Pipe Dreams
Atlantic Coast Pipeline: This photo was taken close to where a drill was to bore beneath the Appalachian Mountain National Scenic Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway through the mountain gap between Three Ridges Wilderness (George Washington National Forest) and Devil’s Knob (at Wintergreen Resort) The mountain consists of greenstone and granite. The bore would have been over 4,200 feet long and 46 inches in diameter for a 42” pipeline that would contain fracked natural gas at a pressure of 1440 pounds per square inch.
The cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline was announced in July of 2020. The ACP was opposed by a multitude of people and organizations for many reasons, foremost because the project did not consider the racial justice aspects of the pipeline and grave environmental and safety concerns. Orin Langelle photographed the Union Hill community, composed of descendants of freed slaves from the 1800s in Virginia. GJEPs Steve Taylor did media for Global Justice Ecology Project’s support of the local opposition.
And Now – The Mountain Valley Pipeline: On June 1, 2023, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released the following statement after voting for the bipartisan debt ceiling agreement to secure the completion of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP):
“I am proud to announce that we have finally secured the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and have done so with broad, bipartisan support. For more than nine months, I have worked tirelessly to build consensus and garner the support necessary to complete MVP. Last fall, my bill to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline received a bipartisan vote on the Senate floor but failed to receive the Republican support necessary to become law. But it was too important to the energy security of our country to give up. After that, I doubled down to build support by working with Speaker McCarthy, Leader Schumer, White House officials and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate to make the case for this critical energy security project. I am thrilled that Republicans and Democrats came together to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline and shore up American energy security.
What you can do to oppose the pipeline: For the latest news and what you can do please see Wild Virginia
Further reading and viewing: Andreas Malm’s new book and now a movie, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, suggests a more radical approach of environmental activism than what is occurring now is needed. Malm told The Guardian he had not “a shred of hope” elites were prepared to take the urgent action needed to avert catastrophic climate change. Read the full article on The Guardian’s website.
This year Global Justice Ecology Project is celebrating our 20th Anniversary. As part of this year-long celebration, we will be posting photos by co-founder Orin Langelle, Director of Langelle Photography,
