So, which one is it? Almostheaven or almost hell?You ’ve seen the acres of greenplastic pipe piling up along thewest bank of the Monongahlea River,you’ve seen the trains bringingmore every day, and maybe youknow that it will be used for theAtlantic Coast Pipeline.But did you know that thispipeline hasn’t even been approvedyet? Can you smell a rubber stamp?Did you know that it’s designed tocarry West Virginia gas to an exportterminal in Norfolk, Va.? And to anout-of-state power plant? That none ofthat gas will be for West Virginians’use? That the pipeline will cut throughthe Monongahela National Forest insidea ditch 30 feet deep, will crossstreams more than 600 times throughour steep and scenic mountains.It will require that trees be cuton a right-of-way wider than a footballfield, and this will have to bemaintained by massive doses of herbicidesforever. It will require newaccess roads through farms andwild forest that trample the rightsof wildlife and landowner alike.But the worst effect of thispipeline will be the immediate andhorrendous escalation of frackingin our state.We can expect the gas companies’profits to go elsewhere, andtheir waste products to stay righthere, their radioactive brinesspread on our roadways andpumped into groundwater, “hot”drill cuttings in our landfills, klieglights, trucks, noise and fumes inevery neighborhood.It takes a lot of gas to fill a 38-inch pipeline 650 miles long. WillWest Virginians stand for this?Haven’t we learned anything as thecoal companies move on, leaving ourstreams acidic and lifeless, our mountainsflat and our miners pensionless?Our Native American brothersin North Dakota showed us how tofight for what we love. They stoodup against another pipeline andare, for the moment, winning.Climate change is real, andmethane is just another fossil fuel.A real transition to renewable energyis possible and necessary, andother countries are doing just that.This pipeline locks us into backwardness,and maybe even annihilation.It is not in the best interestsof West Virginia or the atmosphere.Will we have the courage ofthose Native Americans in theDakotas, or will we be rubberstamped upon? Make your voiceheard, the choice is ours —almostheaven or almost hell?Carol NixIndependence