Protect VA, NC, and WV from a risky new fracked-gas pipeline!
- by: Robert Parker
- recipient: The governors and state legislators of Virginia, North Carolina, and West Virginia
It's up to us to stop a risky fracked natural-gas export pipeline from threatening the beautiful countryside and environment of Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina.
The 550-mile fracked Atlantic Coast Pipeline would pass by the James River, two VA state parks, numerous schools and tourist destinations- plus the Blue Ridge Parkway and the gorgeous George Washington National Forest!
I am a Virginia resident, and am very concerned about the safety implications and environmental impact across VA, NC, and WV. Furthermore, private-property owners are at risk of losing their land through eminent domain. Our rights and our environment should matter more than fossil-fuel profits!
I owned a log home in Nelson County and worked in Augusta County, where my daily commute would take me across Reeds Gaps over the Blue Ridge Parkway and Afton Mountain. It's strikingly beautiful, and none of us want to see it threatened by a natural gas pipeline. That's why citizen groups like the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Sierra Club, Friends of Nelson, and the Augusta County Alliance are working hard to stop this risky pipeline.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission isn't listening to the public, so we need to go straight to our state lawmakers and urge them to do everything they can to protect our homes. Will you stand for safety and the environment, and oppose this gas pipeline? Please sign my petition today!
I am opposed to the proposed 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline that would carry fracked gas through our state. I ask you and all other state lawmakers to re-evaluate this pipeline and do everything you can to stop it.
[YOUR PERSONAL COMMENT HERE]
Our state is not for fracked natural-gas pipelines. Our mountains are too steep. Our forests are pristine. Our rivers and streams are valuable resources. Our properties are sacred lands. My concerns regarding the pipeline include:
Environmental Impacts: Pipelines require a clear-cut the size of interstate highways, and would run through communities, farms, woodlands, streams and wetlands. The environmental destruction is huge, including harm to watersheds and water quality; damage to endangered and threatened species; disturbance of many unsuitable areas such as erosion-prone steep slopes, seeps, and springs; and extreme disruption of many pristine and native trout streams, wetlands and riparian areas, though bedrock dynamiting and excavation.
Those environmental impacts include the long-term detrimental impacts on plant and animal life, especially on the approximately 200 species already known to be endangered, threatened, rare, or declining in the George Washington National Forest with passage through Inventoried Roadless Areas and Special Biological Areas in the National Forest, including passage through "Biodiversity Hot Spots" and "Outstanding Ecological Cores".
The pipeline would expand demand for natural gas which would mean more use of destructive fracking practices in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and potentially in Virginia and North Carolina. Additionally, reliance on fracking and natural gas means more released methane, a potent greenhouse gas that would worsen climate change. We need to be moving away from reliance on fossil fuels, not increasing our dependence on them.
Recreation Impacts: The pipelines would also impact the nationally known and highly popular recreational features including the George Washington National Forest, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Eastern Trail, and the iconic Appalachian Trail.
Public Safety: LNG pipelines often leak and can explode. Running pipelines through karst topography and mountainous terrain puts our communities at severe risk. Building pipelines through mountainous terrain carries additional risk of landslides and erosion.
Property Rights: These projects are not in the public interest, and it is wrong to allow private businesses to use the extraordinary power of eminent domain to condemn family farms and homes.
Once again, I urge you to stand firm against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
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