From our front row seats, we know that the MVP deserves to fail based on its own record. In its determination to maximize corporate profits, the parent company of MVP chose an untenable route that disregards the genuine environmental limitations of construction in the Appalachian Mountains. MVP's faulty permits and repeated violations of regulations have caused significant delays in the construction of its project. Despite this, West Virginia senators and representatives continue to introduce permitting schemes that prioritize MVP's interests over environmental protection and public safety, while hypocritically labeling landowners along the route as "radical" and "left-wing". Their actions prioritize corporate profits over constituents and national interests.

Those of us on and near the Mountain Valley Pipeline route do not care about each other’s politics or party affiliations. The MVP is a shared threat to our health, land and water—and to our country’s future.

·         We care about the abuse and unfairness of eminent domain for private gain. MVP was allowed to seize people’s property to build a pipeline designed by an inexperienced limited liability joint venture.

·         We care about misinformation. Contrary to claims by our West Virginia representatives, corporate greed, not lack of the MVP, has caused energy costs to rise. Major gas and oil companies are exploiting the current political unrest abroad as the justification to push “energy independence” for the US, while at the same time raising their profits and driving up costs for all Americans.  

·         We care about quality standards for critical infrastructure projects. MVP submitted an inadequate and inaccurate application based on desktop planning instead of on-the-ground research, early public input and rigorous scientific assessment. There was no accurate accounting of the devastation it would cause to the forests, steep slopes, unstable soils and irreplaceable water resources it would cross. No understanding of the cultural ties and historical sites its route would disrupt and destroy. Agencies were pressured to approve inferior permit applications, and FERC granted MVP the go-ahead Certificate despite its omissions, errors of facts and fundamental flaws. This is not a good model for the sustainable energy build-out our country needs.

·         We care about risks to critical water resources, both public and private. Most homes and property along MVP’s 303-mile route rely on private wells and springs for safe drinking water. MVP cut corners—downplaying the route’s challenges and overselling its own construction and environmental control plans. Although MVP has been fined more than $2.7 million in water quality violations in West Virginia and Virginia, the assault continues and these fines appear to mean little more to MVP than the “cost of doing business”.

·         We care about public safety. MVP’s unprecedented route crosses 225 miles of terrain with significant landslide risk (more than any comparable pipeline approved by FERC). Approximately 100 miles lie within an active earthquake zone, much of that in fragile karst terrain marked by caves, sinking streams and vulnerable aquifers. Together, these hazards significantly increase the potential for pipeline instability, rupture and explosion.

·         We care about other vulnerable communities that will suffer. If put into service, the MVP will condemn Marcellus and Utica shale communities in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio to decades of expanded fracking and air pollution, and to billions of gallons of water forever contaminated with toxic chemicals. North Carolina communities and farms along the proposed 70-mile MVP Southgate extension will face the same exploitation and environmental destruction caused by a project driven by private greed, not public need.

·         And across the political spectrum, we care deeply about our country and our children’s children. Fast-tracking an unsafe project that will add the greenhouse gas equivalent of 26 coal-fired plants annually fails the common-sense test. The oil and gas industry has known about the existential danger of our dependence on fossil fuels for more than 50 years, misleading the public and enjoying special subsidies all along the way. It’s time to face the truth. We should be decreasing, not increasing, our use of fossil fuels. It shows unforgivable lack of vision and betrayal of the public trust for our representatives and leaders in Washington to fuel this fatal methane addiction with projects like the MVP.

What legacy will we leave our children? We urge you: Protect your constituents and the country. Don’t give a free pass to the MVP! 

                                        #     #     #

This petition is sponsored by Indian Creek Watershed Association of Monroe County, WV.

We welcome sign-ons by West Virginians, Virginians and others who want to protect our water, property rights, communities, natural resources and future!

THANK YOU for adding your voice! To sign this petition, complete the information below and add a personal comment (optional). Then hit the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the form.