BIG ISAAC, W.Va. – In an article about oil and gas pipeline safety, today’s Sunday edition of Politico offers this breathless and alarming headline – “Everything’s on Fire: Inside the nation’s failure to safeguard toxic pipelines.”
Whew. Scary, huh?
Indeed it is. What is scarier, however, is that it took a national news outlet a decade to discover what those in the grassroots of West Virginia, Central Appalachia and beyond have known since the first bulldozers were offloaded in the fracking fields of their communities a decade or so ago. Living near or along any construction by the oil and gas industry in the pursuit of fracking is dangerous and even deadly.
For more than a decade, the oil and gas industry has been plowing through the earth, Congress and state legislatures like bulldozers. Where the poor and vulnerable live, the fossil fuel industry thrives. One reason is that the oil and gas industry hopes it can avoid the scrutiny that Politico has put on them today.
Still, I am pleased that the national media has finally landed on this topic. Better late than never. More importantly, Politico’s reporting actually captured the “moral of the story” – citizens across the United States in the path of oil and gas pipelines do not trust the oil and gas officials – and more disturbingly, the officials charged with regulating the industry.
That is with good reason.
Long before today’s article was published by Politico, the oil and gas industry has been battling against impacted landowners and nearby residents who were not fooled. Many of their stories have been published on the Appalachian Chronicle (and in many cases, my book, Fractured Sanctuary: A Chronicle of Grassroots Activists Fighting Pipelines of Destruction in Appalachia). It is an account of oil and gas industry abuse of eminent domain, government compliance, and assaults upon the people and the environment.
For more than a decade, the oil and gas industry has been plowing through the earth, Congress and state legislatures like bulldozers. Where the poor and vulnerable live, the fossil fuel industry thrives. One reason is that the oil and gas industry hopes it can avoid the scrutiny that Politico has put on them today.
They may have escaped the national microscope until now, but the people directly impacted for more than a decade have been fighting back, and fighting hard. Their stories can’t be disputed. There are far too many corroborating each other. A good place to begin is with the McClain family that lives here. Three pipelines – the intrastate Stonewall Gas Gathering Pipeline, the now-abandoned Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and soon to completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) – surround the McClain family farm in eastern Doddridge County. For them, the past decade has been a living lesson regarding the attitude of the oil and gas industry against people and the environment, and their disregard for human dignity. Below is the fist article about the challenges facing the McClains.
Standing Their Ground (7/14/15): Local farmers battle with companies building Stonewall Gas Gathering Pipeline over crop damage; West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issues Notice of Violation to company for violations nearby, continues investigation of incident impacting farm.
Destruction Continues
Nine years later, the MVP, as it finishes construction, is continuing to cause extensive damage to property, people, rivers, roads, wildlife and more. These articles from Big Isaac just a few months ago reveal that the MVP is the culprit for numerous flash floods, accusations the MVP and community authorities dispute. But science, pictures and the testimony of the farmers that have spent their life on the land suggests otherwise. Read the articles below to learn more.
‘Following the Water’ Provides a Trail Straight to the MVP in West Virginia Flash Floods (12/10/23)
As I wrote in Fractured Sanctuary, “These reports capture an accurate account of the shenanigans the natural gas industry has used to build the Mountain Valley Pipeline and numerous other larger and smaller projects across the nation. This is simply another snapshot in the scrapbook of the exploitation by energy companies of the people and land of Appalachia. So, reluctant citizen activists rose up organically in grassroots resistance to the natural gas industry. The fight won’t end anytime soon. The fossil fuel industry has exploited the Appalachian region for roughly 150 years. With dollar signs dancing in their eyes, they are not inclined to quit. Neither are the grassroots activists.”
Following are a few other selected articles that highlight the ongoing conflict between the people and the oil and gas industry.
New PSR Report Documents Fracking in West Virginia Gas Wells with ‘Forever Chemicals’ (PFAS) (03/27/24)
Indigenous-Led Environmental Group Files Human Rights Complaint with the U.N. Against the MVP (02/24/24)
Is Doddridge County, W.Va. Ready for a Disaster? Official’s Silence Makes it Seem Unlikely (12/11/23)
West Virginian Maury Johnson Facing Off with Feds Over MVP Pipeline Safety (10/09/23)
Call to Action Issued to Stop Manchin’s ‘Polluter Loophole Bill’ (09/26/23)
Reluctant Activists Fight Fossil Fuels (12/22/21)
North Carolina Law Enforcement Wrong to Target Pipeline Opponents (08/14/18)
Virginia DEQ Ignores Requests for Pipeline Comments (07/20/18)
Pipeline Monitoring Group: FERC Not Doing Job on ACP (03/2717)
West Virginia Pipeline Project Cited for Numerous Violations (08/19/15)
West Virginia Residents in Heart of Fracking Fields Join in National Action (08/19/15)
West Virginians and Pennsylvanians Standing in Solidarity Against Natural Gas Industry (08/08/15)
Appalachian Residents Joining Hands in Opposition to Pipeline Development and Fracking (08/04/15)
Fracking Poses Threats to Public Health, Say Experts (06/29/15)
A Pivotal Moment for West Virginia’s Eminent Domain Law (04/04/15)
Environmental Groups Align Efforts to Challenge FERC Pipeline Projects (03/10/15)
EQT Letter Characterized as ‘Misleading’ and ‘Bullying’ (03/02/15)
A Dirty Dozen Reasons to Oppose Fracking (02/19/15)
Area Group to Host Forum on Fracking and Pipeline Issues (11/04/14)
Victim in Fracking Truck Accident had Warned Commissioners of Roadway Dangers (10/28/14)
Voices Out of the Wilderness (10/28/14)
Incompetence and Complacency Increase Dangers from Fracking (10/10/14)
From ‘Almost Heaven’ to ‘Almost Hell’ (10/07/14)
For Politico, this is a 24-hour news cycle story; tomorrow, it will move on to other matters. Meanwhile, for those living in the path of the oil and gas industry, it is an ongoing, decade-long nightmare of death and destruction. I hope I am mistaken, but as is generally the case, once Politico packs up the parachutes they used to drop in on vulnerable communities, it will return to Washington and ignore Appalachia as is the national media tradition. We’re used to it. We’ll fight on.
© Michael M. Barrick, 2024
The Appalachian Chronicle 