Elder Pipeline Fighters Block Mountain Valley Pipeline Construction for 11 Hours

Report from Appalachians Against Pipelines on a recent action against the Mountain Valley Pipeline in so-called Roanoke County, Virginia.

Roanoke County, VA — On Monday morning at 5 AM, two people locked themselves to a broken down vehicle on Honeysuckle Rd, blocking Mountain Valley Pipeline’s access to the pipeline easement, a work yard, and 2 access roads. They held banners and signs reading, “OLDER THAN THE HILLS – WATER IS LIFE,” “DEFEND THIS LAND,” and “WATER IS PRECIOUS.” Nearly 20 people gathered on site in support of these folks and to resist the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

River, an 81-year-old lifelong environmentalist, and Andy, a 63-year-old grandfather and climate activist, prevented pipeline construction on Poor Mountain for 11 hours, at which time they were extracted from their blockade and the vehicle was towed away. River was charged with 1 misdemeanor and released; Andy was charged with 2 misdemeanors and had bail set at $2,000.

“I was an environmentalist before I knew the word. I have always been more at home in the trees than in buildings,” stated River about her action today. “Sometimes people ask me, ‘Why are you doing this?’ I want to ask them why they don’t. This climate crisis is not a random event. It is the direct result of policies based in a deadly ideology — a way of seeing the world — that is extractive and colonial. This is not simply about the environment — though that is where I am fighting today. I am an abolitionist — I fight prisons and I fight pipelines. We are caught in a spider web of these connected systems of power. Luckily the resistance is far more connected — to the land, to ancestors, to fights for liberation across the globe. From northern Appalachian to southern Appalachia! From the river to the sea!”

Andy worked for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for 25 years and the Commodity Futures Commission for eight years. Since then he has become a climate activist and fought against FERC and fossil fuel expansion. “I am here because what is being done is wrong and I am part of it, though not by choice,” he explained. “We must stop fracking and coal mining these mountains, transporting coal and methane around the world, and burning it. We are in a planetary climate crisis, a mass extinction. These fuels are killing us and we don’t even need them.”

Just last month, Mountain Valley Pipeline again delayed the projected in-service date for their $7.5 billion pipeline to June 2024. The pipeline is now $4 billion over budget and nearly 6 years behind schedule. The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a 42-inch diameter fracked gas pipeline that would cover 303 miles of Appalachia if completed. The project has a long record of hundreds of environmental violations and court battles about failures to hold on to key permits, and is emblematic of both the struggle to transition away from fossil fuels and the short-sighted destruction of local communities, water supplies, and ecosystems in the name of gas export and fossil fuel company profit. In June 2023, the pipeline was fast-tracked by Congress via the so-called Fiscal Responsibility Act Section 324, and court challenges to MVP were blocked, despite local residents voicing their opposition and concerns.

Mountain Valley Pipeline has recently escalated its legal intimidation of pipeline fighters, filing numerous Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP suits) and collaborating with local law enforcement in multiple jurisdictions to charge protesters with erroneous felonies to discourage resistance. The pipeline resistance refuses to be intimidated and continues to fight to protect Appalachia from this toxic and disastrous pipeline.

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RIVER FULL STATEMENT:

I was an environmentalist before I knew the word. I have always been more at home in the trees than in buildings.

I literally worship the earth. I feel I must defend her. But why here? Why now?

As an environmentalist, there are always fires to put out. Pipeline struggles are a constantly popping up. I’ve fought them at home in Vermont and I will fight them anywhere I can.

I love the mountains! This is a campaign in which elders have been on the frontline of struggle , and I have long followed it from afar. Communities here have fought this project for 10 years! It felt like if we just held on just longer than them — they’d run out of time and money. But that snake Joe Manchin bullied it through. When MVP was fast tracked through Congress, I knew it was time to act.

Sometimes people ask me, “Why are you doing this?” I want to ask them why they don’t. This climate crisis is not a random event. It is the direct result of policies based in a deadly ideology — a way of seeing the world — that is extractive and colonial. This is not simply about the environment — though that is where I am fighting today. I am an abolitionist — I fight prisons and I fight pipelines. We are caught in a spider web of these connected systems of power. Luckily the resistance is far more connected- to the land, to ancestors, to fights for liberation across the globe. From northern Appalachian to southern Appalachia! From the river to the sea!

ANDY FULL STATEMENT:

Assuming change happens slowly and surely has lead to a world that is not just on the brink of climate collapse — but has long since passed into active collapse. We live under a system that ensures the worst choices are made for communities and the planet, and all for power and temporary profit.

I am here because what is being done is wrong and I am part of it, though not by choice. We must stop fracking and coal mining these mountains, transporting coal and methane around the world, and burning it. We are in a planetary climate crisis, a mass extinction, and we must stop despoiling head waters. Places like here and the ocean nurseries in Louisiana, Texas, and Maryland. These fuels are killing us and we don’t even need them.

I spent years growing up in the mountains of Maryland and I live in the sediment of these mountains on Susquehannock land called Baltimore. We all fundamentally understand sharing for the common good. But this is stealing for the profit of the few. We have plentiful solar, wind, and geothermal sources of energy. We know how to convert it to electricity, store it, and use it where we live without harming ourselves.

We do not need to export fractured methane from Louisiana, Texas, Maryland, or anywhere! We can stop mining coal here and exporting it from Norfolk or Baltimore. We don’t need to pipe methane to North Carolina so Duke Energy can prevent use of local solar resources and profiteer on destruction.

It is past time for us to allow our land and water and air to heal. We must continue in a new way, as a part of the earth. We have to end colonialism — a process of genocide and land destruction that is ongoing — not just in Palestine, but here too in the so called U.S. Land Back — everywhere!