Dozens Occupy NC Governor’s Office to Protest Atlantic Coast Pipeline

The following action report comes after news broke that both the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline were starting construction. To learn more about these pipelines and popular mobilization against them, check out our podcast on the subject here.

According to the Raleigh News and Observer, 15 people were arrested for occupying North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s office in a protest against his administration’s approval of the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The protest which took place on February 2nd and was the latest instance of community opposition to the 600 mile long pipeline that would bring fracked gas from West Virginia, through Virginia, and into North Carolina.

“This is an escalation. This is the first civil disobedience, this is the opening salvo. We’re ready to go out in front of bulldozers.” Said Steve Norris of Asheville, NC who was among the 50 plus protestors taking part in the occupation. Greg Yost of Mars Hill, NC was quoted as saying,  “Gov. Roy stuck a stick in a hornet’s nest. This occupation today is the leading edge of what’s going to happen as the pipeline fight enters a new stage.”

Cooper’s Department of Environmental Quality recently granted the ACP a much needed water quality permit but the pipeline still has other permits it must acquire before construction can begin in NC. Additionally the builders of the pipeline which include Duke Energy and Dominion Energy are facing lawsuits aimed at stopping the pipeline.

In addition to it being a disaster for the climate many are pointing to the pipeline as a clear example of environmental racism. The pipeline is curiously routed around the well to do Raleigh area and instead will tear through some of NC’s poorest and racially diverse rural areas. The pipeline terminates on Lumbee Indian land in Robeson county where locals fear it will destroy burial grounds and other sacred sites.

The ACP nears final approval as another one, the Mountain Valley Pipeline – which runs from WV to VA – is close to getting the go ahead from federal and state regulators. Both pipelines have faced stiff opposition with landowners refusing to sell their land and even chasing pipeline surveyors off their property. Many have vowed to block the bulldozers and bring massive mobilizations to stop pipeline construction.