Virginia

Court Orders Mountain Valley Pipeline To Stop Construction

June 22, 2018 Staff, Sierraclub.org Resist! Courts, Pipelines, Virginia

Under section 404 of the Clean Water Act, the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is charged with issuing a permit for the pipeline’s stream crossings that allows the project’s builders to trench through the bottom of those streams, including the Greenbrier, Elk, and Gauley rivers, and fill the crossings with dirt during construction of the pipeline. The permit issued to the Mountain Valley Pipeline by the Corps is commonly known as a “nationwide permit 12,” which takes a one-size-fits-all approach. The MVP is a 300-mile-long, 42-inch pipeline requiring a 125-foot right of way construction zone that would cross streams, rivers and other waters in West Virginia and Virginia more than 1,000 times. Because MVP’s own documents shows it cannot meet the conditions required under the nationwide 404 permit in West Virginia...

Pipeline Outrage Is A Human Issue, Not A Political Issue

May 17, 2018 By Norah Vawter, Otherwords.org Resist! Pipelines, Protests, Virginia

The fight against pipelines can unite progressives and libertarians, city folk and country folk. I almost cried at a press conference, watching a mother and her grown daughter explain the dramatic lengths they’d gone through to protect their property in Southwest Virginia’s Bent Mountain from the Mountain Valley pipeline. If the pipeline is constructed, it will transport fracked natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia and perhaps North Carolina. Much to the Terrys’ outrage, their land is on the route — and eminent domain is forcing them to allow their land and trees to be destroyed, including a 100-year-old apple orchard. The pipeline will also cross their creek 23 times, threatening both erosion and groundwater pollution.

Woman, Daughter Who Protested In Trees On Planned Pipeline Land Come Down

May 8, 2018 Staff, Wsls.com Resist! Pipelines, Protests, Virginia

ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. - After more than a month sitting in trees protesting the Mountain Valley pipeline, Theresa "Red" Terry and her daughter, Minor, finally came down Saturday. It happened a day after a federal judge decided on fines and set a deadline, ordering them to come down. "Walked down the ladder right behind me, knowing that I smelled like I'd been up there a while. That's incredible, and he didn't fall," Terry, 61, said, joking after more than a month making a serious statement. She and her daughter had been up in trees protesting the construction of the Mountain Valley pipeline since April 2 until a dramatic change of events Friday. A judge ruled if they didn't come down by Saturday night, they'd face fines of $1,000 a day. And if they stayed past Thursday, U.S. marshals could arrest them using "reasonable force."

Local Doctors Turned Away From Pipeline Protesters

May 1, 2018 Chris Suarez, Dailyprogress.com Resist! Pipelines, Protests, Virginia

Two Charlottesville doctors seeking to help a 61-year-old woman who has spent four weeks perched in a tree to halt construction of the Mountain View Pipeline say Roanoke County authorities did not permit them to provide her with medical supplies on Saturday. With a hearing in federal court scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, the family of Theresa “Red” Terry and her daughter, Theresa Minor Terry, 30, are anxiously waiting for a resolution to the ongoing standoff on property that’s been owned by their family for seven generations. In an interview Monday, Dr. Greg Gelburd, of Downtown Family Health Care, said he and Dr. Paige Perriello, with Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville, visited Bent Mountain in Roanoke County over the weekend to assess the mother and daughter’s medical condition.

The Tree Sitters: Activists Have Halted Pipeline Construction

April 30, 2018 Mason Adams, Blueridgeoutdoors.com Resist! Environment, Pipelines, Protests, Virginia

You can find Red by the campfire smoke and bright yellow crime-scene tape. Red is a 61-year-old Virginia mountain woman who since April 2 has been living in a tree inside the white-and-blue-taped corridor marked out for the interstate Mountain Valley Pipeline. She and her 30-year-old daughter Minor, who is stationed in another tree not far away, are defending their land against what they see as a looming environmental catastrophe. To get to Red’s tree sit, you’ve got to cross wooden boards that cross Bottom Creek numerous times. Water flows all around you, supporting wetland vegetation like skunk cabbage across the property, where the Terry family has lived for seven generations. A judge ruled on Jan. 31, however, that the company may use eminent domain to take land along the pipeline’s 303-mile route from northern West Virginia to southern Virginia.

“Red Terry” Takes A Stand – “I Will Come Out Of The Tree When These People Get Off My Land”

April 19, 2018 Staff, Bluevirginia.us Resist! Pipelines, Protests, Virginia

Excellent video (by Water Is Life. Protect It.; see below), I definitely recommend it. As a property owner on Bent Mountain puts it, “I think that’s one of the big issues with this pipeline is that the rest of the public that is not in this community up here, a good chunk of them don’t think it’s going to affect them, it’s not in my backyard, but it is – it IS your backyard, we are what feed a lot of the clean, crisp water that Roanoke city gets.” And as the treesitter known as “Red Terry” adds, “They haven’t decided how to lie about the sediment coming down these huge, steep banks into these creeks feeding into the Roanoke Valley and Salem; they haven’t come up with a life for that yet…”

Landowner Launches New Pipeline Protest In Roanoke County Tree

April 4, 2018 By Bianca Holman, Wdbj7.com Resist! Land, Pipelines, Protests, Virginia

A woman who lives on Bent Mountain says pipeline surveyors called police to her property Monday afternoon, after she climbed in a tree and refused to come down. The landowner, who goes by the name "Red," told WDBJ7 that she climbed into a tree around Monday and plans to stay put in an effort to prevent pipeline crews from tearing down trees on her property. "Red" said she observed surveyors, believed to be employed by the company intending to build the Mountain Valley Pipeline, planting blue ribbons to mark an access road and orange ribbons to mark the path of the pipeline on her Roanoke County property.. "Red" had already constructed a treehouse on her property, anticipating a standoff between herself and pipeline crews. When she saw them moving toward her treehouse, she climbed the ladder and launched her protest.

Tree-Sitting To Stop The Mountain Valley Pipeline

March 9, 2018 The Final Straw Radio, Earthfirstjournal.org Resist! Pipelines, Protests, Social Movements, Virginia, West Virginia

This week, Bursts spoke with Birch and Judy, two folks involved in the Tree Sits on Peter Mountain along the Appalachian Trail on the border of Virginia and West Virginia. The tree sits are operating in order to block the Mountain Valley Pipeline or MVP. Before all of the permits have been ok’d, contractors with the help of local law enforcement have been clearing the path for the pipeline. This preparation would include 3,800 feet blasted through the mountains or if that didn’t work the blasting of a trench that length through the mountains. We also talk about the ACP, or Atlantic Coast Pipeline, in this conversation and the connections between the two projects and their resistance.

The Lives Destroyed By The Mountain Valley Pipeline

March 9, 2018 Madelyne Ashworth, Rvamag.com Educate! Pipelines, Virginia

It’s a frightening thing to realize that despite spending years in one place, despite working hard over decades to make your house a home, despite being dutifully on time with property taxes and mortgage payments, someone could rip your home away to build a pipeline. RVA Mag traveled to Giles County, Virginia to document the lives and stories of some of the people most affected by the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). David and Karen Yolton have spent the last 50 years turning a little pony barn into the loving home of a teacher and a retired land surveyor. Georgia Haverty, a single mother, has spent 40 years converting her 400 acres of farmland into four lucrative businesses with her daughter, including selling beef cattle and creating a wedding venue. Don Jones and his family have worked and tilled the same farmland in Giles County for ten generations.

I’m An Eagle Scout, And I Don’t Want Pipelines In My Wilderness

February 22, 2018 By Griffin Bird, Otherwords.org Educate! Appalachia, Pipelines, Virginia

Troop 149, an enthusiastic and lively troop from Arlington, made me the person I am today. Being a member of Troop 149 meant a lot of things, but most importantly it meant incredible outdoor expeditions on the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail, a treasured 2,200-mile hiking trail that traverses the Appalachian Mountains, was a mainstay of my youth. I spent countless hours and made lots of memories on the trail — learning how to cook on a smoky campfire, leaving my tent to greet the crisp morning air, watching the sun dip below the mountains after a long day of backpacking. I wouldn’t trade these memories for anything. My visits to the Appalachian Trail became more infrequent as I got older and my Scouting career came to a close. I shipped off to a college on Virginia’s coast, far away from the mountains. Even as I grew older and busier, I found myself longing to be back out on that well-worn trail.

All Out To Stop Pipelines In Virginia: Updates And Call For Support

February 14, 2018 Staff, Itsgoingdown.org Resist! FERC, Pipelines, Virginia

We tried our hardest to stop these destructive projects at the regulatory level but we have always known that action beyond those processes would be necessary. We will continue to support regulatory and judicial efforts as we believe in a multi pronged approach to this fight, though there are some of us for which this is no longer a viable option. It will take a diversity of tactics to defeat these pipelines. We believe that direct action is an imperative part of the multi pronged approach and we are committed to helping to create a culture of resistance to the fossil fuel industry in VA. We believe direct action is necessary to win.

VA State Water Control Board Delays Atlantic Coast Pipeline

December 13, 2017 Lorne Stockman, priceofoil.org Resist! Oil, Pipelines, Virginia

“After a complete failure last week in approving the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s certificate, Virginia’s State Water Control Board (SWCB) has delayed certification of the permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline until studies of sedimentation, karst, and erosion issues are completed. This rightly acknowledges the danger to Virginia’s water the project poses, but fails to clearly address those threats. While this is most definitely not what Dominion wanted and gives opponents of the pipeline more time to push for rejection, the SWCB should have rejected the certificate outright. “The Atlantic Coast Pipeline has seen massive opposition along its entire route. As was seen at the hearing today, those opponents are not going to rest easy until these pipelines are rejected outright.

800 Anti-Pipeline Virginians Surround Capitol At Rally & Concert

December 4, 2017 Stacy Miller, chesapeakeclimate.org Resist! Fracking, Pipelines, Protests, Virginia

By Stacy Miller for CCAN - Several speakers rallied the crowd, including Del. Sam Rasoul of Roanoke, one of several candidates who refused money from Dominion Energy — lead developer of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline — and other fossil fuel companies during the election. “I have the responsibility to speak up on behalf of my constituents and speak out against the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines,” Rasoul said. “I want to ensure that our communities’ drinking water remains safe, and our water sources are not jeopardized. Virginians know these pipelines would bring more harm than good. I urge Governor McAuliffe and the Water Control Board to reject the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines.” After the rally,, the crowd followed an enormous Water Spirit Puppet created by All the Saints Theater Company to The National theater for a free concert. Delegate-elect Jennifer Carroll Foy of Woodbridge was the keynote speaker. “More than ever, we need to protect our water and environment,” Foy said. “At Possum Point, only a few miles from my home, an old coal plant continues to leak toxic metals into our water supply because the coal ash has not been stored properly. We owe it to all of the families living in this area, including my husband and my infant twin boys, to fight for clean, safe drinking water.”

Northam Hid Dominion Execs & Lobbyists In Transition Team

November 21, 2017 Itai Vardi, desmogblog.com Educate! Dominion, Electoral Politics, Lobbying, Money in Politics, Virginia

By Itai Vardi for Desmog Blog - Virginia’s Democratic governor-elect, Ralph Northam, announced his transition committee this week. In a press release, his office listed 85 individuals who will comprise the “bipartisan” committee, representing Virginians “from across the Commonwealth who will join him over the course of the next two months to lay the groundwork for a successful administration.” But there is something odd about the list of people and their affiliations, or lack thereof. Dominion Energy — the state’s most powerful corporate player who will need certifications from the Northam administration for its pivotal Atlantic Coast pipeline — doesn’t appear once on the list. If approved by the state’s regulatory bodies, the mammoth 550-mile interstate pipeline is planned to transport natural gas from West Virginia, through Virginia, and into North Carolina. Yet a closer look at the people on the transition team reveals that some have been presented in a selective way that fails to mention their various affiliations with Dominion. The list includes Carlos Brown, who is presented as “Member, Commonwealth Transportation Board.” But Brown has another job. He’s Vice President and General Counsel at Dominion Energy. Next, the list includes Eva Hardy, who is presented as “Former Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources.” Yet Hardy served in that capacity between 1986 and 1990. Afterwards she worked as a longtime Dominion executive, most recently as a vice president. Though not currently an official company executive, Dominion still retains Hardy as a lobbyist.

Historic Union Hill Community Threatened By Atlantic Coast Pipeline

September 30, 2017 Sammy DiDonato, www.unicornriot.ninja Resist! FERC, Pipelines, Protests, Virginia

By Sammy DiDonato for Unicorn Riot - Dominion plans to build a large compressor station for the pipeline in Union Hill, a historic Black community founded by descendants of freed slaves in unincorporated Buckingham County near the Cumberland State Forest, west of Richmond. Local residents see the pipeline company’s disregard for their community as part of an established history of environmental racism in Virginia. “As African-Americans living in a county where racial inequality and retaliation have been facts of life for over 300 years, where many of their ancestors were enslaved, the community of Union Hill’s lack of access to political decision-making makes them vulnerable to Dominion Power’s corporate profit-making plans.” – Lakshmi Fjord, anthropologist and activist with Friends of Buckingham County. The kayak actions were carried out to call on the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to not defer to the Army Corps of Engineers decision when issuing permits to projects that threaten water quality. Organizing groups included Friends of Buckingham County, Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, Friends of Nelson County, and Yogaville Environmental Solutions. Friends of Buckingham County has been organizing around the Atlantic Coast Pipeline for three years.

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