her allergies and sensitivities. That same year, her well water began running muddy. Dug in 1986, her well had not previously had issues, but continues to runs foul after heavy rains. Although the water is somewhat clearer now, she’ll never drink from her well again, fearing the degraded pipe coating’s toxic chemicals have tainted it. Her chemical sensitivities continue. MVP never offered replacement water to Paula and her husband Herman, because their land is not directly on the ROW. Lawyers advised there was nothing to be done about it.
‘If it ever leaks, if it blows up, is my biggest worry.’ Paula’s intent is to help others and prevent harm. She’s sent complaints to authorities, but received no responses. Her local representatives were in favor of the pipeline and she’s not found them to be helpful.
Paula has many concerns about the pipeline, including MVP’s decision not to add an odorant to the gas. With ‘no smell so you wouldn’t even know it’s leaking that worries me. If it gets the woods on fire – never enough resources to fight something like that. A catastrophe waiting to happen.’ Her worries are well founded. The region is in drought. Local volunteer rescue groups haven’t been trained to handle the immense fireball that would be created should that catastrophe occur.
Before construction began, Paula decided to contribute her photography and video skills to the resistance. Her intrepid documentation led her to walk almost all of the county, including 12 trips up the 4000’ Peters Mountain to visit tree sitters blocking the ROW in 2018. With her then-80 year old husband, Paula hiked 7 hours from Mystery Ridge in Giles County VA up Peters Mountain in 2017. Surveying the difficult terrain, she calculated, ‘I’m sure they’ll have problems,’ and indeed MVP did. The 600’ long bore under the Appalachian Trail atop the mountain (that will put hikers within the blast zone) took twice the estimated time, just as most of MVP’s estimates were overly optimistic because the reality of the terrain was either downplayed or outright ignored.
Mountain Media Productions’ Youtube channel is Paula’s library of powerful videos of her hikes and particular resistance events, each one a gem of a time capsule. Although recovering from both Lyme disease and Covid, Paula looks forward to returning to walking and biking. She’s now working on a video history on the struggle. Although it’s a slow process, and she has ‘oodles and oodles of stuff’ to pour through, she is undaunted.
In her video Water: Warning, she traces the route from the local Indian Creek, which flows to Hans Creek on to the New River, which empties into the Ohio River and then the Gulf of Mexico as an illustration of how ‘downstream’ we all are.
Peters Mountain – Mystery Ridge & MVP documents the desecration of a likely Indigenous burial mound in the ROW, which MVP dismissed as a debris pile. She surveys numerous decomposing and ineffective silt fences, a destroyed natural pond and the steep 55% slope. About the headwaters of a spring, she comments, ‘Water is our way of life. You can’t drink gas or oil, so people better get their priorities in line.’ (A USGS study was done in Monroe County, deemed the area ‘vulnerable’ because of the plethora of karst, as it provides a direct connection from above ground to the aquifers below ground, as well as spontaneous sinkholes and caves – a geologic characteristic which should have prevented the pipeline from being located in the unstable terrain, if only the developers had heeded the warnings of the many scientists and specialists who advised against it.)
Water is a critical concern everywhere, and especially in WV, where industry has for a century fouled communities. A 2014 pollution incident on the Elk River affected more than 300,000 people. The counties of Doddrige and Wyoming counties’ water has been fouled since last winter. Diesel fuel spilled during construction of a 12” pipeline in Monroe County shut down the public district water system for 2 weeks.
In her video Ripping Out My Heart, Paula tells of her personal attachment to this place and the life that is being destroyed around her. She implores, ‘Our lives are being torn apart, just like the land. Our hearts are being ripped out. Let us fight back. Let us stand firm in our opposition to this monster.’ Now that the evil deed is all but done, she’s left with nightmare scenarios, imagining the pipeline will ‘…blow up something and someone’s going to get really hurt. If we’d had more people… ’
There’s no winning here. It’s a shock to us. – Paula
Paula used to fish in Hans Creek, close to the farm. Her husband played in the Creek when he was small. Early in the pipeline timeline, Paula recalls a meeting with MVP and union members about the gas taps that never came to be. When asked, ‘Have you ever done this (built a pipeline) in karst?’ The answer was ‘Yes, in Florida.’ Locals could only advise, ‘Um, it’s a little different here.’
It’s quite different here. The Narrows of Hans Creek is an exceptional place among many exceptional places in the county. In close proximity to Paula’s farm and also her nephew Maury’s, there exists almost no trace of humans here, with the exception of the wide swath of MVP’s destruction. The plant life is extraordinary: old growth 200 year old trees, yellow lady slippers, 40 year old wild ginger, trout lilies, trillium, jack in the pulpit, and purple and white showy orchids.
Maury regularly monitors MVP’s Hans Creek crossing, and frequently files reports on the numerous infractions he finds there and elsewhere, on the ROW and on the county roads. Relentlessly vocal and omnipresent, he’s filed more than 350 violations for MVP infractions. Each one matters.
Ferns in the Narrows reach heights of more than 4’. Royal ferns and Christmas ferns abound in the shade of the cliff faces, watered by the many valley springs. Moss grows densely on the fallen trees. Maidenhair and rattlesnake ferns grow in profusion.
The rare Alleghany woodrat is here, and bear love the crevices and small caves in this remote spot. A blue ephemeral pool, tinted by the minerals exists here. Because MVP’s survey of endangered species was done on a February day in 2018 when the temperature was below 0 degrees, none were found. Not finding any species of significance, tree cutting commenced.
In early April 2018, one of the tree cutters remarked to Maury, ‘Why don’t you cut the trees? They’re some of the prettiest I’ve ever seen.’ Maury’s response was, ‘We like them the way they are.’ A particular oak he named the Leferriere Oak, and after it was felled, he counted its 192 rings. Maury calls the day construction there started as ‘one of the toughest.’ Asked how he was mourning for the many losses, he succinctly said, ‘I ain’t got time.’ The losses are so many, and so great. Maury continues to monitor the Hans Creek crossing, where work continues.
Monroe County’s Indian Creek Watershed Association (ICWA) has for decades been an excellent steward, preserving and protecting precious waters. The county’s primary water source is unusual because of the significant amount of karst underground. Inherent fissures within the karst allow for rapid recharging, but the direct connection to the underground aquifers increases the possibility of contamination. There are no soil and rock filters to diminish pollution like exist for the 90% of other watersheds on the planet. Most of the county’s water emanates from Peters Mountain, so prized for its purity that the county has been home to several water bottling plants and is the source of almost all of the water used by Monroe County residents.
Because of the county’s lack of zoning laws, large scale turkey breeding facilities are springing up or being bought out by Aviagen, an international company whose website resonates with glowing assurances of safety, purity, responsibility and increase in jobs, similar to MVP’s self-congratulatory statements. These concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are factories. According to the company, the ‘litter’ will be cleaned out of these facilities every 8 months. Poultry ‘litter’ is a mixture of excrement, spilled feed, feathers, carcasses and bedding material used on the floor of the huge buildings where turkeys are confined 24 hours a day. The litter will be donated to farmers to use as fertilizer. As soon as the litter leaves the site, Aviagen’s liability ends, although hormones and antibiotics among other undesirable elements are likely present within the litter. It’s an easy way for Aviagen to dispose of its waste, and not be held responsible for the subsequent pollution from its litter spread on other farms which are often located on karst and near streams.
Aviagen has proven themselves to be bad actors on their existing sites in Monroe County. Two new sites are under construction, atop karst with known sinkholes (known to spontaneously appear in karst) in blind valleys. Since the wash water of these sites at the base of Peters Mountain will be stored in large unlined pools directly atop the karst, contamination of groundwater is all but certain. ICWA advocates for stronger zoning, monitoring and and enforcement to curb the influx of polluting industries such as Aviagen to the area.
Monthly, ICWA members test Indian Creek tributaries below these CAFO’s to establish baseline levels, in much the same manner used at MVP water crossings, to chart the effects of disturbances on the normal balance of waterways. Onsite tests are performed for temperature, pH, conductivity, air temperature and turbidity.
The group then adjourns nearby to test for alkalinity, phosphorus and nitrates. The 2.5 years of test records the ICWA maintains provide a history to compare against future violations that will inevitably occur. Similar protocols have been used elsewhere for noise and air quality. It’s never too early to start such documentation.
Among its many good works, for the last 10 years ICWA has meticulously scrutinized and commented on MVP filings. Its most recent comment was on MVP’s variance request made June 17, 2024. One week after after going into service, and one week and one day after declaring it was ‘mechanically complete,’ MVP had to request a variance, because typically enough they had failed to consider the potential effects of high water on a mainline valve located on a flood plain. Their gross error begs the question of how many other MVP mistakes remain that could result in catastrophe.
Communities along the route continue to vigilantly monitor construction as MVP races to complete its work. Ten years of fighting this slipshod, deceitful company has proven that MVP will cut corners at every opportunity. With everything to lose, long-traumatized and unconsidered communities know that agencies and regulators do not serve them, but rather the corporations, investors and lobbyists.
Several dozen people named by MVP in SLAPP suits (strategic lawsuits against public participation) and those charged with criminal offenses for getting in the way of the MVP will be working their way through the courts for a long time. SLAPPs are ever-increasingly used to scare people away from protesting. One of many sources of pride in the long, bold history of MVP resistance has been the constant flow of those willing to sacrifice for what is right.
The strength in these communities lies in both their large and small contributions. Each observation noted, documentation posted, community garden planted and meeting attended strengthens bonds with one another and the treasures they protect, and contributes to their collective strength.
Please donate to the legal defense fund for pipeline fighters: bit.ly/AppLegalDefense. Protectors face ever-increasing and expensive intimidation tactics and legal charges, but remain undaunted.
These worthy on-the-ground groups fight the MVP disaster:
- https://www.aapsolidarity.org/
- https://powhr.org/
- https://7directionsofservice.com/
- https://wvrivers.org/