ELLISTON, Va. – Dozens of people have descended upon a Mountain Valley Pipeline construction site in Elliston in an attempt to halt work, according to Appalachians Against Pipelines.
As a part of the protests, three people have locked themselves to equipment at the site as well, stopping the MVP from drilling under the highway and train tracks next to the Roanoke River, authorities said.
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Formed in 2018, Appalachians Against Pipelines is a direct action campaign striving to challenge the Mountain Valley Pipeline project. Environmentalist groups believe MVP will have drastic effects on endangered species, erosion, and stream sedimentation.
“Violence on the earth begets violence on human beings,” stated Tara Houska, one of the individuals who locked themselves to construction equipment. “We must do all we can to heal our relationship, our hearts with nature and with one another. End apartheid. Free Gaza. Stop Mountain Valley Pipeline. There are no sacrifice zones.”
Another protester went on to add: “I am in this fight against the MVP pipeline and for Indigenous sovereignty because all struggles are deeply linked and I believe in the collective project of building the world we want. A world with no prisons and no cops, where everyone has access to clean water, where we can trust that the air we breathe will not make us sick, where our systems are designed around care and not profit. This is a world where Palestine is free, and we are not loyal to violent nation-states but rather to each other.”
There is also a protest happening on Peters Mountain involving 40 individuals who are preventing MVP from continuing a tree cutting and clearing. Another person has also locked themselves to construction equipment, Appalachians Against Pipelines said.
To see more of our coverage on the MVP, click here.