Here’s a new one you probably haven’t heard before. Self-righteous and self-appointed people who claim to protect the Appalachian National Scenic Trail object to much-needed pipeline projects like EQT’s Mountain Valley Pipeline–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA–because of “viewshed impairment,” or what the hoi polloi would call visual pollution. Yes, there’s a spot along the trail where if you look in a certain direction you will (if the pipeline gets built) see a path where the trees are cleared for the pipeline, and that just won’t do. It will rob the viewer of the pristine beauty they are used to seeing along that particular section of the trail. Of course, the fact that fires regularly destroy sections of the forest and destroy far more of the beauty along the trail is of no consequence. And the fact that entire cities are visible from the trail means nothing. It is that razor thin, narrow section where the pipeline will go that’s offensive to nature nuts…
