MVP pipeline construction on private land under protest
From an Article by Matt Combs, Beckley Register-Herald, August 1, 2018
Becky Crabtree, a 64-year-old Monroe County grandmother, was arrested Tuesday for blockading herself in a 1971 Ford Pinto in order to stop construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) near Peters Mountain.
Crabtree, whose home sits at the base of the mountain, is a retired school teacher and author. “I have talked to elected officials, signed petitions, written letters, submitted reports and gone to court. I have exhausted the ‘usual’ methods of fighting injustice and have gotten no relief,” stated Crabtree in a news release before her arrest. “Officials have failed us in this fight; we need to fight for ourselves and each other.”
In a phone interview with the Register-Herald, Crabtree said that the Pinto was her first car and the vehicle that she took on her honeymoon in 1975. “We just felt like it would be a nice send-off for the car to go out with honor and also make a statement about how we feel about the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the powers that be that have allowed it,” Crabtree said.
The grandmother’s home was in clear view to tree-sitters who attempted to block construction of the pipeline near the ridge of the mountain earlier this year. The pipeline itself runs through her land. Crabtree and a group of other local protestors have joined with people around the region and nation against the pipeline.
If completed, the pipeline will run over 300 miles from the northern part of the state, through 11 counties in the Mountain State, before crossing over Peters Mountain into Virginia, where it will run through an additional six counties.
The project has faced multiple legal challenges with construction across several rivers in West Virginia halted along with construction on national lands very near to Crabtree’s protest.
According to the protestor, she installed herself in the Pinto and along the route in the early hours on Tuesday and was removed around 11 a.m. A few dozen supporters arrived at Crabtree’s property, along with a group at the Monroe County Magistrate’s Office when she was arrested.
“I appreciate their support,” Crabtree said. The protestor was charged with obstructing a police officer and quickly released.
“I hope this action underlines the fact that this pipeline is not needed and that eminent domain is being misused to take people’s land,” Crabtree said. Pintos are obsolete and so are fossil fuels. We need to be exploring renewable sources of energy.”
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SEE ALSO: “Mountain Valley Pipeline Protests Continue” | Bluefield Daily Telegraph, November 28, 2018
SEE VIDEO: “Destruction Zone” Video by Paula Mann, Monroe County, WV
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