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.

WARNING: This is a US Foreign Trade Zone

From an Article by Ted Auch, PhD, Great Lakes Program Coordinator and Shannon Smith, Manager of Communications & Development, FracTracker Alliance, July 9, 2020

The oil and gas industry continues to use rhetoric focusing on national security and energy independence in order to advocate for legislation to criminalize climate activists. Backlash against protestors and environmental stewards has only increased since the onset of COVID-19, suggesting that industry proponents are exploiting this public health crisis to further their own dangerous and controversial policies.

Industry actors contributing to the wave of anti-protest bills include American Petroleum Institute (API), IHS Markit, The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and most effectively, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), by way of its primary financial backer, Koch Industries (Fang, 2014, Shelor, 2017).

ALEC is the source of the model legislation “Critical Infrastructure Protection Act” of 2017, intended to make it a felony to “impede,” “inhibit,” “impair,” or “interrupt” critical infrastructure operation and/or construction. Close approximations – if not exact replicas – of this legislative template have been passed in 11 hydrocarbon rich and/or pathway states, and 8 more are being debated in 4 additional states.

The “critical infrastructure” designation in ALEC’s “Critical Infrastructure Protection Act” is extremely broad, including over 70 pieces of infrastructure, from wastewater treatment and well pads, to ports and pipelines. However, along with the 259 Foreign Trade Zones (FTZ) supervised by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), security is of such importance because over 50% of this infrastructure is related to oil and gas. According to our analysis, there are more than 8,000 unique pieces of infrastructure that fall under this designation, with over 10% in the Marcellus/Utica states of Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Regarding FTZ, the US Department of Homeland Security doesn’t attempt to hide their genuine nature, boldly proclaiming them “… the United States’ version of what are known internationally as free-trade zones … to serve adequately ‘the public interest’.” If there remains any confusion as to who these zones are geared toward, the US Department of Commerce’s International Administration (ITA) makes the link between FTZ and the fossil fuel industry explicit in its FTZ FAQ page, stating “The largest industry currently using zone procedures is the petroleum refining industry.”

Much of the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries’ efforts stem from the mass resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Native American tribes and environmental groups spent months protesting the environmentally risky $3.78 billion dollar project, which began production in June 2017, after Donald Trump signed an executive order to expedite construction during his first week in office.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe also sued the US government in a campaign effort to protect their tribal lands. The world watched as Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the company building the pipeline, destroyed Native artifacts and sacred sites, and as police deployed tear gas and sprayed protesters with water in temperatures below freezing.

ETP’s bottom line and reputation were damaged during the fight against DAPL. Besides increasingly militarized law enforcement, the oil and gas industry has retaliated by criminalizing similar types of protests against fossil fuel infrastructure. However, the tireless work of Native Americans and environmental advocates has resulted in a recent victory in March 2020, when a federal judge ordered a halt to the pipeline’s production and an extensive new environmental review of DAPL.

Just days ago, on July 6, 2020, a federal judge ruled that DAPL must shut down until further environmental review can assess potential hazards to the landscape and water quality of the Tribe’s water source. This is certainly a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other environmental defenders, but the decision is subject to appeal.

Since the DAPL conflict began, the industry has been hastily coordinating state-level legislation in anticipation of resistance to other notable national gas transmission pipelines, more locally concerning projects like Class II Oil and Gas Waste Injection Wells, and miles of gas gathering pipelines that transport increasing streams of waste – as well as oil and gas – to coastal processing sites.

The following “critical infrastructure” bill has already been enacted:

STATE: West Virginia, BILL: HB 4615, TITLE: New Penalties For Protests Near Gas And Oil Pipelines, DATE PASSED: 3/25/20

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See also: Stopping a massive fracked-gas pipeline takes a village > Appalachian Voices, Jessica Sims, November 20, 2020

As of this evening, the people who have been occupying several tree-sits in the path of construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Montgomery County, Va., over the past 2-1/2 years remain on site. A county judge had issued an order last week that they come down, and on Thursday had found them in contempt of court and subject to fines. These individuals have occupied the tree-sits now for 808 continuous days in a testament to their commitment to protecting the planet from the dangers of fossil fuel. While the outcome of their herculean efforts is yet unknown, the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline continues unabated by thousands of people across West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and beyond. (Appalachian Voices does not fund, sponsor or engage in activities such as tree-sits and pipeline blockades.)

Dear Friends, Date: September 3, 2020

Today the Yellow Finch tree sit is celebrating 2 years of steady collaborative resistance to the Mountain Valley Pipeline in southwest Virginia. It is bold actions like these fearless hardy folks that “put a STOP sign in MVP’s pipeline”.

Looking for a way to help out? Check out Appalachians Against Pipelines Facebook page. Send money, supplies, or ask if you can show up to help.

Please also let the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) know you want the MVP shut down – check out the article and sign on letter below.

The Rights of Nature movement, is an ancient (and current) worldview of living in balance and is now being driven into law by communities around the world, as the way forward to shift our thinking away from parasitic insatiable consumerism and towards a sane legal system that supports all of us as equally important contributors to the whole. Scroll for more!

Thanks for your ongoing care and awakening to our higher potentials – together we win!

Heidi Berthoud, Secretary, Friends of Buckingham County, VA

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Tell FERC: Time’s up on the Mountain Valley Pipeline!

Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, has requested a two-year extension on its certificate from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a massive, fracked-gas pipeline across West Virginia and Virginia. The certificate was issued in 2017 and paved the way for the project to snatch up private land, clear cut forest habitat and pollute dozens of rivers and streams.

Jump to the petition!

This unnecessary project is already two years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, and has racked up $2 million in fines for destroying water quality. And it’s missing six federal permits and has been under a stop-work order from FERC for almost a year.

MVP, LLC, has lied to the media and to regulators, saying that the pipeline is over 90 percent complete. But the reality is closer to 51 percent (with only 15 percent complete in Virginia). And the remaining construction involves some of the most difficult terrain and water crossings on the entire route.

Please add your own words to give your message a boost.

Thanks to Appalachian Voices for this action letter!

Tree sitters protesting Mountain Valley Pipeline

From an Article by Laurence Hammack, Richmond Times, April 4, 2019

ELLISTON — The 212th day was a lot like the first, which for foes of the Mountain Valley Pipeline was a good thing.

Since Sept. 5, 2018, two people have occupied tree stands in a white pine and a chestnut oak, perched about 50 feet off the ground while supporters camped on the ground sent up food and water in plastic buckets and kept watch over the peaceful protest.

On Thursday, they celebrated another day of blocking tree-cutting for the controversial natural gas pipeline, which is destined to run across this wooded slope in eastern Montgomery County on its way from northern West Virginia to Chatham.

One thing new to the scene was 69-year-old Scott Ziemer, who earlier in the week climbed up the white pine to replace another protester. He joined Phillip Flagg, a millennial who has been living in the oak tree since October.

For Ziemer, Flagg and the protesters who preceded them, the tree-sit is now the longest active blockade of a natural gas pipeline on the East Coast, according to Appalachians Against Pipelines, a group that has helped organize the effort.

A resident of Albemarle County, Ziemer has been an opponent of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a similar project slated near his home. “The more I dug, and the more I learned, the more I realized that it didn’t seem like a good idea,” he said of a pipeline that will increase the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, which generate polluting greenhouse gases.

After fighting the Atlantic Coast project for several years, Ziemer decided to take a more direct role in the opposition to Mountain Valley. “I know it’s a little more risky, dangling off a 50-foot platform,” he said Thursday from his spot on a wooden tree stand. “But I have grandchildren, and I’m thinking about their future as well.”

Over the years, Ziemer has held a number of outdoor occupations that prepared him for his most recent post. He has worked as a carpenter, a builder and facilitator of ropes courses, an arborist, the owner of an outdoor adventure business and most recently as a sailing instructor.

The biggest challenge so far, he said, is confining his 6-foot-4 frame to an 8-by-4-foot structure than moves in the wind a little like a sailboat.

Like Flagg, Ziemer was reluctant to say how long he plans to stay in his tree, or under what conditions he might agree to come down. “I’ll continue my resistance to the pipeline, regardless of what happens,” said Flagg, who stuck his head out of a tarp covering his tree stand for an interview.

Mountain Valley broke ground on the 303-mile pipeline a year ago, but quickly ran into problems controlling erosion and sediment from its linear construction zone.

A lawsuit filed by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the State Water Control Board alleges more than 300 violations of regulations. Mountain Valley must also regain two key permits, thrown out last year on challenges from environmental groups, if it is to achieve its goal of completing work by the end of the year.

About a dozen other protesters, who have sat in trees or chained themselves to construction equipment at various points along the pipeline’s route, have come down voluntarily or been removed by police over the past year.

In December, attorneys for Mountain Valley filed a request for a preliminary injunction against the tree-sitters on Yellow Finch Lane in Montgomery County, asking a federal judge for assistance in having them removed by members of the U.S. Marshals Service. Judge Elizabeth Dillon has yet to rule on the request.

“The MVP project team is awaiting a ruling from Judge Dillon regarding the previous hearing and we do not have additional information or plans regarding any persons who may or may not have taken the place of existing opposition,” Mountain Valley spokeswoman Natalie Cox wrote in an email Thursday.

At the last hearing in the case, held in January, Mountain Valley officials testified they had told two people — identified in court records only as “Tree-sitter 1” and “Tree-sitter 2” — that they were blocking the construction easement, which the company had earlier gained access to though an eminent domain filing against landowner Cletus Bohon.

With no ruling from Dillon after more than three months, the protesters are staying put. “By occupying a tree-sit in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline,” Ziemer said, “I am adding my voice to those who are fighting to slow down and stop the burning of fossil fuels, which are the primary cause of climate change.

Tree sitters exposed to bad weather & security guards

From an Article by Sarah Rankin, Associated Press, April 18, 2018

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia woman who has spent weeks camped in trees protesting a natural gas pipeline that would cross her property is being treated inhumanely by authorities, who have cut off her deliveries of food and water, Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday.

Around a dozen Democratic members of the Virginia House and Senate held a news conference in Richmond to protest authorities’ response to the 61-year-old Mountain Valley Pipeline protester. They also raised a host of other concerns about that multistate project as well as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and called on Gov. Ralph Northam to impose further regulatory conditions on both.

“The pipelines, quite frankly, have been called into question the last couple years: whether we need them, whether environmentally they make sense, whether or not the fossil fuels that they will transport are really necessary for today’s economy. … People now are getting smart,” said Sen. Chap Petersen.

Developers and other supporters of both projects say they can be built in a way that’s protective of the environment and pledge they will help lower energy costs and boost the economy.

The approximately 300-mile (480-kilometer) Mountain Valley Pipeline would start in West Virginia and run through southwest Virginia before connecting with a compressor station for another interstate pipeline in Pittsylvania County. Pittsburgh-based EQT Midstream Partners, which owns a significant interest in the joint venture with other energy companies, recently announced plans to extend the line with a new branch stretching into North Carolina.

The pipeline would cross the Roanoke County property of the protester, who has identified herself in interviews with local news outlets only as “Red.” Red climbed into a tree stand in protest April 1, said one of her neighbors, Genesis Chapman. Her daughter has also posted up in another tree, he said.

The county said in a statement Friday that police had advised the “individuals sitting in two trees” that they were in the right of way granted to the pipeline company through a court order.

“They will no longer be allowed to receive supplies from supporters. Anything the individuals need will be available to them when they come down from the trees,” it said.

Sen. John Edwards, whose district includes the city of Roanoke and several surrounding counties, said Virginia prison inmates are treated better than Red. “She hasn’t been convicted of anything, and she’s being treated in an inhumane fashion. I think it’s outrageous,” said Edwards.

Pipeline opponents filled the small room where the news conference was held, in which a Capitol police officer was stationed. Many of them held signs that said, “Stand with Red.”

Natalie Cox, a spokeswoman for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, said in an email that the company respects opponents’ right to peacefully and lawfully protest but that work for the project has been authorized by state and federal regulators. “We recognize there may be individuals who will always oppose the safe construction of Mountain Valley Pipeline, regardless of the significant effort made by public officials and regulatory agencies to review the project, and the hundreds of route adjustments and modifications made during the past three years to address concerns of landowners and community members,” she wrote.

Aaron Ruby, a spokesman for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, said in a statement ahead of the news conference that the pipeline opponents’ tactics will hurt the economy and waste taxpayer dollars, all without enhancing environmental protection.

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See the Video: “Red Terry Takes A Stand” – YouTube

Protecting Peters Mountain and Appalachian Trail (AT)

From an Article by Laurence Hammack, Roanoke Times, 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.

“We don’t have the resources to do anything to get these people out of the trees,” Judge Robert Irons told attorneys for Mountain Valley Pipeline, who sought the preliminary injunction. “That’s on you.” Irons said he was reluctant to have the county sheriff’s office get involved in what is a civil matter.

However, he agreed to set a bond of $10,000, which Mountain Valley will post to cover the expenses incurred by the tricky question of how to extract two pipeline protesters from their perches in tree stands about 60 feet off the ground.

The tree -sitters occupy a spot along the pipeline’s planned route across Peters Mountain, preventing tree cutting in what would be the first phase of building a 303-mile pipeline through West Virginia and Southwest Virginia.

Robert Cooper, who is managing the project as Mountain Valley’s senior vice president of engineering and construction, testified that chainsaw crews have cut trees on either side of the protesters, but can get no closer.

“If we did it would injure the people in the trees and possibly the workers on the ground,” he said from the witness stand of a courtroom packed with pipeline opponents.

Located on steep terrain near where the pipeline would cross under the Appalachian Trail in the Jefferson National Forest, the two occupied trees have been lashed to other trees with rope in an effort to further foil Mountain Valley’s plans.

If the company has a plan to deal with the situation, it has not shared it publicly.

It appears that the U.S. Forest Service will take the lead in enforcing the injunction that Irons said he will soon grant, according to Monroe County Sheriff Ken Hedrick.

Hedrick said the sheriff’s office would assist in the operation if asked to. But he said he had no information on what the forest service planned to do — or when that might happen. “It looks like we’re in a little bit of limbo,” he said, referring to Iron’s statement that he would not grant a final order until Mountain Valley submits some additional paperwork.

More documentation is needed to show that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the lead authority over the pipeline project, has granted Mountain Valley permission to cut trees in the spot where the tree -sitters are sitting.

A letter from FERC introduced as evidence Tuesday allowed tree cutting in Giles and Montgomery County, but made no specific mention of Monroe County (West Virginia). “You may not have authorization to cut trees in West Virginia,” Irons said. “If it’s in Virginia, I have no jurisdiction over those trees.”

Nicolle Bagnell, a Pittsburgh attorney who represents Mountain Valley, told the judge she has additional documents from FERC that make it clear that tree cutting is allowed throughout the national forest, including Monroe County. Bagnell promised to submit the records within 24 hours. Once that happens, Irons said, he would grant the injunction.

“I think they are entitled to the relief they’re seeking today,” he said of a company that has received approval from FERC, the forest service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to run the pipeline through about 3.5 miles of national forestland.

Mountain Valley had asked for an injunction against Appalachians Against Pipelines, a group that has been posting updates on the tree -sitters to its Facebook page, and seven individuals.

One is Ashley Brown, who said during a cellphone interview with The Roanoke Times that she is sitting in one of the trees. Another is Luca Connolly. The other five are unknown to Mountain Valley and are identified in court papers as John Does 1 through 5.

None of the defendants — who say the pipeline would cause severe environmental damage — appeared in court Tuesday. Only one of them, Connolly, was represented by an attorney.

William DePaulo, a Lewisburg lawyer, raised a number of questions — including whether the protesters had received proper notification of the hearing. Under normal situations, service is accomplished when someone is handed a summons to appear in court.

A security officer for Mountain Valley testified that he and others made the trip up Peters Mountain to serve the court papers, but that the protesters refused to identify themselves.

One of the protesters “scurried back under a tent” that had been pitched on one of two wooden platforms hanging from the trees, Ralph Wright of Global Security testified. Wright said the officers ended up reading the papers aloud to the anonymous protesters and then taped copies to nearby tree trunks.

That was not enough, DePaulo argued — leading Iron to ask: Just what do you do when the person to be served is up a tree? “I would say you’re up a tree, too,” DePaulo replied.