FERC Should Stop Pipelining for Deer Season! Safety & Tradition Really Matter!

Photo posted to Twitter by Senator Joe Manchin

RE: Docket #CP16-10 – Mountain Valley Pipeline, 11/16/23

Dear Ms. Bose and Others Whom It May Concern:

This request is for the builders of Mountain Valley Pipeline. You claim that you want to be a ‘Good Neighbor”. Here is a chance for you to be a good neighbor and also show regard to your own workers. Next week is “Thanksgiving Week” In Appalachia this is a very sacred week. It starts the “Holiday Season” which extends from the weekend before Thanksgiving until the Day after News Years day. It is a time when many families join together to “eat drink and be merry” Thanks giving week is a time when many families join together to go deer hunting.

The hunting tradition is especially super important to our Native American residents. It is a time to reconnect with the land that has been sacred to them for many millennia.
Deer Hunting is a really big deal to many people in Appalachia.

It is time that both young and old get out in the wood and share a tradition that is as old as these mountains. A good neighbor respects this tradition and I request that MVP acknowledge the importance of this tradition and cease all construction from November 18th until November 26th to allow family, friends and neighbor to enjoy their farms and favorite hunting grounds. I know many people who only get to the Jefferson National Forest in Monroe and Giles Counties and the MVP construction activities will spoil that enjoyment of the forest. The same holds true for people’s special hunting places across WV and VA.

This may be the last year that some of these people get to join this time honored tradition and I am sure that MVP would not want to be known as the “Bad Neighbor” that took this away from the residents and hunter who enjoy this time together.
I know for a fact that Senator Joe Manchin is an avid hunter and would not want anyone disrupting his time in the wood with his family and friends. So even if you don’t care about the people whose lands you are building on, out of respect to Senator Joe Manchin, please let the people in Appalachia and your own workers enjoy this special tme of the year.

If you don’t believe me just ask Senator Manchin for yourself.

Senator Joe Manchin on X: “Happy first day of buck firearm hunting season, West Virginia! Wishing all hunters a safe & successful hunt. https://t.co/YuWo8JsG3K” / X (twitter.com)

Sincerely, Maury Johnson, 3227 Ellison Rdg, Greenville, WV 24945