On Monday, October 3, Virginia Organizing leaders will join protesters from other groups in Richmond to send a clear message to Governor Terry McAuliffe: we don’t want your pipelines, we don’t want coal ash in our drinking water, and we don’t want our elected officials to put big polluters like Dominion over the people.

If you are able to join us, please come and stand for all Virginians October 3, 4, and 5 in Richmond. Click here for all the details and to RSVP.

In the meantime, will you take action from home right now? We need to speak out against the Mountain Valley Pipeline and demand that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) do a better job protecting people. All the details are in the email below from our friends at CCAN.

I look forward to standing with you.

In Solidarity,

Jay Johnson
State Governing Board
Newport News

From CCAN:

The fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline — one of four major pipeline projects being considered for Virginia and 19 proposed for the Appalachian Basin — is at a critical new stage. We need to take action now.Earlier this month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a draft of its environmental review of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.¹ This 301-mile fracked-gas pipeline would bisect some of the most beautiful and environmentally sensitive areas of West Virginia and southern Virginia. It would require the construction of three new polluting compressor stations — essentially power plants that pump gas through the pipeline.Yet, once again, FERC is acting like a rubber stamp for the gas industry. In the environmental review, FERC essentially shrugs its shoulders at permanent and significant potential harm to water resources, forests, and farmland, while dismissing the pipeline’s role in fueling fracking and discounting its full climate consequences.

Now it’s our turn to speak out. We have 90 days to flood FERC with public comments and demand better.

Take action: Tell FERC to serve the public, not the gas industry. Reject the Mountain Valley Pipeline based on a full and fair review of its harm to our communities and climate.

We weren’t surprised by FERC’s conclusions — in 30 years, FERC has denied only one pipeline project. But that doesn’t make it any less inexcusable, especially as the impacts of climate change escalate every day.

One of the most glaring gaps in FERC’s analysis is the failure to account for the cumulative, lifecycle climate pollution that building this pipeline would trigger. A recent report issued by Oil Change International asserts that, if built, the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the 18 other pipeline expansions proposed for the Appalachian Basin would completely undermine our country’s climate goals.

FERC’s review also gives short shrift to the effects the pipeline would have on water quality, wildlife and historic sites along the route, and completely dismisses readily available clean energy and energy efficiency alternatives.

Submit your public comment now. Tell FERC that Virginians and West Virginians say NO to the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The sands are shifting. Opposition to fracked-gas pipelines is growing across our region and the country — and a loud, local, community-driven climate justice movement is growing with it. The White House is beginning to shift. The economics are beginning to shift. And people, from the Standing Rock Sioux in North Dakota to landowners in Giles County, Virginia, are coming together to protect their water, land and heritage.

FERC will — eventually — have to listen. If enough of us speak up and stand up.

Submit your public comment today. And keep an eye out for more details as we gear up for this next stage of the fight against the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Onward,

Monique Sullivan
Field Director
Chesapeake Climate Action Network

P.S. Governor Terry McAuliffe also has a say over whether the Mountain Valley Pipeline moves forward. Yet, he’s so far sided with pipeline companies instead of with people fighting to protect the land, water and climate. Help us ramp up the pressure on Gov. McAuliffe by joining the first-ever citizens’ picket line outside his Richmond offices this October 3rd, 4th or 5th. Click here to see the details and RSVP. Yes, our Governor can say “No pipeline!”

1. Click here to read the joint press statement CCAN released today with allied community and environmental groups condemning FERC’s draft environmental review.