Climate Change Resists Narrative, Yet the Alphabet Prevails (A to Z): Now P!
The ACP and MVP at 42 inches and 300 miles were too damaging to hills, valleys, farms, forests, rivers, creeks and wetlands
>> RE: “Fractured Sanctuary: A Chronicle of Grassroots Activitists Fighting Pipelines of Destruction in Appalachia” by Michael Barrick, January 12, 2023
‘From Almost Heaven to Almost Hell’ ~ Containing articles written between 2014 and 2022, it is an account of reluctant, citizen activists who rose up organically in grassroots resistance to the natural gas industry as it has attempted to complete two, 42” pipelines carrying natural gas hundreds of miles through the Appalachian Mountains from the fracking fields of northern West Virginia, southwest Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.
It is a first draft of a chapter in a history that is old. The fossil fuel industry has siphoned off billions of dollars of wealth – timber, oil, coal, gas – from Appalachia for well over a century, benefiting corporations, but devastating people and the earth.
Indeed, the experience of dealing with the gas companies and dangers of the pipelines led one longtime resident of Lewis County, West Virginia to leave the state. When doing so, she said the state had gone “from Almost Heaven to Almost Hell.”
Thousands of people agree with her. This books captures just a few of their stories. Their fight is not over. The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) intends to complete construction by the second half of this year. Powerful interests and people have invested far too much on the project to surrender just yet. The same is true with the activists; they have lost far too much to the MVP to surrender now.
So, these accounts, taken together, can be used as a playbook for citizens wishing to ally themselves with MVP opponents and other grassroots activists working to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency in Appalachia – while there is still time.
We will soon share additional details regarding signings, town hall-style meetings and other ways to hear the stories, and if you wish, purchase the book. So, please check back soon or go ahead and subscribe so that you can receive every article we publish. There is no cost for the subscription. Simply enter your email address in the “Follow” box at the top right hand side of the page. January 12, 2023 – MMB.
#######+++++++#######+++++++#######
Update Article: Amended Forest Service guidelines could remove Mountain Valley Pipeline roadblock, Roanoke Times, December 23, 2022
The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests have issued a revised environmental impact statement that could remove a major obstacle to completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
The U.S. Forest Service has proposed new construction guidelines that, if adhered to, would enable the 303-mile intrastate natural gas pipeline to traverse a 3.5-mile section of the Jefferson National Forest in Giles and Montgomery counties, the project’s final missing link.
The revised environmental impact statement considered two alternatives. One would have taken no action to revise the regulations, which could have dealt the controversial project a potential death blow. It would have required the project to remove sections of pipe currently stored above ground and to restore soil and vegetation altered by digging or timbering.
The second alternative, which the Forest Service has recommended, would “allow for the construction, operation, and maintenance” of the pipeline. (This would permit a 600 foot long borehole under the Appalachian Trail.)