Mountain Valley Pipeline Work Site Disrupted in Montgomery County, VA

Report from Appalachians Against Pipelines about recent action against the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

This morning, people in Montgomery County, Virginia, entered a work site and disrupted construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. More than 2 dozen people walked onto the active site and stopped work, as well as stopping equipment from being delivered to the site.

One local who participated in the work stoppage was quoted as saying, “Today we are taking a stand against a corporation [Equatrans Midstream] that has been given a free pass by corrupt representatives of the government, through must-pass legislation known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act, to destroy, pollute and plunder the wealth of the region, the land and the people. A project with over 500 environmental violations, who could not through the normal legal process get this project completed!!”

This work stoppage occurred on the first day of the renewed construction of the pipeline. Work on the pipeline had been tied up due to permitting issues, but has been fast tracked through the courts as part of the recent debt ceiling deal. Originally slated to be completed in 2018, the project has been delayed by five years and is 3.5 billion dollars over budget due to spirited opposition by local pipeline fighters.

Another local who participated in the work stoppage said, “The government has decided once again to sacrifice the people and climate of Appalachia to fuel extractive industry. The people of this region have a long history of resistance to industrial destruction, and we don’t intend to back down now.”

The morning after July 4th, pipeline fighters carried signs referencing solidarity with Indigenous groups and saying, “No Pipelines on Stolen Land.” Stolen land refers not to the eminent domain to build the pipeline, but to the history of colonization and land theft from people indigenous to so-called North America. The Mountain Valley Pipeline and the climate destruction it has caused is a continuation of this legacy of colonization and destruction.

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