People in the Path of Pipelines

New pipelines transporting natural gas and gas liquids would cut across hundreds of miles through Appalachia and beyond, putting people, land and water at risk. Here, residents along the route share their stories.

2 COMMENTS

1. Mzungu Writes says:

   June 28, 2018 at 5:22 pm

   Most of the people against this pipeline are young and inexperienced. They need perspective. The rest just need facts and not funny bone reflexes.

   The key word is GAS. Natural gas is lighter than air and would float up not into waterways. If you accidentally scratch your arm it heals doesn’t it? This pipeline trail will heal and the next generation of children will not even know the pipe is there. You don’t trust mother earth? It will be covered in meadow grasses, flowers and plants indigenous to the area. Bird droppings will plant seeds of blue berries, sumac and black berries to the area. Back home in Arkansas my dad and I used to pick buckets of blackberries along the pipeline cut and the Weyerhaeuser clear-cut land until it all healed and I grew up and moved away.

   I have personally asked Skrat to plant acorns and pine cones for you. It is going to be fine.

   But somewhere Mrs. Simmons lives and she is widowed. She lives off of disability income and her deceased husband’s social security check. Last winter was the worst winter in many years; a solid month where the nights dipped into the teens and twenties. The heat pump she has was broken and she didn’t know it so her electrical bill was $650 for just February. Thankfully the power company extended a payment plan and her Methodist church helped her make payments. Gas heat would bring her heating bill down to about $95/ month from the average $210/mo and her grown children think they can pool their money and upgrade her central air system to gas.

   We Republicans care more about the Mrs. Simmonses of the world and less about the birds and bees and we think you should too. God bless!

   Oh, I need to add one word of caution to ya’ll. When this thing goes into production and you decide you are going to destroy it Lord have mercy there would be a fire ball so big where you were there would not be enough DNA to figure out who the body was. Those of you on my side if you see something say something.

2. Molly Moore, Editor says:

   July 2, 2018 at 2:22 pm

   Hi Mzunga,

   Thank you for your comment. I’d like to offer a few thoughts, the first being that no one at Appalachian Voices and none of the landowners interviewed here is suggesting that pipeline opponents should damage gas infrastructure, as the comment implies. These pipelines are too dangerous on their own. As you may know, just last month, the new, “best-in-class” LeachXpress Pipeline exploded, incinerating 10 acres in West Virginia. Thankfully, there were no homes nearby, and no one was injured. But unfortunately there are many homes, businesses and schools within the blast zones of these pipelines.

   To your comment about the environmental impacts, citizens are concerned about the risk to waters that come from erosion and sediment during construction and the chemicals that sediment can drag with it. Appalachian Voices recently submitted comments to the State Water Control Board in Virginia, which you can read about here: https://appvoices.org/2018/06/28/va-regulators-urged-to-reject-blanket-permit.

   Yes, methane escaping from a leaky pipe would not mix with the water, but it poses an explosion risk if trapped in karst terrain, and if it escapes to the atmosphere it exacerbates climate change. Of course, leaks can also lead to explosions.

   In the case of the Mrs. Simmons you mentioned, we certainly agree that access to affordable energy and improved home energy efficiency is important. It’s unlikely that she would benefit from these new pipelines, however. Most of the gas that would travel through the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines is not destined for residential heating use (aside from a small portion of MVP capacity being purchased by Roanoke Gas). The vast majority of this gas is destined for power plants and for export overseas.

   It seems that Mrs. Simmons would be well-served by programs that provide energy efficiency upgrades to low-income residents. While some programs like this already exist, our team is calling on electric cooperatives and other utilities to increase access to these cost-saving programs.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.