In a recent editorial (“Should pipeline tree sitters get 20 years in prison?” June 11, 2019), the Roanoke Times makes many good points about the latest efforts by the oil and gas industry to turn peaceful citizens into felons serving 20 years in prison. Sadly, the editor’s conclusion reveals a serious lack of understanding about change in the face of entrenched power.
The Roanoke Times dismisses the dangerous and physically draining act of tree-sitting as a “gleeful” and “colorful” activity and labels such direct action “futile,” lecturing pipeline opponents that they should raise money to pay for lawyers, compete with hedge fund managers by buying stocks in pipeline companies to “work against the project from within,” and work to elect politicians who will reform the whole system. Tree sitting is a “distraction.” Ignoring, for the moment, the fact that opponents have been doing ALL of these things since 2015, I can’t help but be thankful that Martin Luther King and others who engaged in civil disobedience did not rely on sources like this. If King had confined himself to buying company stock, hiring lawyers and working on political campaigns, he never would have written a letter from the Birmingham jail after being arrested for civil disobedience. Instead of “I Have a Dream,” he would have said, “I Have a Proxy Vote.”
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Read the full Roanoke Times commentary
Wednesday Dec. 19, 2018
Cynthia Munley is an organizer of Preserve Salem.
The Northam administration has “empowered DEQ” to pursue action …to protect Virginia’s natural resources” (Roanoke Times, 12-7-18) after allowing construction to continue from May to November through continued protests over waterways destruction and 300 documented violations. This is nothing new. DEQ retained authority to quickly stop waterways destruction all along. Attorney General Mark Herring’s legal suit against MVP is show over effective action. Penalties are business-as-usual for pipelines who later charge ratepayers. MVP, an incompetent pipeline tackling an impossible route, is overseen by enablers anxious to finish and bury the deed by continuing Virginia’s corrupt “pay to play” scheme — even while MVP lacks essential permits. This is no way to build a pipeline.
Read the full Martinsville Bulletin commentary
One week after ordering a stop to construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a federal agency is allowing some work to guard against the environmental and safety risks posed by leaving such a large project half-done. A temporary stabilization plan submitted by developers of the 303-mile natural gas pipeline was partially approved Friday by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Some parts of the plan call for the installation of segments of steel pipes that have already been laid along trenches dug for them — a move that critics say amounts to further construction under the guise of stabilization. “The law is clear that construction must not occur unless and until a route across the Jefferson National Forest has been approved,” attorneys for the Sierra Club and other conservation groups wrote in a letter to FERC. The Sierra Club was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that challenged approvals by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management for a 3.5-mile segment of the pipeline to cross through the forest near the West Virginia line.
Hileman: State water board should suspend MVP’s permit
Sunday August 12, 2018
Jacob Hileman is an environmental hydrologist with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. He was raised in the Catawba Valley of Virginia, and is presently a researcher at Stockholm University working on global water sustainability issues.
To the Members of the State Water Control Board:
On July 9, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a formal Notice of Violation to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) for numerous failures to prevent sediment-laden runoff from entering waterways in the project area. These violations are a direct consequence of the application of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Nationwide Permit 12 to MVP, which allowed the project to proceed without first analyzing the expected impacts on a stream-by-stream basis. These violations will continue so long as this permit remains in place, including years after construction of the pipeline is completed if this issue is not addressed now. Given Nationwide Permit 12 is the subject of an upcoming meeting of the Board on August 21, and in light of the recent violations, now is the time to critically examine the impacts of MVP to date.
South Dakota tribes weigh in on Mountain Valley Pipeline
Thursday August 9, 2018
ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ7) When we hiked though the woods on Bent Mountain in mid-March, we saw archeological work under way along the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. But representatives of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota say they believe contractors hired by the pipeline company have missed sites of significance. Ben Rhodd is Tribal Historic Preservation Officer with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. He has submitted a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and says a formal report is in the works.
Read the WDBJ news report, view the video clip
Editorial: Pipeline opponents and the governor are talking two different languages
Thursday August 9, 2018
Environmentalists cannot fathom why one Democratic governor, namely Terry McAuliffe, endorsed the two natural gas pipelines cutting across Virginia and why his successor, Ralph Northam, has done nothing to stop them. It’s actually pretty simple, and has nothing to do with either governor being “in the pocket” of “special interests,” as some pipeline opponents claim. They simply see the world differently. We’ll try to explain. No minds will get changed — that’s not really the goal — but perhaps pipeline opponents will have a better understanding of why Northam has taken such a “hands off” approach.
Munley: On pipeline, Northam has abandoned us
Thursday August 9, 2018
Cynthia Munley is an organizer of Preserve Salem.
Gov. Northam and his Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) have allowed the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to be built, and in the process have jerked around Virginia citizens with devastating consequences for our regions’ water, landowners, safety, economy, wilderness, and scenic beauty. Approved without a viable sedimentation plan, using “over-stored” pipes, warp-speed schedules, odorless gas over landslide-prone steep slopes, MVP now poses a perfect storm across our Blue Ridge. The abusive Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) both promotes and decides on the “necessity” for pipelines, and allows construction to precede legal challenges — a reckless management of public interests.
Landowners swamped by erosion denied injunction against Mountain Valley Pipeline
Thursday August 9, 2018
Six Franklin County landowners have lost the first round of their legal fight against the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which they blame for erosion on their property. The lawsuit claims the company’s failure to control storm water runoff allowed mud to be washed from where the natural gas pipeline is under construction to private property downhill. Wendell and Mary Flora, Glenn and Linda Frith and Michael and Frances Hurt claim their land was swamped in mid-May, when heavy rains left nearby Cahas Mountain Road covered with about 8 inches of mud. But in denying the landowners’ request for a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Dillon said they had failed to show that such severe flooding is likely to happen again.
Roanoke activist removed from state board for actions at April pipeline protest
Tuesday August 7, 2018
Gov. Ralph Northam removed a Roanoke woman from the Virginia Board of Pharmacy for misconduct in April after state officials were told she used her board identification to gain access to a closed site near the Mountain Valley Pipeline route. Freeda Cathcart, a well-known Democratic Party and civic activist, was arrested April 9 in the Jefferson National Forest in Giles County for violating a closure order. Cathcart, 57, pleaded guilty July 23 to the petty offense in federal court in Roanoke and was fined $150. As part of an agreement, a charge of resisting arrest against Cathcart was dismissed. Prosecutors also promised not bring any other charges related to the case.
Editorial: Three observations on the MVP’s work stoppage
Tuesday August 7, 2018
What should we make of federal regulators ordering a halt to construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline until it can get new permits from the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to cross federal land? Here are some thoughts:
- Pipeline opponents need to keep in mind that the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management work for a pro-natural gas administration.
- This now becomes a war of attrition with MVP’s investors.
- The court ruling that set in motion this chain of events shows why presidential elections are so important.
Read the full Roanoke Times editorial
Letter: Northam has been warned
Tuesday August 7, 2018
The terms “prior knowledge” or “prior notice” of a pending public or private sector potentially libelous circumstance or disaster, COULD have very special meaning and implications, when it comes down to legal proceedings. With several recent pipeline-related “prior knowledge”situations in mind, let’s turn our attention closer to Richmond, Va. and the Northam Administration, regarding fracked-gas pipelines.
Read the full Roanoke Times letter-to-the-editor
Mountain Valley Pipeline and opponents react to stop work order
Monday August 6, 2018
ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ7) Officials with the Mountain Valley Pipeline says they’re confident work will resume soon, following a stop work order issued Friday. Opponents of the project welcome the delay as they continue to press their objections with the courts and state and federal agencies. At issue is MVP’s right-of-way in the Jefferson National Forest. Just 3.5 miles of the 303-mile route, it includes the area on Peters Mountain where tree sitters protested for months. After a federal appeals court vacated permits issued by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management late last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the stop work order for the entire length of the project.
Read the WDBJ news report, view the news clip
Limited work continues on Mountain Valley Pipeline following stop-work order
Monday August 6, 2018
Work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline might be suspended by the order of a federal agency, but there is still some activity along its 303-mile construction zone. A stop-work order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allowed for stabilization of the work areas. Since the order was announced late Friday, some people have expressed concerns on social media and elsewhere about seeing bulldozers and other heavy equipment still in operation. But under rules imposed by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the company has seven days to make sure that appropriate erosion and sediment control measures are in place at the soon-to-be dormant construction areas. “The only work currently underway in Virginia is site stabilization,” DEQ Director David Paylor said in a written statement Monday. “Virginia’s laws give DEQ the authority to ensure the infrastructure is stabilized — and remains stabilized — for as long as the stop-work order is in place,” he said, adding that state inspections will continue.
Judges vacate two permits for Atlantic Coast Pipeline
Monday August 6, 2018
Construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline has hit a new roadblock in the Blue Ridge Mountains at a critical crossing beneath a scenic national parkway. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday tossed out two federal permits issued for the $5.5 billion, 600-mile natural gas pipeline, including one the National Park Service granted for the pipeline to cross beneath the Blue Ridge Parkway between Augusta and Nelson counties. The panel, in an opinion written by Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory, also said construction of the project cannot proceed without a valid and enforceable permit from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for the “incidental taking” of five threatened or endangered species in its path. Without valid permits from the two federal agencies, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, “should it continue to proceed with construction,” would violate its permit for the project from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the appeals court panel, said in a footnote in the 62-page decision.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Giles County couple blames Mountain Valley Pipeline for runoff mess
Saturday August 4, 2018
RIPPLEMEAD — It was bad enough to see the driveway that leads to their blue and white-trimmed farmhouse converted to a construction access road for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. “When you think you’re going to run out to the store and back, but you have to wait for three dump trucks to get out of the way,” Danny Gallagher said, his voice trailing off as his wife completed the sentence: “It’s frustrating,” Sherri Gallagher said.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Photos: Pipeline construction leads to flooding in Giles County
Saturday August 4, 2018
Recent rain has caused flooding in Giles County homes thanks to recent Mountain Valley Pipeline construction.
See the full Roanoke Times photo spread
FERC orders work to stop on Mountain Valley Pipeline
Friday August 3, 2018
A federal agency ordered a stop Friday to construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which has run into repeated problems with erosion since it began its path through the Roanoke and New River valleys. In a letter to pipeline officials, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cited an appeals court decision last week that reversed earlier-granted approvals for pipeline work in the Jefferson National Forest. With construction of that 3.6-mile segment of the natural gas pipeline now on hold, FERC determined that work on the rest of the 303-mile project should not proceed.
Letter: Open Pocahontas Road
Friday August 3, 2018
On July 27 the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond declared the permits to build the Mountain Valley Pipeline in the Jefferson National Forest repealed. I was being convicted of a crime due to the closure of Pocahontas Road in the Jefferson National Forest Pocahontas Road is still closed to the public due to the road closure order from Joby Timm, supervisor of the Jefferson National Forest. This road closure is illegal. A lawsuit was brought by state senator Chap Peterson to reopen this public road rather than have MVP have exclusive rights to the road. The court here refused to hear the case after “Nutty” came down from the monopod.
Regarding: Appeals court upholds Virginia’s review of water quality impact of Mountain Valley Pipeline
Thursday August 2, 2018
“The Fourth Circuit appellate judges have ignored scientific evidence, instead believing that DEQ and MVP can control erosion and sedimentation. These photos show that the scientists were right. This court ruling will allow the destruction to continue.”
Before
After
Appeals court upholds Virginia’s review of water quality impact of Mountain Valley Pipeline
Wednesday August 1, 2018
A federal appeals court has upheld Virginia’s water quality certification for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, preserving a major milestone for the controversial project. In a decision Wednesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by the Sierra Club and other conservation groups that the State Water Control Board erred in December when it found a “reasonable assurance” that streams and wetlands would not be harmed by the 303-mile natural gas pipeline.
Letter: All pipeline permits should be rejected
Wednesday August 1, 2018
On Friday, the appeals court judges rejected Mountain Valley Pipeline building permits that would have allowed construction on federal land. This is exciting news — the judges’ ruling acknowledges that this pipeline would cause major damage to the surrounding ecosystem. Pipeline infrastructure has historically caused prolific waterway contamination, widespread deforestation and deepening regressive ties to the fossil fuel energy. However, while this court ruling is surely a step in the right direction, it is not enough. Only a small portion of the expansive pipeline has been stopped.
West Virginia protest blocks path of Mountain Valley Pipeline
Tuesday July 31, 2018
MONROE CO., W. Va. The path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is well-defined in Monroe County, West Virginia. And sections of pipe are now being welded together, where the project crosses Becky Crabtree’s property. Crabtree protested there Tuesday morning, in the front seat of her first car, a 1971 Ford Pinto that was elevated on a base of wooden timbers. “I believe we were there about 4 am, and I believe work was stopped when i left a little after 10,” Crabtree told WDBJ7. ‘I’ll take six hours of Mountain Valley not being able to work on my property.”
Read the full WDBJ news report, view the video clip
High up on a hill
Sunday July 29, 2018
Near Pence Springs, winding up a one-lane country back road, you come to a freshly graveled driveway. Turning right, you wind yourself up the southern facing slope, until you come to what many people — those looking for a perfect mountain escape — would view as a dream. Standing out from the hill, a brand-new timber frame is being born with its front porch facing the Greenbrier River as it flows to Hinton. Inside the home, thick beams of many West Virginia hardwoods make up the structure and hold up the home’s vaulted ceilings. Outside, a worker is building a beautiful natural stone retaining wall. On the porch, other workers joke and laugh along with the sounds of the radio playing Americana music. In the pasture in front of the home, the shadows of clouds race over the green summer grasses. The birds chirp, a pneumatic nail gun fires the metal that will hold this dream together — and across the way, across the pasture, down the hillside and over the river, the unmistakable sound of heavy, tracked machines ring out.
Read the full Register-Herald (Beckley WV) article with video
Federal appeals court delivers blow to Mountain Valley Pipeline
Saturday July 28, 2018
In what environmentalists called a major victory, a federal appeals court on Friday struck down two key decisions allowing a natural gas pipeline to slice through the Jefferson National Forest. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Sierra Club and other conservation groups that challenged approvals by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management for a 3.6-mile segment of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Affected woodlands are in Giles and Montgomery counties and Monroe County, West Virginia. The pipeline’s route through the national forest will also take it under the Appalachian Trail atop Peters Mountain.
Local pipeline fighters cautiously pleased with Mountain Valley Pipeline permit revocation
Friday July 27, 2018
McLEAN, Va. – An appeals court on Friday sided with environmentalists who challenged the decision by federal agencies to allow construction of a 300-mile natural gas pipeline on a swath of national forest. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond cancels permits issued by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service allowing the Mountain Valley Pipeline to cut through the Jefferson National Forest. “This is very positive news, but it’s not like big time celebration because that doesn’t mean that they can’t construct everywhere else that’s not forest,” Preserve Montgomery County Chair Lynda Majors said.
Read the WSLS news report, view the video clip
Appeals Court Sides With Environmentalists In Pipeline Case
Friday July 27, 2018
An appeals court on Friday sided with environmentalists who challenged the decision by federal agencies to allow construction of a 300-mile natural gas pipeline on a swath of national forest. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond cancels permits issued by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service allowing the Mountain Valley Pipeline to cut through the Jefferson National Forest. The judges’ ruling accuses the agencies of ignoring environmental regulations in approving the project. “MVP’s proposed project would be the largest pipeline of its kind to cross the Jefferson National Forest. American citizens understandably place their trust in the Forest Service to protect and preserve this country’s forests, and they deserve more than silent acquiescence to a pipeline company’s justification for upending large swaths of national forestlands,” wrote Judge Stephanie Thacker, an Obama appointee.
Read the full WVTF news report
U.S. court vacates two permits for EQT Mountain Valley natgas pipe
Friday July 27, 2018
July 27 (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Friday vacated decisions by two federal agencies that allowed EQT Corp to build its $3.5 billion to $3.7 billion Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia across federal land. The case is the latest victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by the Sierra Club and other opponents of the pipeline. Analysts at Height Capital Markets in Washington said the decision could delay the project’s in-service date until the fourth quarter of 2019.
Read the full Reuters report in CNBC news
Federal judges in Va. revoke permit for pipeline, saying impact on national forest not fully reviewed
Friday July 27, 2018
RICHMOND — A panel of federal judges on Friday rescinded permits for a massive natural gas pipeline to cross the Jefferson National Forest, saying two U.S. agencies had not fully vetted the project and had simply accepted assurances from the builders. Environmentalists called the decision a major blow against the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline, which is being built from West Virginia though the rugged terrain of far Southwest Virginia. It will pass through 3.6 miles of the Jefferson National Forest along the West Virginia line in Giles County, tunneling under the Appalachian Trail.
Read the full Washington Post article
Protester gets 2 days in jail for blocking construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Friday July 27, 2018
A woman who spent 11 days in an aerial blockade of the Mountain Valley Pipeline must now spend two days in jail. Catherine “Fern” MacDougal was led from a Roanoke courtroom in handcuffs Thursday after pleading guilty to trespassing and blocking a U.S. Forest Service road. The case of MacDougal — a 31-year-old University of Michigan graduate student with a history of environmental activism — marked the first adjudication of nearly a half-dozen people who sat in trees or on suspended platforms to block construction of the controversial natural gas pipeline.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
4th Circuit sides with pipeline in eminent domain case
Thursday July 26, 2018
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court has sided with the Mountain Valley Pipeline in an eminent domain lawsuit brought by landowners in the project’s path. A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday affirmed the ruling of a lower-court judge who didn’t rule on the case’s constitutional issues but dismissed them, saying she lacked subject matter jurisdiction.
Justin Lugar, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said his clients are evaluating the opinion and possible next steps.
Read the full Associated Press (AP) News report
Completion of Mountain Valley Pipeline delayed to early 2019, even with long work days
Thursday July 26, 2018
Construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline will continue into 2019, longer than expected and sometimes with 15-hour workdays that are irking its neighbors. Shareholders of NextEra Energy, one of the pipeline’s developers, were told Wednesday that an anticipated completion date of late this year is no longer viable for the massive natural gas pipeline. Work on the pipeline “has faced some recent challenges,” John Ketchum, executive vice president and chief financial officer of NextEra Energy, said during a quarterly earnings conference call. He cited a stay issued by a federal appeals court that put a hold on stream crossings the buried pipeline must make in West Virginia.
Read the full Roanoke Times news report
Muddy runoff concerning Monroe County residents
Thursday July 26, 2018
MONROE COUNTY, WV (WVVA). Some Monroe County residents say that they were assured the environmental impact of the Mountain Valley Pipeline construction would be limited. However, muddy runoff after heavy rain this week is concerning some residents. “The sediment came through and it was just gushing into my pond,” said local Greenville resident Donald Earley. Earley’s residence was about a quarter mile downstream of the construction. Earley keeps the pond stocked with fish, and was concerned what the sediment may do to this fishes’ health.
Read the WVVA news report with photos
Citizen group provides extra eyes on the ground for pipeline regulators
Wednesday July 25, 2018
On the frontlines of a fight to protect water and forests from pipeline risks, a volunteer-driven group documents potential environmental violations.
A dirt and gravel corridor as wide as a highway splits the green-hued forest, winding over steep slopes before disappearing into a sea of ridges on the horizon. Down the center, a pale green tube propped up on waist-high stacks of wooden pallets looks like a water slide as it caroms along mountainous contours here in Appalachian Virginia west of Roanoke. It’s Friday evening and the crews building the Mountain Valley Pipeline here have gone home for the evening. Work is just starting, though, for a team of citizen scientists determined to hold the pipeline’s developers accountable for any environmental damage they inflict in the area.
Read the full Energy News article
Letter: What legacy will pipeline supporters leave
Tuesday May 1, 2018
You who have supported, promoted and will participate in the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, have you ever thought about what kind of legacy you will be leaving? What will your children and grandchildren say about you? How will you be remembered? Will it be that you were a destroyer of the fragile beauty of our land? Will it be as a polluter of the environment? Will it be as one who contributed to the loss of the clean water by the demolition of the delicate aquifers which feed our wells and streams? That would be a shameful legacy. Do you really want that to be part of your history? Is that how you want to be remembered? Think well on this.
Pick Your Poison: MVP Threatens Health. A Doctor Calls Out Doctors and Decision-Makers
Monday April 30, 2018
In this revealing presentation, Dr. Tina Smusz describes the dangers to public health inflicted on communities by construction and operation of fracked gas pipelines and compressor stations.
View the information clip on POWHR
ATV traffic on the Appalachian Trail is the latest Mountain Valley Pipeline controversy
Monday April 30, 2018
Tire tracks and muddy ruts along the Appalachian Trail mark the spot where the Mountain Valley Pipeline will meet the scenic footpath.Although motorized traffic is generally prohibited, Mountain Valley security crews and U.S. Forest Service officials have been driving all-terrain vehicles on the trail to reach an area where pipeline protesters are stationed at the top of Peters Mountain in the Jefferson National Forest. “Motorized use is antithetical to the wilderness experience of the Appalachian Trial,” said Andrew Downs, regional director of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
A fight for power in rural Virginia
Monday April 30, 2018
Tom Perriello and Tom Cormons. A company that builds fracked-gas pipelines is demanding the arrest of 61-year-old Theresa “Red” Terry and her daughter for trespassing — on their own property in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Terry family is trying to block one of two pipelines proposed to transport fracked gas through Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina from cutting through their homestead. More than a half-dozen others have taken to trees along the pipeline routes. Their cause has widespread support that transcends ideological divides. Legal challenges to the pipelines are pending, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Reps. H. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) have issued a bipartisan request for a rehearing from the federal oversight body, and a chorus of state legislators and local officials is sounding the alarm.
Read the full Washington Post article
Bishop: Pipeline will probably kill people
Monday April 30, 2018
By Mary Bishop who retired as a reporter at the Roanoke Times. The Mountain Valley Pipeline will probably kill people. I don’t mean from the explosions and leaks that occur along natural gas pipelines. And I don’t mean from the construction accidents that may well occur along the MVP’s insanely steep route through our mountains I mean from the forcible use of privately-owned land to build the pipeline.
The Forest Service Is Arresting Protesters Along the AT
Wednesday April 25, 2018
The fight to keep a 300-mile pipeline out of Jefferson National Forest is heating up. The Forest Service has cut off all food and water supplies to the protesters, and supporters are becoming desperate to help.
For two months, protesters have sat in platforms perched among the trees near Peters Mountain, located in Jefferson National Forest. Their goal is to block logging in the area that will prepare the way for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303-mile operation that will feed natural gas through the forest and cross the Appalachian Trail. And for two months the protests were peaceful, until last Sunday.
Read the full Outside Online article
Tree-sit protest against Mountain Valley Pipeline loses one of its stands
Wednesday April 25, 2018
A tree-sitter who blocked the path of a natural gas pipeline for nearly two months is no longer in a tree stand, which was quickly disassembled after the protester came down on Sunday. Mountain Valley Pipeline spokeswoman Natalie Cox said that one of two protesters in the Jefferson National Forest “voluntarily vacated their tree sit.” “The sit and all evidence found inside the sit was being removed from the tree and taken by the [U.S. Forest Service] police,” Cox wrote in an email Tuesday afternoon.
Roanoke County police deliver pizza, sandwiches to pipeline protesters in tree stands
Tuesday April 24, 2018
After provisions ran low in two tree stands occupied by pipeline protesters, Roanoke County police used plastic buckets on a rope to send up pizza and bologna sandwiches to the two women.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Strickler: Virginia steps in where Trump fails
Monday April 23, 2018
As Secretary of Natural Resources, I am responsible for overseeing agencies and taking actions that protect the Commonwealth’s environment. I take this job seriously because Gov. Northam and I know how important it is to Virginians’ quality of life and our economy. For that reason, I feel compelled to make sure that readers fully understand the Commonwealth’s approach to securing mitigation for damages caused by the proposed Atlantic Coast (ACP) and Mountain Valley (MVP) pipelines.
Read the full commentary on the Roanoke Times opinion page
Tree-sit protests of the Mountain Valley Pipeline pose a new challenge for police
Saturday April 21, 2018
Since tree-cutting began for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, local police have been faced with a new question: What to do when a protester climbs up a tree destined for a chainsaw and refuses to come down? There seems to be no established protocol for such a situation in Southwest Virginia, where the closest thing has been the occasional call for a cat up a tree. But according to law enforcement officials involved in similar standoffs elsewhere, the best response is the one being used here: avoid the use of force and wait the tree-sitters out.
Roanoke County police charge 2 women in trees blocking the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Friday April 20, 2018
Roanoke County police have filed criminal charges against a mother and daughter holed up in trees to block a natural gas pipeline from crossing their family land. But the women remained beyond the reach of the law Thursday from their perches.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Resistance against the Mountain Valley Pipeline grows for tree sitters
Thursday April 19, 2018
FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ7) — A new stand against the Mountain Valley Pipeline has started in Franklin County. Three tree sitters hover in the path of the pipeline’s destruction, towering over 75 feet off the ground of a small family farm’s livestock pasture, overlooking Little and Teel creeks, and home to the endangered Roanoke Logperch. These tree sitters join others on Peters Mountain, and on Bent Mountain. The first stage of construction for the MVP began with tree clearing in Franklin County in late March. On Thursday, MVP security personnel taped to the trees a notice of violation of Judge Dillon’s Federal Court Order stating tree sitters “should vacate the property immediately.” The occupants in the trees at Little Teel Crossing say they are prepared to remain as long as “this pipeline threatens family farms, land, and water.”
Roanoke County defends handling of Bent Mountain pipeline protest
Thursday April 19, 2018
ROANOKE CO., Va. (WDBJ7) Red Terry climbed into her tree stand over two weeks ago. Along with her daughter, who is located in a different tree stand nearby, she is preventing Mountain Valley Pipeline crews from completing tree-felling on the family’s Bent Mountain property. When a group of lawmakers raised concerns about the state’s oversight of the pipeline project on Wednesday in Richmond, speakers also criticized local authorities for cutting off supplies from the tree-sitters’ supporters.
Read the WDBJ news report, view the news clip
Anger over pipelines spills into General Assembly
RICHMOND — Intensifying public anger over the pending construction of two massive natural gas pipelines through Virginia boiled over into the General Assembly Wednesday, when more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers asked Gov. Ralph Northam for more oversight of stream crossings and tree cutting and to protect the rights of landowners protesting the projects.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
As tree-cutting continues for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, so do the protests
Early on the morning of April 11, Mary Beth Coffey came home to the sound of chainsaws and large pine trees crashing to the ground. Coffey knew, as soon as she read an urgent text from a neighbor and left work in a rush, that it was the day she had been dreading — the day that tree-cutting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline would invade her family farm on Bent Mountain.
Regulators want to hear from public on pipeline reviews
Friday April 13, 2018
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A panel of Virginia regulators wants to hear from the public about whether they believe the water quality approvals granted for two natural gas pipelines are adequate to protect the state’s waterways. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the State Water Control Board on Thursday approved a 30-day period to solicit comment on the approvals granted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines.
Denham et al: Faith demands action on Pipeline
Friday April 13, 2018
Dear Governor and First Lady Northam: We trust you have both seen accounts of two prayer vigils held recently in southwestern Virginia — in Newport and Bent Mountain — to allow landowners already experiencing the devastating effects of the Mountain Valley Pipeline on their land, their communities, and our shared environment to come together to express their heartfelt grief and yet renew their commitment…
Denham is pastor of the United Church of Christ and co-paster of Tree of Life Church in Roanoke. Dickerson is pastor of Northside Presybterian Church in Blacksburg. Fleischer is pastor of Newport-Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church. Greene is deacon intern with the Episcopal Church. Hallerman is lay leader with the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center. Rathjen is a retired pastor with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Philips is minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Blacksburg. Webster is pastor of the First Christian Church in Newport.
Read the full Commentary in the Roanoke Times
Police warn tree sitter to come down from tree
Thursday April 12, 2018
Tree cutting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline continued today on Bent Mountain in Roanoke County. And the work moved closer to the tree sitter who has been protesting the project for almost two weeks.
Read the WDBJ news report, view the news clip
Police make arrests as protests of the Mountain Valley Pipeline intensify
Thursday April 12, 2018
As protests of the Mountain Valley Pipeline intensified this week, local and federal authorities charged three people in what have so far been peaceful demonstrations. Roanoke County police were called Wednesday to a farm off Russwood Road in the Bent Mountain community, where a crowd of about 15 people had gathered in a face-off with crews that were cutting trees along the pipeline’s path.
MVP plans to extend its natural gas pipeline into N.C.
Thursday April 12, 2018
What has been a long and contentious process of building a natural gas pipeline through the two Virginias is about to get even longer. Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC announced Wednesday that it plans an extension of the 303-mile pipeline currently under construction, connecting with the project’s end point in Pittsylvania County and heading another 70 miles south into North Carolina.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Pipeline opponents arrested as tree-cutting continues on Bent Mountain
Wednesday April 11, 2018
ROANOKE CO., Va. (WDBJ7) Roanoke County Police arrested two people Wednesday, following a standoff between opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and a work crew felling trees. One protestor was taken into custody after refusing to move away from the edge of the pipeline corridor. Another was charged with giving false identification to police during an earlier incident.
Read the WDBJ news report, view the news clip
Tree cutting for Mountain Valley Pipeline continues despite March deadline
Monday April 9, 2018
ROANOKE CO., Va. (WDBJ7) The crews taking down trees along Mount Tabor Road in Montgomery County were back on Saturday, felling large trees along the edges of the pipeline corridor. Pipeline opponents say they were surprised that the work continued after a March 31st deadline designed to protect endangered species, in part because caves in the area are home to hibernating bats.
Read the WDBJ news report, view the news clip
Letter: EQT leaves a bad taste
Monday April 9, 2018
It just smacks me the wrong way and leaves a bad taste in my mouth to know that the public face of EQT in their home region is one that supports family fun on the water. Yes, apparently for the past 40 years, EQT has been a major sponsor of a Pittsburgh event known as Three Rivers Regatta, billed as a three-day land, air and water festival. Isn’t that a hoot? At its source, the fracking process injects toxic chemicals into and spoils water resources in West Virginia. In addition to the destruction of natural resources along the MVP route, once those “little blasts” start, I, like so many others in our area, can’t help but worry if we will even have water from our wells.
Read this Roanoke Times Letter-to-the Editor
Anti- Pipeline Activists Hope to Delay Construction by Living in its Path
Friday April 6, 2018
Activists who oppose the Mountain Valley Pipeline are living in the Jefferson National Forest, hoping to delay the project. Two tree sitters have been on Peters Mountain in West Virginia for more than a month. And one woman has been living on a monopod, in a section of forest where pipeline construction is slated to take place. On March 31st, Forest Service officials closed an access road making it impossible for supporters to deliver food and water to her.
Read the full WVTF transcript, listen to radio excerpt
DEQ is open to citizen pipeline monitors, director says
Friday April 6, 2018
State environmental regulators will accept help from citizen monitors now being trained to watch construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for violations of erosion, sedimentation and stormwater laws, a state official said.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Northam orders upgrade of DEQ amid criticism from pipeline opponents
Thursday April 5, 2018
LEXINGTON — Gov. Ralph Northam moved Wednesday to strengthen a state agency dealing with the construction of two natural gas pipelines, a cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay and other environmental challenges. In his sixth executive order since taking office in January, Northam called for a “revitalization” of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Sokolow: North Carolina document dump proves McAuliffe’s pipeline immunity deals are McAwful
Wednesday April 4, 2018
By Jonathan Sokolow, a writer and health care attorney living in Fairfax County. He spent more than 20 years working to defend pension and health rights for retired coal miners in Southwest Virginia and throughout Appalachia and is the author of several articles on the law and politics of the pipeline debate in Virginia.
When your attorney writes you a lousy contract, there’s only one thing worse: another attorney telling you that your attorney screwed up. If you are former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the lousy contract concerned Dominion Energy and its now $7 billion and growing fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline, you might feel embarrassed when Virginians learn — after the secret deal becomes public — that you agreed to cap Dominion’s liability for damages before the pipeline was even built.
A tree-sit protest of the Mountain Valley Pipeline has spread to Roanoke County
Monday April 2, 2018
Protesters maintain stands as timbering deadline nears
Sunday April 1, 2018
Tree- and pole-sitters are trying to delay tree cutting along gas pipeline’s right of way.
PETERS MOUNTAIN —As the clock ticked closer to a midnight deadline for tree cutting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, opponents blocking the way Saturdayvowed to hold their stand in the Jefferson National Forest.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Mountain Valley Pipeline protester charged with blocking Forest Service road
Thursday March 29, 2018
After spending the night in jail, a protester was released Thursday to await trial on charges of blocking a U.S. Forest Service road that leads to a Mountain Valley Pipeline construction site…
…The company sought a preliminary injunction that would have forced the protesters out, but a West Virginia judge denied the request last week. Monroe County Circuit Judge Robert Irons said there was not sufficient proof that the tree-sitters were in an area where logging by Mountain Valley was permitted. In a written opinion Wednesday, Irons expanded on comments he made from the bench last week. Irons was skeptical of the company’s argument that there was a public interest in building a pipeline that would supply needed natural gas. “There is no showing that there is a national shortage of gas, an emergency requiring immediate need of delivery of gas … or some other factor causing irreparable harm,” he wrote. In fact, the judge continued, the public’s interest was more closely aligned with the tree-sitters. The protesters “generally represent the interest of the public and the environment, such as the interest in protecting the waters underlying Peters Mountain, its flora and fauna, its view shed, the Appalachian Trail and similar interests that will or may be destroyed, if this request for a preliminary injunction is granted,” Irons wrote.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
MVP: We call for an Easter ceasefire
Thursday March 29, 2018
By Bonnie Law, Chairperson of Preserve Franklin and with Protect Our Water, Heritage Rights. She lives in Franklin County. During this Holy Week, citizens and faith leaders across Southwest Virginia and West Virginia call for Mountain Valley Pipeline activities to cease work.
Read the commentary in the Roanoke Times (open, then scroll down)
Tree-sit protest of Mountain Valley Pipeline escalates, drawing police response
Wednesday March 28, 2018
PETERS MOUNTAIN — She didn’t want to state her name, the woman who was sitting near the top of a 50-foot pole planted in the middle of a gravel road. She did state her purpose: “I hope to make it a lot harder for MVP to do any work on this road,” she said, speaking from inside a tarp that covered a wooden platform attached to the pole.
Tree sitters protesting the Mountain Valley Pipeline add location in Giles County
Wednesday March 28, 2018
GILES CO. (WDBJ7) A location for a group to sit in trees to protest the Mountain Valley Pipeline has been added in Giles County. Overnight Tuesday, opponents of the project anchored a 50-foot pole near a U.S. Forest Service gate on Pocahontas Road and stationed a tree sitter on top.
Read the WDBJ news report, view the news clip
Gas pipeline forges ahead as environmentalists call on Northam to slow process
Tuesday March 27, 2018
RICHMOND — Environmental groups had planned an event here Tuesday to call on Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to slow the permitting process for two major natural gas pipelines, only to learn that one of the projects got its permits the night before.
Read the full Washington Post article
DEQ pipeline approvals bring strong reaction in Montgomery County
Tuesday March 27, 2018
MONTGOMERY CO., Va. (WDBJ7) Even when we couldn’t see the crews and their chainsaws, we could hear their handiwork in the Mt. Tabor section of Montgomery County. And landowners like Donna Jones aren’t happy to see their trees coming down.
Read the WDBJ news report, view the news clip
As a tree-sit protest of the Mountain Valley Pipeline continues, a crowd is gathering
Saturday, March 24, 2018
A tree-top protest of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is drawing so much public attention that the U.S. Forest Service has designated a spot for supporters to gather. The Caldwell Fields Campground in the Jefferson National Forest has been established as a “safe location … for people to exercise their First Amendment rights” about protesters who are sitting in two trees along the pipeline’s route in an attempt to block its construction, the Forest Service said Friday.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
UPDATE: Despite Hearing & Snow, Tree-Sitters Still Tree-Sitting
Friday, March 23, 2018
It was unexpected to have people sitting in trees in the first place, but several people have been camping in the treetops on Peters Mountain since February 26. It’s all in an effort to stop progress on construction of the 303-mile-long Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).
More pipeline conflicts play out in Giles County Thursday
Thursday March 22, 2018
GILES CO., Va. (WDBJ7) Law enforcement officers from the U.S. Forest Service traveled to the top of Peters Mountain, where tree sitters are camping in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The officers posted additional notices closing the area, but they did not attempt to remove the activists Thursday afternoon.The officers used a forest service road in Giles County to access the Appalachian Trail. While they were on the mountain, pipeline opponents gathered nearby to support the tree sitters.
Read the WDBJ news report, view the news clip
W.Va. judge denies injunction to remove pipeline protesters from trees
Tuesday March 20, 2018
UNION, W.Va. — An attempt to flush pipeline protesters from their stands in trees atop Peters Mountain fell short Tuesday. Monroe County Circuit Judge Robert Irons denied a preliminary injunction requested by Mountain Valley Pipeline, which sought the court’s intervention to remove what has become a troublesome obstacle to its plans to build a natural gas pipeline through West Virginia and Southwest Virginia.
Read full Roanoke Times article
Bent Mountain dig raises new concerns from pipeline opponents
Monday March 19, 2019
ROANOKE CO., Va. (WDBJ7) A crew working for the Mountain Valley Pipeline is now conducting an archaeological dig on Bent Mountain. The work has raised fresh concerns from landowners in the area who object to the operation and want to know more about what’s happening there.
Read the WDBJ article, view the news clip
Prayer and Preparation: Monitoring The MVP
Monday March 19, 2018
The small town of Newport, Virginia is bracing itself for what’s about to happen there; the recently approved, Mountain Valley Pipeline will cross through the heart of the village, carrying natural gas from the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania through Virginia.
Listen to the WVTF report, read the transcript
New citizen monitoring group to watch for violations during pipeline construction
Monday March 19, 2018
NEWPORT — Doug Martin told a crowd of more than 100 people about his daily walks through Newport, the village where his family has lived for eight generations. The local historian walks by businesses, homes, covered bridges and historic buildings. But soon, he’s worried, it’s all going to change.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
The imminent pipeline danger to the Greater Newport Historic District
Sunday March 18, 2018
By Karolyn W. Givens; a member of Preserve Newport Historic Properties and a Radford University professor emeritus.
As a citizen of Southwest Virginia, as a member of Preserve Newport Historic Properties, and as the owner of the historic Leffel Farm located in the Greater Newport Rural Historic District, I strongly believe the voices of the citizens of our region have not been heard.
Mountain Valley Pipeline protesters continue tree-top vigil in W.Va.
Friday March 16, 2018
LINDSIDE, W.Va. — Foes of the planned Mountain Valley gas pipeline proclaimed their cause righteous and their resolve intact on the 17th day of a protest from a tree Thursday.
Read the full Roanoke Times article, view the video clip
‘Somebody’s Up There Sittin’ in a Tree’ – A Look at the Ongoing Pipeline Protest on Peters Mountain
Friday March 16, 2018
Since late February, a small group of people have been quietly perched in two trees atop Peters Mountain in Monroe County. They are so remote, few have seen or heard directly from the protesters, but still there’s plenty of people noticing.
Read the WV Public Radio article, listen to the story
Tree sitters continue pipeline protest on Peters Mountain
Friday March 16, 2018
MONROE CO., W. Va. With a sharp eye, or better yet a long lens, you can see the tree sitters from the road below Peters Mountain, but to get up close and within earshot is a bit more complicated. Monroe County resident Maury Johnson drove us as far as a private logging road would take us.
Read the WDBJ article, view the news clip
Physician concerned about pipeline health hazards
Wednesday March 14, 2018
The 303 mile path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is beginning to be cleared whether residents like it or not. Tina Smusz is a physician, who fell in love with the beauty of the mountains, so when something began to threaten that she began to do her research. It became clear to her that this pipeline could be very hazardous, especially if it were to leak. Smusz believes it should be stopped because the landscape is riddled with sinkholes and caverns which makes for difficult terrain to build an underground pipeline.
Majors, Chisholm and Bondurant: A dispatch from the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Wednesday March 14, 2018
Lynda Majors, Russell Chisholm and Roberta Bondurant serve on the Executive Committee of Protect Our Water, Heritage Rights, a coalition of nonprofits from the Virginias opposing the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
Gov. Ralph Northam and Secretary of Natural Resources Matt Strickler: The abuses of federal eminent domain for private pipeline profit coupled with “environmental mitigation” schemes set frightening precedent for our commonwealth and nation. Since the Mountain Valley Pipeline appeared in 2014, Virginia state and federal courts have avoided decisions against the gas industry, including the question of “public need,” rationalizing it as administratively determined by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
W.Va. judge to grant injunction to prevent protesters from sitting in trees
Tuesday March 13, 2018
UNION, W.Va. — A judge said Tuesday he will grant an injunction to prevent two protesters from sitting in trees, where for the past two weeks they have complicated plans to build a natural gas pipeline. But after half a day of testimony in Monroe County Circuit Court, there was no clear picture of how the tree-sitters will be removed.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Forest service imposes emergency closure along Mountain Valley Pipeline route
Sunday March 11, 2018
In what it described as an emergency, the U.S. Forest Service said Saturday it was closing parts of the Jefferson National Forest where a natural gas pipeline is planned.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Pipeline opponents gear up to monitor construction
Friday March 9, 2018
GILES CO., Va. (WDBJ7) A new effort to monitor construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is now taking shape in western Virginia.
Judge issues restraining order against pipeline protesters sitting in trees
Thursday March 8, 2018
A West Virginia judge has granted a temporary restraining order against pipeline protesters sitting in trees, leaving unanswered the question of how to remove them.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
The South’s Pipe Dreams
Thursday March 8, 2018
Appalachia’s buried treasure in natural gas means pipelines, and the controversy that comes with them are headed South.
Read full The US News & World Report article
“Like a Graveyard.” MVP Rips Through Forests
Wednesday March 7, 2018
Montgomery County, VA resident and Preserve Montgomery County volunteer Lynda Majors submitted the following account of tree felling devastation in the Brush Mountain and Craig Creek area.
Monday the trees were cut from Craig Creek all the way almost to the top of Brush Mountain. This is in the Inventoried Roadless Area of the Jefferson National Forest.
MVP asks West Virginia judge to order protesters out of trees along pipeline route
Tuesday March 6, 2018
Lawyers for the Mountain Valley Pipeline are asking a West Virginia judge to order the removal of protesters sitting in trees along the pipeline’s route.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Judge allows Mountain Valley Pipeline work to proceed on private property
Tuesday March 6, 2018
Work on a natural gas pipeline through Southwest Virginia could soon encroach upon private property owned by people who want nothing to do with the project. A federal judge on Friday granted Mountain Valley Pipeline immediate possession of the parcels, which it gained through the laws of eminent domain after nearly 300 landowners refused the company’s offers to purchase easements through which the pipeline will pass.
As Atlantic Coast Pipeline moves to construction, groups urge Northam to act
Monday March 5, 2018
RICHMOND — More than a year ago, as he was attempting to fend off a primary challenge from an opponent dead set against the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines, then-Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam called for the contentious projects to “be held to the highest environmental standards” in a letter to the state’s environmental agency.
Pipeline protesters are sitting in trees along its route in an effort to stop construction
Thursday March 1, 2018
Chainsaw crews are cutting trees in Giles County, clearing a path for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. On a ridgetop high above them, protestors are waiting. Since Monday, two self-described pipeline resisters have been sitting on platforms in two trees on Peters Mountain — about 60 feet off the ground and directly in the proposed path of the natural gas pipeline — with hopes of preventing the project from moving forward.
Montgomery County Government responds to Mountain Valley Pipeline
Monday Feb. 26, 2018
Overview and Contacts | FAQs | News and Project Updates | Resources and Maps
Access important contacts & information here
MVP partner announces change to corporate structure
Wednesday Feb. 21, 2018
A Pittsburgh company that is one of the key partners in the Mountain Valley Pipeline project announced Wednesday that it will create a new corporate entity to focus on natural gas pipelines.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
MVP’s contractor ran into environmental problems during construction of other pipelines
Sunday Feb. 18, 2018
A construction company hired to build the Mountain Valley Pipeline worked on three similar projects that were cited by environmental regulators, who found mountainsides turned to muddy slopes and streams clogged with sediment.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Federal agency OKs start of pipeline construction in Giles County
Tuesday Feb. 13, 2018
Trees that stand in the way of the Mountain Valley Pipeline could soon begin falling in Giles County.
Landowners press for more protections, as judge grants access to pipeline survey teams
Tuesday Feb. 13, 2018
ROANOKE CO, Va. (WDBJ7) Opponents of the Mountain Valley pipeline weren’t planning to spend Tuesday morning by the side of the road. But there they were on Green Hollow Drive, waiting to see if survey crews would appear on the gravel path that MVP plans to use for an access road
General Assembly panel kills pipeline bills by Dels. Chris Hurst and Sam Rasoul
Tuesday Feb. 6, 2018
RICHMOND — A slate of bills that would increase oversight and accountability of natural gas pipelines failed Tuesday.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
MVP to pay $27.5 million for tree-cutting, other environmental impacts of pipeline
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Federal judge puts a pause on Mountain Valley Pipeline construction plans
Thursday Feb. 1, 2018
With just a few hours remaining until Thursday, the day that Mountain Valley Pipeline had hoped to start work on a natural gas pipeline through Southwest Virginia, a judge put a pause to those plans.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Path to the Pipeline
Thursday Jan. 25, 2018
The Proposed MVP would travel 303 miles through VA and WV. Foes contend that the project would cause irreparable environmental damage, low property values and violate private property rights.
Read the Roanoke Times summary of recent news
Northam: Protesters draw attention to pipelines
Sunday Jan. 14, 2018
RICHMOND — Pipeline protesters could be heard chanting, “life is water,” as inauguration festivities kicked off at noon.
Read the excerpted Roanoke Times article
Efforts to take land for the Mountain Valley Pipeline challenged by property owners
Saturday Jan. 13, 2018
ROANOKE — Even as it asks a federal judge to allow it to run a natural gas pipeline through land it does not own, Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC is considering changes to the pipeline’s route.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Mountain Valley begins legal efforts to take private land for its pipeline
ROANOKE — The path to building a natural gas pipeline led to a packed courtroom Friday in Roanoke’s federal court, where landowners are fighting efforts by Mountain Valley Pipeline to take their property for the project.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Roanoke, Blacksburg Democrats roll out pipeline-related bills
Thursday Jan. 11, 2018
RICHMOND — Spurred by the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines, Democrats from the Roanoke and New River valleys introduced a slew of pipeline-related bills this week… “We are tired of being bullied, we are tired of being pushed around,” Rasoul said Thursday at a news conference in Richmond.
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Environmental groups seek to halt construction of Mountain Valley Pipeline
Tuesday Jan. 9, 2018
ROANOKE, Va. “As construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline draws closer, a coalition of environmental groups is asking a federal appeals court to issue a stay that would stop the project in its tracks.”
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Mountain Valley Pipeline moves forward after federal approvals
Friday Jan. 5, 2018
ROANOKE, Va. “Two federal agencies have taken actions that will allow a natural gas pipeline to cross streams and wetlands more than 500 times in Southwest Virginia and burrow under the Blue Ridge Parkway.”
Mountain Valley Pipeline opponents plan to appeal federal court ruling
Thursday Dec. 14, 2017
ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ7) “Landowners who live in the path of the proposed natural gas pipeline are challenging the process of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that allows the use of eminent domain for a project opponents argue is not a public use.”
State water board sued over decision to allow Mountain Valley Pipeline
Friday Dec. 8, 2017
Lawsuit filed against Va. State Water Control Board over 401 Certification
One day after Virginia’s SWCB approved MVP’s 401 certification, a lawsuit challenging the decision was filed in federal court by Appalachian Mountain Advocates for the Sierra Club and other environmental groups.
Roanoke Times, Dec. 8, 2017: State water board sued over decision to allow Mountain Valley Pipelin
Washington Post, Dec. 8, 2017: Environmental groups file suit in federal court against gas pipeline
Charleston Gazette-Mail, Dec. 8, 2017: MVP approval faces new federal court challenge
Beckley Register-Herald, Dec. 8, 2017: Pipeline taxation still a puzzle in Monroe County
Water Control Board awards certification, ends with conflict and confusion
Thursday Dec. 7, 2017
“RICHMOND — A state board responsible for protecting Virginia’s water awarded certification Thursday for the deeply controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline, voting 5-2 during a meeting that ended with confusion and conflict.
With its vote, the State Water Control Board determined there was a “reasonable assurance” that construction of the natural gas pipeline will not contaminate streams and other bodies of water along its path.
Opponents counter that digging trenches for a buried steel pipe 42 inches in diameter along steep mountain slopes is a recipe for environmental disaster….”
Read the full Roanoke Times article
Hundreds protest pipelines at Virginia state capitol
Sunday Dec. 3, 2017
“RICHMOND — A stream of protesters circled the state capitol Saturday to decry two natural gas pipeline projects they say will poison Virginia’s springs, creeks, rivers and lakes.
The crowd of about 500 gathered to send a message to the State Water Control Board, which meets Wednesday and Thursday to consider water quality certifications for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.