MVP right of way work at Pence Springs

Public meeting on Tuesday, April 23 to learn more about a possible MVP Reroute over the Columbia-Celanese Corridor

Local groups have learned that the Mountain Valley Pipeline might be redirected to cross over Peters Mountain on an alternate route along the Columbia-Celanese corridor close to Peterstown.

Save Monroe will hold a public meeting to discuss this possibility on April 23, starting at 7:00 p.m.

The meeting will be held in Peterstown at Market Street & Co., next to the post office.

Please tell friends and neighbors

Anyone who knows Monroe County knows this route would endanger the Red Sulphur Public Service District and the more than 5,000 county residents who rely on it for their drinking water. Trenching for the 42-inch MVP would make the troubles caused by construction of the 12-inch Columbia-Celanese pipeline look tame. It would also impact about 5 miles of the karst valley on Green Valley Road at the base of Peters Mountain.

A general map of this route was included in MVP’s original application when MVP was instructed to identify and evaluate alternative routes. This route is called the “Columbia Gas of Virginia (CGV) Peters Mountain Variation.” It is indicated by the blue line on the map, but any property between the existing pipeline construction near Lindside and the Columbia-Celanese line may be at risk.

No official announcement has been made about this route, but residents and county officials should be alarmed that it is even being considered. It is not known if other alternatives are also being looked at. The April 23rd meeting is open to everyone.

Hope to see you there!

Thanks, Save Monroe

SOURCE: Greenbrier River Watershed Association, April 19, 2019

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.”

—————————————————————————————

SEE ALSO: “Mountain Valley Pipeline Protests Continue” | Bluefield Daily Telegraph, November 28, 2018

SEE VIDEO: “Destruction Zone” Video by Paula Mann, Monroe County, WV

Monroe Co. OH & WV

Magnum Hunter Drilling On Ormet Land, Others Drilling Nearby Areas

From Article by Casey Junkins, The Wheeling Intelligencer, February 3, 2013

HANNIBAL – Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. is busy at work in Monroe County in OHIO, in addition to their activities in Wetzel and Tyler counties in WEST VIRGINIA. This is  highlighted by the natural gas drilling alongside Ohio Route 7 on land owned by Ormet Corp., the site of a large aluminum production facility near New Martinsville.

“We have recently drilled and cased two new Marcellus wells on our Ormet acreage located in Monroe County, adjacent to leases where Utica potential exists,” said James W. Denny III, president of Triad Hunter, the local operating division of Magnum Hunter.

Magnum Hunter officials refer to the company’s Marcellus and Utica operations as the “Magnum Rich” region. The company drills wells locally under the Triad Hunter division. Another of Magnum Hunter’s divisions, Eureka Hunter, has been boring under the Ohio River to connect the Ohio wells to the West Virginia processing plant operated by MarkWest located in Mobley, W.Va.

Three additional Utica/Point Pleasant wells are planned in Monroe County. Production from these Utica wells – along with the 12 “Magnum Rich” Marcellus wells – will be gathered and delivered to the MarkWest processing facility at Mobley.

The Ohio River bore will extend the 20-inch “Pursley Lateral” from Wetzel County into Monroe County near Sardis. The crossing enables Eureka to expand its footprint to include gathering of Utica and Marcellus production in Monroe and Washington counties in Ohio.

“We are very excited to begin accelerating our testing program in the Utica formation located in Ohio. Development of this exciting and highly productive unconventional play could have significant impact to our company,” Denny said. “We are planning to complete these new liquids rich Marcellus wells this summer when Eureka Hunter, our midstream division, has completed the necessary infrastructure,” he added.

Note:  Chesapeake Energy is continuing drilling/fracking operations in Wetzel County, as are Gastar (on the PPG property at Natrium), Stone Energy (near the Lewis Wetzel Park north of New Martinsville), etc.  And, the large natural gas fractionation plant at Natrium is nearing completion by CBI Industries on behalf of Dominion.

For generations, Monroe County, WV has enjoyed a quiet, rural way of life.   It’s an area rich in multi-generational farms, scenic byways, historic sites, and a unique geology called karst.  The residents are proud of the lack of industry and generally happy with the fact that there is no fast food chain outlet.   Gordy Oil’s's plans for Marcellus shale drilling in Monroe County bring concerns that the special way of life cultivated there may be at risk.  The Save The Water Table group is fighting to prevent hydraulic fracturing in their area.  Karst is a “swiss cheese” limestone geologic formation that is characterized by caverns and interconnecting underground waterways; it is highly susceptible to water contamination. The Monroe County Historical Society has also stepped forward  and written letters to lawmakers expressing concerns about the impacts of industry on historical sites.