BIG ISSAC, W.Va – On March 20, we published a news release from NC WARN, based in Durham, N.C. calling on North Carolina Governor Josh Stein to “… finally begin telling North Carolinians the truth – that Duke Energy is already a top global polluter and it leads the nation in expanding fracked gas-fired power plants as well as dangerous, failure-prone nuclear reactors.”
To underscore there assertions, NC WARN is screening a hard-hitting 18-minuted documentary –”The True Cost of Power: Duke Energy’s Climate Deception” – at community meetings and film festivals. It is required viewing for those wishing to know the truth about the cost of natural gas and how it drastically increases the dangers of the Climate Crisis. The film demonstrates beyond any doubt that natural gas is neither clean nor cheap.
Lessons from the West Virginia Fracking Fields Reveal Human and Environmental Devastation
Just as in North Carolina, where Duke Energy owns the North Carolina General Assembly – and until proven otherwise, Governor Josh Stein – the same is true for West Virginia and the federal government. The feds could have and should have stopped this tragedy. But too much money flows from the power companies into Congress. It is even worse in West Virginia; the harm done by the MVP was fast-tracked by the West Virginia legislature and ignored by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – or, as skeptical activists call it, the “Department of Everything Permitted.”
The fracked gas mentioned by NC WARN comes largely from the fracking fields of West Virginia, transported through the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). I reported from those fracking fields from the first public meeting held by Dominion Energy in September 2014 at Jackson’s Mill, W.Va. Though Dominion and Duke Energy eventually abandoned the ACP in 2020, EQT Corporation of Pittsburgh was able to build the MVP. The people of Virginia suffered as well, as the MVP and related infrastructure plowed through the Blue Ridge Mountains and Piedmont, using eminent domain to take whatever they wanted to achieve their objective.
Indeed, I wrote a book about it, “Fractured Sanctuary: A Chronicle of Grassroots Activists Fighting Pipelines of Destruction in Appalachia.” In addition to the book, I published dozens of articles chronicling the human and environmental devastation caused by the MVP. Despite the efforts of those at the grassroots, many now dead or ill, the MVP was completed. The links to those articles are published below in reverse chronological order.
WV Rivers Releases New MVP Story Map Showing Pipeline’s Toll in West Virginia
New Report Highlights Pollution Impacts of MVP on Streams and Wetlands in West Virginia
Oil & Gas Industry Abuse: National Media Finally Opens its Ears and Eyes to the Grassroots
New PSR Report Documents Fracking in West Virginia Gas Wells with ‘Forever Chemicals’ (PFAS)
Safeguarding the Ohio River Basin is Focus of a New Community-Driven Report
Warming Exceeded 1.5C Worldwide in 2023, Meaning Increased Climate Risks for Appalachians
Top Story of 2023: Brutal Abuse of Eminent Domain to Complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline
Is Doddridge County, W.Va. Ready for a Disaster? Official’s Silence Makes it Seem Unlikely
‘Following the Water’ Provides a Trail Straight to the MVP in West Virginia Flash Floods
West Virginian Maury Johnson Receives Community Sentinel Award from FracTracker Alliance
WV Rivers to Hold Water Quality Monitor Training on Oct. 21 Where MVP is Crossing Greenbrier River
Driving Down the Road to Ruin Despite Repeated Warnings about Fossil Fuels
‘Fractured Sanctuary’ Chronicles the Grassroots Response to Fracking and Pipelines in Appalachia
Mountain Valley Pipeline Comment Periods Ending Soon, Urgency Required
Learn about the MVP from Maury Johnson, Fierce Friend of Mother Earth
MVP Opponent Maury Johnson Named Hometown Hero by WV Can’t Wait
MVP Legal Setbacks Give Breathing Space to Opponents
Reluctant Activists Fight Fossil Fuels
The Climate Emergency and Appalachia
Three Years of Aerial Resistance
Environmentalists Outraged as Standards Changed to Help MVP
Dominion and Duke Abandon the Atlantic Coast Pipeline
‘Pray and Delay’ v. Dominion, Duke
The Power behind the Atlantic Coast Pipeline
Pipeline Proposal Raises Questions that Beg for Answers
Why People Deny Global Warming Clues
Pipeline Monitoring Group: FERC Not Doing Job on ACP
Citizens Encouraged to Request Public Hearings about MVP
Virginia Officials Agree to Demands from Advocacy Group about Pipeline Deliberations
Atlantic Coast Pipeline Not a Done Deal
West Virginia Pipeline Project Cited for Numerous Violations
West Virginia Residents in Heart of Fracking Fields Join in National Action
Appalachian Residents Joining Hands in Opposition to Pipeline Development and Fracking
Fracking Poses Threats to Public Health, Say Experts
A Pivotal Moment for West Virginia’s Eminent Domain Law
Seeking Dominion over His Own Land
EQT Letter Characterized as ‘Misleading’ and ‘Bullying’
A Dirty Dozen Reasons to Oppose Fracking
Area Group to Host Forum on Fracking and Pipeline Issues
Victim in Fracking Truck Accident had Warned Commissioners of Roadway Dangers
Incompetence and Complacency Increase Dangers from Fracking
From ‘Almost Heaven’ to ‘Almost Hell’
Fracking’s Greatest Threat – Fractured Relationships
Art Exhibit to Explore Impact of Mountain Top Removal and Fracking
It is time to listen to NCWARN. Between their documentary, media ads, community gatherings, and action alert – Stop Duke Energy – along with this knowledge of fracking and the building of the MVP in West Virginia, you can pester Governor Stein with some hard truths that are quite contrary to the lies of Duke Energy.
Your efforts will leave us with only one question – Who owns North Carolina, Duke Energy or the people?
© Michael M. Barrick, 2026
Appalachian Chronicle 