Excavator poised above Rt 3 at Pence Springs crossing of the highway and river. The pipeline makes a dog leg at the bollards and through an open trench to meet the tunnel under the Greebrier. C. Chanlett
>>> From an Article by Chris Chanlett. GRWA Board Member. December 5, 2023
After eight years of underestimations and false starts, the Mountain Valley Pipeline is boring under the Greenbrier River at Pence Springs. As of mid-November the drilling wormed about half way through the 800 foot diagonal tunnel under the water. It was progressing at about 60 feet per day with scores of trucks of all sizes working the project from the floodplain. MVP began punching under the Gauley River in early November.
First proposed in 2014, the MVP was projected to cost $3.5 billion to link gas fields in northern WV 303 miles to piedmont Virginia pipelines. Equitrans Midstream, major owner of the venture, recently raised the estimate another $600 million to $7.2 billion and imagined it would be operational in the spring of 2024. The company said the projection was caused by “challenging terrain and geology” as well as “settlements with contractors and litigation” and unanticipated safety and security measures.
Among the most costly of the underestimations was the presumption that this 42 inch pipeline under 1500 pounds of pressure would be easy to permit and override hundreds of unhappy landowners with cash offers or eminent domain. While the pipeline sailed through northern WV, it ran into tenacious resistance in Summers and Monroe counties and Virginia to the east. It was particularly a mistake to try to cross Maury Johnson in Monroe County along with determined women like Judy Azulay and Nancy Bouldin from Indian Creek Watershed Association and Becky Crabtree.
Tree sitters perched in the right of way for long periods with plenty of ground support. Appalachian Mountain Advocates and other law firms frequently succeeded in legal challenges.
These activists fought on multiple grounds. First they doubted the competence of the builders to construct a safe pipeline given the terrain and geology. Having had pipes sitting in the weather for six years has not allayed their fears. Second they contended that private corporations should not be able to impose eminent domain on recalcitrant landowners. They argued that the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission could not establish its required “public necessity and convenience” to authorize seizure for a private profit right of way. Many also said the global warming which has been contributing to droughts, floods, fires made extraction and combustion of methane-exposing natural gas an unwise inconvenience.
Nevertheless the fossil fuel industry and its elected representatives have overpowered the skeptics. If the river and surrounding communities are lucky, it will not flood during the extended drilling, installation, and stabilization. Especially lucky if the pipeline never fails. But the massive carbon footprint of the Mountain Valley Pipeline will be inescapable.
>>> Greenbrier River Watershed Association | 120 W. Washington St. Suite #4, Lewisburg, WV 24901
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