“The Fire is Catching”: Pipelines Faces Fierce Opposition

This following overview of anti-pipeline resistance in the Southeast was originally published on the Earth First! Newswire.

On February 26, workers were heading into the woods of West Virginia to begin preparations for boring through Peters Mountain when they found two treesits directly in their path. If completed, the boring would allow the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to go through the mountain and under the Appalachian Trail, continuing to expand the web of interconnecting pipes engulfing the Eastern US to meet with the preexisting Transcontinental Compressor Station. The company announced this month that they also have plans to transfer gas from MVP into the Southgate pipeline project, which would extend south into North Carolina. People have fought the Mountain Valley Pipeline in court for years, but the treesits inspired a cascade of direct action that shows no sign of stopping.

Shortly after the sits were discovered, Mountain Valley Pipeline workers started clearing trees near them, and a temporary restraining order was filed against the sitters by the pipeline company (this was later allowed to expire by a judge, who also denied an injunction MVP was pursuing against them). A closure of parts of the forest was also issued by the Forest Service. The restraining order and closure were delivered to the sits with no real results.

As MVP workers, the Forest Service, and police continued to tape orders to trees in a futile effort to drive away the treesitters, people in Virginia, West Virginia, and around the country expressed support and held solidarity actions. Many farmers and landowners in the area were adamant that they were on the side of those in the trees, and have brought supplies to the sitters and gathered nearby to provide support and protection. This isn’t surprising considering that over 400 of the landowners along the pipeline’s route refused to sell land to MVP and were taken to court.

People have also been fighting MVP in a variety of ways on the ground, including following cutting crews working after the March 31 tree clearing deadline (meant to protect birds and bats) and reporting the cutting to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). These people were continuously threatened with arrest by cops. Meanwhile, FERC and MVP are sending a number of mixed messages:MVP has said the deadline only applies to certain trees, while FERC claims that they can cut if a biologist is on site. FERC seems intent on allowing the pipeline to be built, as they also issued a “tolling order” in March, which allows construction to continue while lawsuits against its legality and purpose are ongoing.

On March 28, the fight intensified when a fifty-foot monopod was set up in the middle of Pocahontas Road. It is now the longest-standing continuously occupied monopod we know of. Though cops, workers, and Forest Service personnel can still approach the area behind the monopod on foot or on ATVs, they can no longer drive cars or trucks there, which has stopped the construction of a road leading to the drilling site and helped protect the treesitters deeper in the woods. The monopod was immediately joined by a rally of supporters helping to blockade the road, after which someone acting as direct support for the person in the monopod was arrested by police. Police also touched and shook the monopod, endangering the life of the person inside.

Photo of Peters Mountain treesits and monopod from Appalachians Against Pipelines

Forest Service employees, workers, and police have been shining bright lights on the monopod during the night, driving ATVs dangerously close to the lines anchoring the monopod, and blocking deliveries of food and water. They have also forced supporters to move their camp further from the base of the monopod. At the time of this writing, MVP security and US Forest Service employees are now camped near the monopod and the treesit on Peters Mountain 24 hours a day. In early April, another supporter was arrested. Around that time, a road closure prevented people from driving up to the monopod—however, despite the hike now involved, supporters continue to visit.

On April 2, yet another treesit went up in the pipeline’s path on a family orchard on Bent Mountain in Virginia. The 61-year-old treesitter, known as Red, is a local landowner and mother. After a few days, MVP threatened to take legal action against her family if she did not come down. Not only did she ignore this threat, the next day her daughter launched another treesit on their land.

Red and her family faced familiar tactics: MVP’s private security firm, state police, and Roanoke County police monitored the sit 24/7—for awhile, lights were pointed at them all night and food, water, and other supply deliveries were being stopped. Though some Virginia legislators have come out in support of the protests, the Virginia governor (Ralph Northam, who has received some significant campaign contributions from pipeline companies) has been brattily opposed to them, saying he is “concerned” for Red’s health and ignoring their mistreatment by authorities and the shady dealings of FERC and MVP.

In late April, three more treesits went up on a family farm directly in the pipeline’s path in Franklin County, Virginia. Collectively known as Little Teel Crossing, the sits are over 75 feet in the air, near Little and Teel creeks, where an endangered fish, the Roanoke logperch, lives. MVP is now pursuing legal action against the family, threatening arrest and fines for their opposition to the project. One remains, despite increasing intimidation, workers getting dangerously close, and even failed extraction attempts.

On April 22, three people were arrested attempting to resupply the monopod. That same day, one of the original treesits was removed by MVP security after over 50 days. A few weeks later, on May 5, Red and her daughter finally came down from the trees as well. They were found in contempt of the court order allowing MVP to build there, and would have been fined $1,000 dollars a day for each day they remained. Red said she was not about to pay fines to MVP, and vowed to continue the fight on the ground. Both were charged with trespassing, obstruction of justice and interfering with the property rights of Mountain Valley Pipeline before reuniting with Red’s husband (who was fined $2,000 for his involvement). But the other treesit on Peters Mountain remains, as does one treesit at Little Teel Crossing and the monopod. With resistance against MVP spreading and their stock dropping drastically, it looks like the company is going to have a pretty bad year.

“Nutty” has occupied a monopod on Pocahontas Road for almost two months. Photo from Appalachians Against Pipelines

And it isn’t just the Mountain Valley Pipeline that people in the region are resisting—the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), which would run through West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, has faced massive resistance as well. Like MVP, locals have fought ACP in court for years, but the company is still forging ahead with their plans. People have responded with increasing direct action, including marches and a sit-in at the North Carolina governor’s office. In mid-March, the Three Sisters Camp was established in Buckingham, Virginia, along the pipeline’s route, to continue this momentum. Since then, banner drops and other actions in North Carolina have occurred frequently.

So what’s next for pipeline resistance in the area? A federal appeals court recently said the “incidental take statement” for the Atlantic Coast pipeline, meant to set a limit on the number of threatened and endangered species that can be killed during construction, was too vague to be enforced. Unsurprisingly, Dominion (the company behind the ACP) has said they will forge ahead anyway, but this is only the latest in a string of obstacles pipeline companies in the region have faced in court. And people on the ground haven’t backed down, either; everyone from second graders to grandmothers have visited the monopod, a caravan of cars drives by the original treesit weekly and flashes lights in support, and as spring approaches, more action is on the horizon.

From the nest on top of the monopod on Pocahontas Road, a long black banner reads “The Fire is Catching.” This fight is proving that’s true—every time it seems inevitable that the cops will attempt extraction, or that MVP may have found a legal loophole, a new treesit goes up, a new rally is held, or a new inspiring message comes down from the trees. The fight against the Mountain Valley Pipeline and other oil infrastructure in the region is just the latest to show how determined people are to fight extractive industries in this country, and that the number of them willing to take direct action is spreading every day.