 | By Casey LoweSenior Communications & Outreach Intern |
There are a multitude of reasons why I do not support the fracked natural gas pipelines currently being built in Virginia. The first being that I grew up in Staunton, a quaint, historic city nestled safely at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and attended college in Blacksburg, another beautiful town cozied up to the Appalachian Mountains. I had the privilege of spending my youth outdoors exploring, riding horses, hiking, and falling in love with the blue peaks. Another reason I am anti-pipeline is because pipelines continue the unnecessary use of fossil fuels, pollute the environment, threaten livelihoods, displace people, and generate false promises of jobs and prosperity.
Most importantly, I am anti-pipeline because pipelines create and reinforce environmental and social injustices that have been prevalent for decades in American history.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term “environmental justice” or EJ for short, it refers to a concept that emerged in the 1980’s that explores the relationship between social justice and environmental problems. It is based on the premise that environmental burdens and benefits must be distributed equally and fairly - something that hasn’t happened for most of history. By this definition the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline are unjust because their routes for development are strategically planned to intersect through mostly marginalized communities of color that will lose the most from construction and simultaneously gain the least. The businesses behind the pipelines, Dominion Energy and others, calculate these communities to resist the least due to lack of resources like time and access to information. They strategically chose to construct through those communities rather than through predominantly wealthy, white areas that would be expected retaliate and delay construction.
Like most fossil fuel infrastructure, pipelines have always been an environmental justice issue, but the issue was brought to the spotlight in 2016 when the fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline made national headlines for months because of severe environmental and social justice issues. The original plans for the pipeline crossed through Bismarck North Dakota. After resistance from Bismarck the plans changed and laid the pipeline to the foothills of the Standing Rock Sioux’s home Reservation without even a proper environmental analysis. The pipeline was rerouted because people protested it in Bismarck, but even with the national attention that the Sioux protest received and the extreme and unethical government retaliation against the protesters– the pipeline was still decidedly built on their land. Less than a year into operation the pipeline that’s claimed to be the “safest, most technologically advanced” in the world by its creators has spilled five times leaking hundreds of gallons of crude oil onto sacred land, disrupting the lives and health of the natives and their property.
Much like the DAP, the proposed MVP and ACP are an abuse of power over the people who have lived in the regions for decades where construction will take place. The plans show the pipelines passing within yards of family homes and farms where children play and livestock reside. They threaten private property, small businesses, ecosystems, fresh water supplies and the pristine natural areas surrounding these communities. Previous studies on other pipelines and natural gas facilities show that living near them and their compressor stations will likely increase respiratory disease in the area. This demonstrates a classic case of unjust NIMBYism (Not in my back yard) by lawmakers, fossil fuel corporations, and supporters alike who are thrilled to reap the supposed benefits of the pipelines but would not allow them intersecting through their own land and cities.
In Union Hill, a community south of Charlottesville in Buckingham County, the Koch brothers, founders of numerous conservative organizations, have been pushing an agenda in support of the ACP. The ACP will cut through Union Hill and create a compressor station right in the center surrounded by churches and homes. Rev. Paul Wilson of the Union Hill and Union Grove Baptist Churches has become a leader of the pipeline opposition in this community and Virginia as a whole. I had the privilege of speaking with Rev. Wilson, and I asked him why he became involved with this fight to which he said “a man does not have the right to threaten water or the land, (or) the environment - and our church community is being used as a sacrificial lamb for money, and corporate greed”. Rev. Wilson firmly believes that there are no direct benefits to his church community from the pipeline, and the inherent dangers posed by the construction have made him an environmentalist and activist over the last four years.
The plans for the ACP place a compressor station right between the two churches Rev. Paul is responsible for. Compressor stations are dangerous and extremely noisy. They are not something you want in your backyard or near your schools, churches, etc. To help encourage community members to overlook this, the Koch brothers sponsored gospel and radio events where they spread propaganda about the proposed benefits of fossil fuels and the pipeline. I asked Rev. Wilson if he believed his community was selected for placement of the compressor station because it is predominantly African American, to which he responded “Most definitely.” He then went on to say “That’s a historic pattern of big business - they always go to the least franchised, or disenfranchised, the poorest communities with the less voice, the less clout, the less money, the less political connections”, an answer that outlines the fundamental issues of environmental justice.
What the Koch brothers, Dominion Energy, and the other pipeline partners didn’t expect is the huge amount of resistance that has delayed construction time and time again. With the leadership of Rev. Wilson, many members of the Union Hill community attended the “Water is Life” rally to protest and join in solidarity against the pipeline and have petitioned the state government. Since the pipelines brought so many environmental and social justice concerns to light these affected communities had an opportunity to become more informed on climate issues and solutions, and what part they can play in protecting their communities from future fossil fuel crusades similar to what the Koch brothers have done.
In order for these two pipelines to be approved the routes should’ve been modified to become equal to everyone in losses and gains, regardless of race, class, and income. However, this did not occur leaving the pipelines extremely unequitable and unjust to Virginians. The only equitable solution is to completely avoid the issues created and environmental impacts that are too great to be mitigated by stopping these pipelines altogether and ending the era of fossil fuels. Clean energy has the power to lift up the communities on the short end of fossil fuel production by offering energy independence, cheaper electric costs, reduced pollution, and careers ranging through every skill level that cannot be outsourced. Virginia has multitudinous possibilities for implementing clean, renewable energy to replace dirty fuels and their transporting pipelines. Solar, wind, and hydroelectric energy solutions are available now, with solar is the cheapest form of energy by a landslide!
In order to ultimately resolve the long term social and environmental justice issues that surround energy infrastructure and environmentalism we must allow the communities who have been affected by these social injustices to lead the conversation when making further decisions. Their opinions, livelihoods, and rights must be regarded and considered with the same respect that more privileged communities receive, and they must be provided with the same resources and access that others have utilized for centuries. Steps have been made towards this goal in Virginia with the creation of the Advisory Council on Environmental Justice by former Governor McAuliffe but there is much more work that needs to be done statewide and nationwide. While Virginia makes the transition from dirty fuels and to clean energy solutions it is imperative that the creation of this new infrastructure is not only environmentally sound, but socially sound. We cannot allow the injustices of dirty energy infrastructure and pollution to occur again, but by starting our clean energy future we have the chance to stop the MVP and ACP and also dismantle the current unfair energy system.
Clean energy sources, not pipelines, are our chance to begin anew with equal opportunity and benefits for all Virginians and our earth.