ROANOKE, Va. – A petition is calling on Gov. Ralph Northam to return money that Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC contributed to his gubernatorial political action committee on Monday.
A citizen-run Clean Money Coalition gathered Thursday in Roanoke to launch the petition to make Northam return a $10,000 contribution from the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
The group is referring to this "tainted" money as a "dirty" contribution and the "definition of corruption."
The group also says that it is calling on Attorney General Mark Herring to investigate the donation by examining all correspondence between the Northam administration and the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
The petition is sponsored by Clean Money Squad/Represent U.S. Roanoke Valley, Preserve Salem, Indivisible Virginia and Activate Virginia.
The construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline has been controversial and is facing opposition.
On Thursday another protester attempted to block the construction of the pipeline.
The protester, whom Appalachians Against Pipelines identified as "River," climbed to the top of a piece of welding equipment.
River prevented work on the pipeline for more than seven hours and was eventually extracted and arrested. River is being held without bail on misdeameanor charges, according to Appalachians Against Pipelines.