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May 29, 19

Yellow Finch Tree Sitters Hold Strong as Police and Pipeline Company Attempt Eviction

Today police aided by Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) employees attempted to evict the Yellow Finch tree sit but were not successful. What follows is a report from Appalachians Against Pipelines.

The tree sitters are holding strong. We are still here. Today is day 267.

At the Yellow Finch tree sits in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, cops have left the scene (for now). MVP is still lurking down the road. We are still asking for local support — if you are available and can come out today during the day, we’d love to see you. If not, donate.

Here is a note from one of the sitters:

“Not all tree sitters enjoy the heights. Some impressive souls brave their worst fear. But for me, it is a perk, and before I climbed trees I climbed rocks.

Nothing is quite like the odd sensation of dangling in free space. Hundreds of feet up, trusting the ropes but without your weight in them, dangling above them only by your hands on tiny rock ledges. Sensing that your life is very much in your own hands.

We like to call our brief spaces of liberation ‘autonomous zones’. This is a little tongue-in-cheek. The cops could come at any time. But it is also the reality of the space

that we are all autonomous
that we are all ungovernable

At 6 A.M., I was rudely awakened by MVP attempting to climb the neighboring white pine. 20 workers were sprawled out beneath the two sits, using increasingly sketchy tactics to try and enter the tree.

Here I am, dangling once more into the terrifying freedom of choice.

Toss down your rope. Ignore the bustle below. Hope your friend catches it. Hope security knows / believes that touching them is a crime. Up the rope, to the traverse. Get out your gear. Attach. Now sprint. You are faster than them, because you are freer. Into the danger. Into harm’s way. Into this tree they would have cut today. And they leave. Awkwardly, bashfully. Retreating back to law & order, where the courts are still ignoring them.

It is easy to feel helpless. But even in the worst of circumstances, you will always have yourself. And while the doctrine of politics might tell you that decisions are somewhere else, out in the world, intangible and out of reach, they are not. They are yours. Reach up the face of the cliff and grasp for rough granite. Move now, before your muscles give out. Before down is the only way forward. And I’ll meet you there. Up at the crest. Where the wind blows the rock smooth and the land stretches out beneath you for miles. Where you can see it. Something possible.

We are still here. And will continue to be. Bolstered by that miraculous thing which is freedom. Dangling on the precipice of another world.”

Eviction Attempt Updates from Appalachians Against Pipelines:

[UPDATE 9:00 am]: MVP and state and local police retreated to the end of Yellow Finch Lane, and then cops left the scene completely (for now). We are still asking local folks to come out in support if you can!

[UPDATE 7:13 am]: MVP has retreated to the road directly below the sits. Cops are on the scene. Both of the tree sitters are still holding their ground.

URGENT! HAPPENING NOW! MVP is attempting to extract the tree sitters at Yellow Finch and cut the trees down.

***

These tree sits, near Elliston, VA, have been protecting the hillside in the path of the pipeline for 267 days.

If you are in the area, please GO TO THE TREE SITS to support them! If you do not have directions, message us and we will send you directions. Everyone on site is safer when there are more people there.

If you cannot show up in person, donate to support resistance: bit.ly/supportmvpresistance

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Defending Appalachia from the Mountain Valley Pipeline, Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and more. No new pipelines in Appalachia!

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