Pipeline Protesters Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Six Years Living Next To The Mountain Valley Pipeline

Coles and Theresa “Red” Terry have been fighting over the Mountain Valley Pipeline nearly since it was first proposed in 2014. The project connects natural gas terminals in Virginia and West Virginia with a 303-mile pipeline that stretches across some of Appalachia’s most rugged terrain. Almost immediately after construction began, protestors tried to block it by setting up and living in platforms in trees along the route.

This story originally aired in the March 24, 2024 episode of Inside Appalachia.

Coles and Theresa “Red” Terry have been fighting over the Mountain Valley Pipeline nearly since it was first proposed in 2014.

The project connects natural gas terminals in Virginia and West Virginia with a 303-mile pipeline that stretches across some of Appalachia’s most rugged terrain. Almost immediately after construction began, protesters tried to block it by setting up and living in platforms in trees along the route.

Theresa Terry, better known as “Red,” was one of those tree sitters, and she stood out. She was in her 60s — and she wasn’t just an activist. She was tree-sitting on her own land. Back in 2018, Inside Appalachia Host Mason Adams interviewed her from on the ground, outside a police barrier that had been set up to prevent her from receiving supplies from her supporters.

Red Terry looks down from her tree sit against the Mountain Valley Pipeline in 2018.

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

Not long after the interview, Red was forced out of the trees by a judge who threatened her with a $1,000 per day fine. But Red and her husband Coles have continued to fight the pipeline in court.

Since Congress approved a law that included a provision to force completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, they’ve been seeing construction crews again. Adams wanted to learn more about what’s happened in the six years since Red came down from her tree sit. So he ventured out to Bent Mountain, Virginia, to talk to Red and Coles on their family land.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Adams: How long have y’all lived on this land here in Roanoke County? Did you grow up here?

Coles: I didn’t grow up up here. I grew up in town. My dad, he was an insurance agent. He had his own business. I grew up in Roanoke, but this property’s been in my family for, you know, several generations. We’ve lived up here since we got married. We were married in the front yard, and pretty much came back from our honeymoon into this house.

Red and Cole Terry embrace after she came down from more than a month in her tree sit in 2018.

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

Adams: So I remember the kind of pipeline being announced. When did y’all learn that the Mountain Valley Pipeline was supposed to come through this property?

Coles: March 28, 2015. We got a letter from the county telling us that our property was one of their proposed routes. Two-hundred and two landowners were served at one time, because it was just quicker and easier to take us all to court. I think we got one offer from them. It was a ridiculously low offer. [We] just said no, and the next thing I know, I’m being sued for eminent domain. There was no negotiating, there was no coming by and talking, “Hey, this is what we can do,” sitting down and talking to you about anything. It’s just, “Hey, no, we’re taking it. This National Gas Act allows us to do that. It put it in the national interest.” Unfortunately, the national interest doesn’t include also protecting people’s personal property, the water or people’s well-beings. It’s just, “It’s in the natural interest to get this pipeline in the ground and pumping gas.

Adams: That was 2018. Here we are now in 2024. I drove in and there are still visible pipeline crews.

Coles: Oh yeah. Everywhere.

Adams: What’s it like to live next to that for six years? How do you come to terms with that?

Coles: For a while, you still had the hopes that, because they were still working on getting all their permits and we were still commenting, and we were still meeting with people in these organizations who were supposedly there to prevent anything going wrong, [they’d] step up and say, “Hey!” But they just kept getting, “Well, this, this looks good to us. This looks fine. There’s nothing to see here. Go ahead. You can do what you need to do.” It just gets more and more disheartening every day. We’re still fighting. They’re still ongoing. We’re taking pictures. We’re trying to show where the sediment’s coming in, and, they’re basically not even getting a slap on the wrist anymore.

I don’t even want to be outside. I don’t want to hear them. Just the fact that I know they’re there is hard enough on me. It’s tough sometimes. Right now, I can hear them when I go outside. I can’t see them because they have finished burying the pipe behind my house for the most part. They still have to test it and then restore it and everything. But that could still take years.

Red Terry crosses a creek near her home just after coming down from a tree sit in 2018.

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

Adams: Red, you showed me your photo roll, and a lot of photos with the sedimentation and the slime. I remember you scrolled down a good way, and I was overwhelmed in a way, because you had other photos of family and things like that. But so much of your photo roll was just documenting this damage. Like every day when you drive out, you’re just surrounded by it. And you’re dealing with a bureaucracy that seems unresponsive. So I’m wondering, what keeps you going? What gives you hope? What helps you get up and keep fighting this battle day after day, after day?

Coles: For me? I guess it’s the hope that maybe somebody somewhere will will say, “Yeah, we need to stop this or slow this down.” A lot of it, too, is tried to stop it from happening to somebody else. They’re now proposing another pipeline that’s going to be just as big as this one and just as bad as this one. I admire President Biden for halting any new LNG [liquefied natural gas] buildout. We’re already one of the biggest exporters of LNG in the world. The UK and European nations are trying to get away from LNG, and so the market for that is going to collapse. But we’re going to force the country to build more infrastructure to support it. We don’t know where it’s even gonna go.

Red: From day one, it has been nothing but lies. When your daughter — who is just as mean and ornery and, in my eyes, perfect — looks at you and says, “I won’t be alive in two years,” because this bomb’s gonna go off. And we are in the blast zone. I’m 600 yards from that bomb. Everybody up here on this mountain right now, including myself, have pipes floating in water. That one out there floated in over four feet of water for a month. They came in and took two pumps to pump it dry, heat it up, welded it, threw it in there and covered it with mud. You’re not supposed to cover it with mud. But hey, okay, they’re in a hurry. They don’t have to really do anything that they’re supposed to do.

What gets me up in the morning? I don’t want to get up in the morning. I don’t want to do anything. I have so much **** to do, and I’m paralyzed.

Adams: So now MVP is telling investors and the press that they expect to be completed this spring. What do you all foresee in the future? What do you expect will happen?

Coles: Do I think they’ll be done by the end of March? I see pictures of pipe still above ground. I don’t know how long it’s going to take them to bore under [Interstate] 81. I know there’s some really hard rock there. I know that they might have finished one of the bores at my sister’s, but it took them a lot longer than they thought it was going to. They’re still blasting over there.

So, either they’ve given up boring or they’re just digging through, I’m not sure. I find it hard to believe this pipeline will be in service by the end of the first quarter of this year. “In-service” means a lot of different things to me. Even if the whole pipe’s in the ground, it still has to be tested. The right-of-way has to be restored. FERC [Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] still has to approve it. I was told that it could take ‘til 2026 or 2027 to get everything restored.

Adams: That thing you said about Minor [their daughter] saying she doesn’t expect to be alive in three years?

Coles: Yes. Because she thinks once they start putting gas in this thing, it’s going to rupture and explode.

Red: This is one of the steepest, unbelievable, someone sitting in an office drawing a line. And I understand what they did because they have tried to go to the largest landowners so that they don’t have that many fights, so they don’t have that much opposition.

Coles and Theresa “Red” Terry at their home in Bent Mountain, Virginia.

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

Adams: When I was a cub reporter at the Roanoke Times and somebody gets shot and killed, you’d have to go to talk to their family — like that level of grief. That’s what this feels like.

Red: When Coles and I got married, and when we moved up here, this wall was falling in. This was screens that had been ripped and torn. These boards under here were this wide and they were spaced to have plenty of room between them. And my dearest husband hooked a come-along to a tree out here and pulled the house back out, put in the drop ceiling, put in the staircase here, put in the windows. We laid some floor, put some carpet down, opened the door. And every morning, every ******* morning. I would get up — my kids got me blinds to close for the MVP, I’ve never had blinds up — but every morning I would go out here and look, and just stand there and look, and think to myself, “I must be the luckiest person alive to have this view.”

Now, every time I look, I see the flags. I see the damage. I see the destruction. And I mean, my view, my hike through there, my apple orchard on the top where I went mushroom hunting, and all the critters in the world up here went up to that top orchard. Because the trees were so big. I had one up there that just produced so much. And all of that is now part of their LOD. And it just … it’s heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking what they’ve done. I mean, I still love this mountain, but it’s heartbreaking what they’ve done to so many parts that were so beautiful. And then the other day, when my son was here, and I stopped at the mailboxes, and I parked on our road, our driveway, and I walked over to the mailboxes and all the MVP guys were leaving. So I “waved” to ‘em. And one guy went by me in a big blue truck, and he slammed on his brakes.

Now, you got a whole crew leaving, and he slammed on his brakes, and I’m standing at my mailbox waiting on them to pass. And he comes over and goes, “You don’t know me. You don’t know me. Don’t be shooting the finger at me.” And I looked at him. I said, “Are you a pipeliner?” He said, “Yes, I am.” I said, “Well, I don’t have to know you to know what you’re doing to my land, and yeah, I’d like you to go the **** home.” And he said, “I’m not going anywhere,” and he gets … he’s a little taller than I am. And he’s like, “If you don’t like it, why don’t you move?” And I’m like, “My husband’s family has been here for seven generations.” He goes, “I’ve been a pipeliner. We’ve got pipeliners for six generations.” But he gets up over me.

I said, “Bring in on, ***********. You don’t have anything that scares me. I’m old. I’m tired. And I used to be a redhead before you ************* showed up. So do your worst. I’m not afraid.” And the guy about 10 trucks back jumped out and came up and grabbed him. “Get in your truck and leave.” He goes, “I’m not finished.” He says, “Yes you are. Get in your truck and leave.” And I’ve never had such evil thoughts in my life. I have never wanted to hurt anyone. And things are changing. Things are changing. I would like to hurt somebody really bad.

——

After this interview, Inside Appalachia reached out to pipeline officials about the Terrys’ claims.

Pipeline spokeswoman Natalie Cox sent a statement:

“MVP project opponents continue to promote factual inaccuracies in support of their agenda, which includes a primary objective to stop MVP and other linear infrastructure. The MVP project has been subject to an unprecedented level of scrutiny, and the fact is the VADEQ, WVDEP, and other agencies continue to conduct daily project inspections, and the inspection process is working as designed. If and when any compliance issues are identified, Mountain Valley takes immediate responsibility to remediate the identified issue or concern. As has always been the case, completing construction and fully restoring the project’s right-of-way remains the best method of permanent environmental protection.

“Mountain Valley will continue to coordinate with all appropriate state and federal agencies, including FERC, USACE, VADEQ, VDCR, and WVDEP, to ensure the safe, responsible completion of the project, which includes building and operating the project in accordance with all applicable regulations, incorporating best management practices, and meeting or exceeding applicable industry standards for linear infrastructure.”

Construction continues on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Company officials project it will be completed by June 2024.

Two Months After Judge Ordered Them Down, Tree-Sitters Still Block Mountain Valley Pipeline

As 2020 gave way to a new year, and Donald Trump turned the White House over to Joe Biden, tree-sitters in western Virginia held their position against construction of the interstate Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Activists have blocked the pipeline in a mountain hollow just outside Elliston, Virginia, since fall of 2018. A judge ordered them down in November — but more than two months later, tree-sitters remain in place. And they’re not alone.

A look at the Yellow Finch tree-sits, still occupied by protesters despite a judge’s order.

“There’s all kinds of like, local youth organizers that would come up to this space,” said a tree sitter known as Acre. “They clean up around the stream and read speeches and make banners. There’s been all kinds of local folks that have written letters to us, and stood under the trees and read them.”

Acre said that local support has kept them in the treetops through the winter months, even after the judge’s order. Like other activists who’ve occupied the blockade known as Yellow Finch — named for the dirt road that runs through the hollow just below the tree-sits — Acre uses non-binary gender pronouns and declined to reveal their real name.

“Using a pseudonym lets you do cool stuff that you wouldn’t be able to do with the same amount of integrity with the real name,” Acre said.

That includes writing posts that are published on the Facebook page of Appalachians Against Pipelines, which functions as the public face of the direct-action campaign against the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

“I don’t have to write everything,” Acre said. “I don’t always have to be the same person. There can be other people signing [posts as] Acre. If people can just walk up here like this, you know, you could be Acre, for all you know.”

The Mountain Valley Pipeline, or MVP, was announced in 2014 and approved by the federal government in 2017, but it’s still incomplete. Now, a shift in White House administrations and accompanying change on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) signals a new phase in the fight.

In mid-January, FERC deadlocked on — and therefore denied — a request by MVP to bore beneath waterways and wetlands along 77 miles of pipeline route in West Virginia. With one of the FERC commissioners in opposition to this process ascending to the commission’s chairmanship, some analysts see further obstacles in MVP’s future.

The pipeline was originally supposed to be in service by 2018, and its cost has gone up from a projected $3.3 billion when it was announced, to nearly $6 billion today. The pipeline did not respond to requests for comment, but its website reports that construction is 92% complete. Still, it remains unfinished — in part because of activists like Acre, who have put their bodies in the pipeline’s way.

Hand-drawn art can still be seen on boards among the remnants of the former Yellow Finch support camp.

Tree-sits first went up against MVP in 2018, on the Virginia-West Virginia state line. Others followed, but all were forced down after a few months. Then, that fall, Yellow Finch quietly went up at a more defensible site, in a steep hollow near the south fork of the Roanoke River. It became a destination for pipeline fighters across the East Coast and the Midwest. They came from all kinds of backgrounds, too: Black Lives Matter, criminal justice reform, mutual aid, and fights against tar sands extraction, fracking, and other pipelines.

The Yellow Finch encampment became a hub for activism, not just against the pipeline but also for jail reform, mutual aid and other efforts. Its relatively accessible location made it easy for visitors to find and locals to plug in, while the steep slopes around the tree-sits made it difficult for law enforcement and pipeline security to remove.

The topography around the tree-sits underscore the activists’ argument against the pipeline. On one side of the hollow, the land has been cleared down to mineral soil, and it looks like pipeline workers are using a giant sheet of plastic or some other material to stabilize the ground. On the other side — where the tree-sits are located — the slope is still forested.

After the judge’s order in November, the activists took down the support camp. In late December, the pallets they used as a streamside barricade lay in piles, and the bunkhouse they slept in had been dismantled.

The remnants of the support camp at Yellow Finch, which was removed by activists in November

But a skeleton crew of tree-sitters stayed behind, living 40 feet off the ground on a series of platforms connected by rope lines and covered with tarps. Acre said they’ve got a pile of sleeping bags to keep them warm, but that the weather’s been fairly mild so far this winter. And, it turns out that weather many of us see as an annoyance is crucial for Acre’s ability to stay in the trees.

“The water I drink is all rainwater, so I’m really grateful when it rains,” Acre said. “And then my solar panel charges my phone. So when it rains, I have to take my face away from a phone and read a book, and I get more water from my water-catchment system. In some ways, my setup is reliant on the elements and keeps me in tune with with the daylight and with the weather.”

Acre’s presence in the trees feels like a last stand against the Mountain Valley Pipeline. And it may signal the end of the Yellow Finch encampment. However, the tree-sits, while a focal point for news coverage of the pipeline fight, represent just one front in a long-running, multi-pronged campaign that also includes legal, regulatory and political action. Environmental groups are fighting the pipeline in court, and an army of trained volunteers monitor the pipeline for erosion and other environmental violations.

While the pipeline continues to make progress toward removing its remaining legal and regulatory obstacles, including receiving an important approval from the U.S. Forest Service in January, its fate remains unclear.

In the meantime, Acre and other tree-sitters remain, continuing to hold their space and block the pipeline.

Protesters of Mountain Valley Pipeline Chain Themselves to Equipment at Construction Sites

Protestors in opposition of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, locked themselves to equipment at construction sites in Virginia and West Virginia in two separate incidents this week.

According to news releases by the group Appalachians Against Pipelines, on Friday, a Blacksburg, Virginia citizen chained himself to equipment at a Mountain Valley Pipeline construction site in Montgomery County, Virginia.

The man, identified as Michael James-Deramo, carried a banner that said “Spark Resistance.”

“We have watched as this pipeline has wreaked havoc — from Brush Mountain to Peters Mountain, from Four Corners Farm to Bottom Creek — not just havoc on the land, but on the lives and mental wellbeing of individuals, and the sanctity of place and safety,” James-Deramo said in the release. “These actions are not just about this stretch of pipe, this stand of trees. These actions are a defiance. These actions are not just about this stretch of pipe, this stand of trees. These actions are a defiance.”

His presence stopped construction for more than six hours, according to the group. He was removed and arrested, but had not been arraigned as of Friday afternoon.

The protest action in Virginia follows another earlier this week in Summers County, West Virginia. There a protestor remained locked to equipment on site for more than seven hours. The unidentified protestor was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors, obstruction and trespassing, and a felony. They were released on bail.

Both protestors said they took action because of concerns over environmental damage caused by construction of the 303-mile, 42-inch natural gas pipeline, as well as future climate concerns.

“Eleven years. It’s said that’s how much time we have left to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change. The question is, what are we going to do to ensure a livable and healthy planet for all those that will come after us?” the protestor in Summers County stated. “I am taking this action today to stop construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which is cutting through and destroying the beautiful mountains, forests, and waterways of Appalachia.”

The now $5 billion project was approved by federal regulators in October 2017, but has ballooned in cost and been delayed by numerous lawsuits. It’s been cited hundreds of times for environmental violations.

Last week, Wild Virginia and other environmental groups asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue a stop work order for the project.

A spokesperson for EQT Corp., the project’s developer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Man Straps Self to Machine to Protest Pipeline

Authorities have arrested a protester who strapped himself to construction equipment at a Mountain Valley Pipeline site in West Virginia.

News outlets report state police haven’t released details about the Monday arrest at the Lindside site. The man was strapped that morning to the equipment roughly 20 feet above the ground with a sign that said “No pipelines on stolen land.”

Authorities arrested him by late that afternoon. A group of protesters also gathered in a nearby parking lot with signs asking to stop the pipeline.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a 300-mile (483-kilometer) natural gas pipeline that is being constructed in West Virginia and Virginia and has used eminent domain to acquire project space.

Pipeline developers recently submitted an application to extend pipeline into North Carolina.

Judge Lifts Restraining Order Against Pipeline Protesters

A judge has lifted the restraining order against natural gas pipeline protesters sitting in trees in West Virginia.

News outlets report Judge Robert Irons denied the injunction, reversing course less than two weeks after granting Mountain Valley Pipeline a 10-day restraining order against the protesters.

Mountain Valley Pipeline had sought the order, saying the protest could prevent cutting trees along the pipeline’s path in time to meet a March 31 federal wildlife protection deadline. A licensed surveyor testified the protesters were outside of the no-cut zone and inside the company’s right of way, but the protesters’ attorney, William DePaulo, pointed out mapping inconsistencies.

In his ruling, Irons highlighted concerns over the map data’s accuracy and questioned the urgency to reach a decision over two trees along the 300-mile (480-kilometer) pipeline.