Wild & Wonderful West Virginia, if we can keep it?

From the Letter of Leslee McCarty, The Beckley Register Herald, March 27, 2021

The Greenbrier River is one of West Virginia’s crown jewels. Why risk ramming the 42-inch Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) across it so the big out-of-state energy corporation can profit?

After the courts threw out MVP’s slapdash plans to dig a trench across the Greenbrier, the MVP is asking the state to approve – six years into the project – a new plan to bore under the river.

The bore at Pence Springs would use half a million gallons of water mixed with drilling mud and take up to four months to complete. It will be the longest bore on the MVP – nine times the average. If any of that drilling mud gets into the river, it would be a disaster for both tourism – the one industry offering real hope for the area – and the health of the river itself.

MVP has a terrible record. State officials in West Virginia and Virginia have fined the project more than $2.7 million because – as the Roanoke Times put it – “construction on steep mountainsides has led to muddy runoff, and to hundreds of violations of environmental regulations meant to control erosion and sedimentation.”

Environmental Hydrologist Dr. Jacob Hileman says the MVP would have more impact on forests and streams than any other gas pipeline. He called the MVP “an unprecedented and highly consequential experiment.”

Why do we have to risk the best things we have? Will we continue to allow West Virginia to be a sacrifice zone for big energy corporations, or will we protect our vulnerable water resources? Sadly, the Legislature seems to want to ignore the health and safety of our water. I hope the WV Department of Environmental Protection doesn’t ignore MVP’s impact on the Greenbrier River.

Let’s stop this misguided pipeline project now and get to work on renewable energy projects for a sustainable, clean energy future!

Leslee McCarty, Founding Member,
Greenbrier River Watershed Association
Lewisburg, WV

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Final remaining tree sitter removed from MVP site, arrested

From a Newscast of WDBJ News 7, Roanoke, VA on March 24, 2021

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) – According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office, the final remaining tree sitter has been removed from the site of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Alexander Lowe, 24 of Worcester, Massachusetts, was arrested and charged with Obstruction of Justice and Interfering with the Property Rights of Another. He is being held in the Montgomery County Jail with no bond.

The Virginia State Police worked from a crane-suspended basket to safely remove the man from the “sleeping dragon” and the tree. He was checked by medics after being lowered to the ground. The sheriff’s office said he received no injuries during the extraction.

Tree sitters understand that the intrusive large 42 inch pipe is not needed

Lowe was the lone remaining tree sitter Wednesday after all others were removed Tuesday from the site on Yellow Finch Lane.

Law enforcement worked Tuesday to negotiate with the tree sitters, who had been protesting the building of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for more than two years. One tree sitter, a 23-year-old woman from Vermont, was arrested Tuesday.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ...... “now on - trial” ... !

From Michael M. Barrick, Appalachian Chronicle, September 18, 2020

WASHINGTON – Representatives from the VOICES Coalition (Victory Over InFRACKstructure, Clean Energy inStead), a coalition of over of over 350 grassroots activists, environmental leaders, lawyers, and experts, and 250 environmental organizations representing over 35 states, will hold a Virtual People’s Hearing to testify to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) extensive history of bias and abuse against the environment and the people in its approval of pipelines and fracked gas infrastructure.

It is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT.

Registration is required for the Webinar. One can register at this link:

bit.ly/RegisterVirtualHearing

Witnesses will share stories about their personal experiences, documenting the many instances in which FERC has skirted critical regulations and laws, infringed on states’ rights, hired biased consultants, and ignored requests for transparency.

Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, who has been a leader in Congress on FERC oversight, will speak about the preliminary findings of an investigation by the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties showing that the natural gas pipeline approval process used by FERC unjustly tramples on the rights of private landowners.

These stories will demonstrate to Congress the need to reform this notoriously opaque agency.

Commissioners have rejected only one pipeline project in the past 30 years, allowing many others to continue no matter the environmental and human consequences. The collection will substantiate what is already clear from FERC’s approval record: this unsupervised agency, funded by those it regulates, is unfit to serve.

To read the dossier of abuses of power and law by FERC documented by the VOICES Coalition and the Delaware Riverkeeper, visit:

bit.ly/DossierofFERCAbuse