MVP Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Remembering And Revisiting Resistance To The Mountain Valley Pipeline, Inside Appalachia

Red Terry’s property in Bent Mountain, Virginia, is in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. She says the place was beautiful, but she’s worried about the dangers of the pipeline not far from her home. Plus, almost everybody has a favorite cup or coffee mug, but how far would you go to replace it? One woman would go pretty far. And… we explore an effort in western Virginia to make old-time music more available to Black musicians.

Plus, almost everybody has a favorite cup or coffee mug, but how far would you go to replace it? One woman would go pretty far.

And… we explore an effort in western Virginia to make old-time music more available to Black musicians.

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Back On Bent Mountain With Red And Coles Terry

Coles and Red Terry at their home in Virginia in 2024.

*Photo Credit: Mason Adams/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

People have been fighting the Mountain Valley Pipeline since it was first announced. The project runs through West Virginia and Virginia, connecting natural gas terminals with a 303-mile pipeline stretching across some of Appalachia’s most rugged terrain. Almost immediately after construction began, protestors tried to block it by setting up platforms in trees along the route and living in them.

In 2018, host Mason Adams interviewed activist and tree sitter Theresa “Red” Terry, as she protested against the pipeline on her own property.

Six years later, with the pipeline nearly finished, Adams went back to Bent Mountain to talk with Red Terry and her husband Coles to hear what’s happened since Red came down from her tree sit.

The Last Unicorn (Mug)

The magic is in the mug.

*Photo Credit: Wendy Welch/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Folkways stories come in all shapes and sizes. And sometimes, they bring a little magic – like a story about how losing a very special mug can lead to finding something greater.

Folkways Reporter Wendy Welch brings us this tale of a potter who lost her mojo and a woman who helped her get it back.

Earl White’s Old-Time Music

Earl White (right) with wife and bandmate, Adrienne Davis, in their home in Floyd County, Virginia. White and Davis are both old-time musicians, and they host a music camp on their farm called Big Indian Music Camp.

*Photo Credit: Nicole Musgrave/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Appalachian old-time music brings together traditions from man cultures: African and African American, Native American and Scots-Irish. And yet, the contributions of Black and Indigenous musicians have often been erased or overlooked. In Floyd County, Virginia, one man has spent years working to make old-time music more available to Black musicians.

Folkways Reporter Nicole Musgrave has this story.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Jeff Ellis, June Carter Cash, Joe Dobbs and the 1937 Flood, Earl White, Amethyst Kiah, Tyler Childers and Dinosaur Burps.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.

You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram, Threads and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

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Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Appeals Court Again Rejects Suit Against Mountain Valley Pipeline

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Tuesday that the Virginia landowners cannot sue developers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for taking their land through eminent domain.

A federal appeals court has again rejected a bid by Virginia landowners to challenge the construction of a natural gas pipeline.

The same court had earlier rejected the landowners’ case, but the U.S. Supreme Court sent it back for further review.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a siting certificate to the pipeline’s builders in 2017. It enabled them to use eminent domain to acquire property for the 303-mile pipeline.

The $7.2 billion project is over its original budget and past its scheduled completion. When finished in the coming months, it will transport as much as two billion cubic feet of gas a day.

Another Legal Battle Looms Over Mountain Valley Pipeline

Opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline are gearing up for another legal fight to try to stop the natural gas project.

The Roanoke Times reports that environmental and community groups filed a petition this week with a federal appeals court.

The groups want the court to review last week’s decision by the State Water Control Board to allow the infrastructure to cross streams and wetlands. The pipeline’s planned 300-mile route cuts through West Virginia and Virginia.

The Sierra Club was among the groups that filed the petition with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Pipeline opponents say Mountain Valley should not be allowed to continue given its past track record of violating erosion and sediment regulations in southwest Virginia.

But Mountain Valley said those problems were largely caused by heavy rain in 2018 and have been corrected.

Attempts to kill the $6.2 billion project have so far failed. Five energy companies constructing the pipeline say it’s necessary to provide natural gas along the East Coast.

Following Permit Suspension, Mountain Valley Pipeline Barred from All Water Crossings

A major natural gas pipeline under construction in West Virginia and Virginia cannot continue construction under streams, rivers and wetlands across its entire 303-mile route, following the decision late last week by a federal agency.

In a letter sent Friday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Pittsburgh District told Mountain Valley Pipeline officials they were suspending the project’s water crossings permit, also known as the Nationwide Permit 12, for Wetzel and Harrison counties.

The decision marks the third suspension or invalidation of the project’s water crossings permits. Earlier this month, a federal court threw out the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s water crossings permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers’ Huntington District, which covered pipeline construction through much of West Virginia.

Three days later, the Army Corps’ Norfolk District in Virginia suspended all water crossings there.

“Friday’s suspension makes clear yet again that the permits hastily given to the fracked-gas Mountain Valley Pipeline don’t stand up to scrutiny,” said Anne Havemann, general counsel at Chesapeake Climate Action Network, in a statement. “Key permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline have been thrown out again and again, confirming that this pipeline — and the similarly destructive Atlantic Coast Pipeline — is too dangerous to ever be built.”

A coalition of environmental groups that oppose the pipeline have asked federal regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue a full stop-work order for all pipeline construction. They argue the invalidation of the Army Corps’ water crossings permit means the project lacks full approvals and should be temporarily stopped.

Mountain Valley Pipeline spokeswoman Natalie Cox said in a statement the project expects to receive a new or resissued water crossings permit in early 2019. After that happens, she said the pipeline expects the two suspended permits in West Virginia and Virginia to be reinstated.

Until then, Cox said the pipeline will continue other construction and does not expect the lack of water crossings to affect the pipeline’s projected in-service date of late 2019.

The Army Corps estimates the Mountain Valley Pipeline will be constructed under streams, rivers or wetlands 1,146 times, inclduing 59 stream crossings and 62 wetland crossings in Wetzel and Harrison counties.

Environmental Advocates Ask FERC to Revoke Mountain Valley Pipeline Approval

Environmental advocates yesterday asked federal regulators to suspend construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).

Appalachian Mountain Advocates, on behalf of a coalition of environmental and citizen groups, sent a letter Tuesday to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requesting the federal agency revoke its approval of the MVP.

The 303-mile pipeline’s route crosses state lines as it travels from northern West Virginia down to Virginia, which gives FERC partial jurisdiction over construction activities.

The request comes just days after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appealshalted some construction of the natural gas pipeline in West Virginia, siding with conservation groups who challenged the pipeline’s water-crossings permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Specifically, the court stayed the pipeline’s federal Clean Water Act Section 404 permit that was issued by the Army Corps. The Corps granted the MVP a Nationwide Permit 12, a broader permit under the law.

It covers nearly 600 stream and wetland disruptions planned by the pipeline in the agency’s Huntington district, which covers all planned construction activity in West Virginia.

Environmental groups argued the MVP’s own planning documents showed river crossing for the Elk, Gauley, Greenbrier and Meadow rivers would take 4-6 weeks to complete and could not comply with the permit’s 72-hour deadline. The federal appeals court agreed.

In the letter to FERC, Appalachian Mountain Advocates stated that because of the federal appeals court decision last week, the pipeline no longer has all of the federal authorizations it needs and thus FERC’s approval, known as a Certificate Order, should be suspended.

“Because that mandatory federal authorization is now lacking, FERC must not allow pipeline construction to continue, not only within the Corps’ Huntington District but anywhere along the pipeline route,” they wrote.

Tamara Young-Allen, a spokeswoman for FERC, confirmed the agency had directed the MVP to halt construction in the Huntington District per the federal court’s order, but declined to comment on the recent letter.

MVP spokeswoman Natalie Cox did not respond to a request for comment.

Environmental groups yesterday also petitioned the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting it review the Army Corps’ Nationwide Permit 12 issued for the Virginia section of the MVP.

Mountain Valley Pipeline Construction Partly Halted in West Virginia

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday halted some construction of the natural gas Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia.

The three-judge panel sided with conservation groups who challenged the pipeline’s water-crossings permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Environmental groups, led by the Sierra Club, argued that construction of the 303-mile pipeline should be halted in the state, because the pipeline developer’s own documents showed they could not complete construction quickly enough to comply with the federal permit.

Clean Water Act Permitting

At the heart of the dispute is a federal Clean Water Act permit which allows the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to disrupt streams and wetlands during construction, while maintaining water quality standards.

The Army Corps of Engineers granted the MVP a Nationwide Permit 12, which covers all stream and wetland disruptions caused by utility line construction nationwide. It is one of about 50 broader so-called “general permits” that can be granted under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

A general permit does not require public notice and comment or environmental review.

A spokesperson for the Army Corps of Engineers said it could not comment on the decision to grant the MVP a general permit. They also said they could not comment on the court’s decision, because issues regarding ongoing litigation are handled by the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.

Environmental groups praised the court’s decision. In a statement, Peter Anderson, program manager for Appalachian Voices Virginia, said the one size fits all permit does not make sense for natural gas pipeline construction. He said the MVP should be granted an individual permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which would allow for more public debate on the impact of the pipeline’s construction on waterways.

“Putting the breaks on in-stream construction activity for the Mountain Valley Pipeline while the court performs its full review not only makes sense, it is also the only just outcome for communities directly impacted by this destructive project,” he said. “MVP’s inability to cross rivers in compliance with the conditions of the permit is the most obvious – but certainly not the only – reason why blanket permits should not be used for projects of this size.”

Two months after construction began, the MVP was cited by the West Virginia DEP for failing to control erosion at two work sites.

Construction Timeline

State regulators can add protections under the federal Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting scheme. In West Virginia, for example, the Department of Environmental Protection requires pipeline operators to finish a stream or wetland crossing in 72 hours.

In its petition to the court, environmental groups said MVP’s own planning documents showed river crossing for the Elk, Gauley, Greenbrier and Meadow rivers would take 4-6 weeks to complete. The federal appeals court agreed and stayed stream and wetland crossings.

In a statement released hours after the decision, Gov. Jim Justice said the administration was committed to the MVP.

“We will continue to monitor these proceedings closely to determine what role the state may play in expediting the construction of this pipeline,” he said.

MVP spokeswoman Natalie Cox said in a statement they are disappointed with the temporary setback. She said the company is evaluating options to continue construction that does not involve stream and wetland crossings.

Cox said the pipeline, which is a joint venture between EQT Midstream, WGL Midstream, RGC Midstream, Con Edison Transmission and an affiliate of NextEra, intends to ask for a rehearing and intends to begin operations in late 2018.

Currently, the pipeline cannot engage in stream or wetland crossings until the 4^th Circuit rules on the pending case. Oral arguments are scheduled for late September.