Enough is enough. It’s time to end the silly charade of a 61 year-old kook sitting 30 feet up in the top of a tree that needs to come down to make way for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Mainstream media could no longer maintain the veneer of credibility and continue to intentionally conceal the identity of the woman who would only call herself “Red”–which they did for weeks. No more. Her name is Theresa Terry. She goes by the nickname “Red.” We call her Grandma Red because she’s older (no idea if she’s actually a grandmother or not). Red’s daughter, also named Theresa, is up the same tree with her. The two Theresas are illegally trespassing on property (the tree) that now belongs to MVP, via eminent domain. As we told you on Friday, a group of far-left, liberal Democrat Virginia lawmakers actually support Red’s illegal action (see Virginia Democrat Lawmakers Side with Lawbreakers in MVP Protest). Sometime in the past week or so police began to deny Red’s supporters from passing food and water up the tree. They also turn bright lights on the two Theresas during the night, in an effort to deny them sleep and force them down. As the police say: They are meeting the “non-violent protest action” with “non-violent police action.” Which the radicals, hilariously, claim is “police abuse.” You see, antis can do whatever the heck they want to do–even breaking the law–and it’s righteous and pure as the wind-driven snow. But when you use their own tactics against them, that’s brutal. That’s persecution. That’s police abuse. Here’s an update on Grandma Red and the quest to remove her from her magic tree house 30 feet up in the air…
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Category: Virginia
Virginia Democrat Lawmakers Side with Lawbreakers in MVP Protest
More than a dozen liberal Democrat state lawmakers in Virginia attended a press farce yesterday to express their support for a lawbreaking Virginia woman from Roanoke County who has, like other radical anti-fossil fuelers, taken to living at the top of a tree on her property (see VA Tree Sitting Continues in Failed Attempt to Stop MV Pipeline). The tree is in the legal right-of-way for the Mountain Valley Pipeline and needs to be cut down. The trespassing woman won’t publicly admit her name, and the sycophantic press, which knows her name, won’t publish it. If we find out we certainly will publish it. At any rate, she calls herself “Red.” We call her Grandma Red because she’s an old(er) lady. Grandma Red, along with her daughter, are illegally perched/trespassing at the top of a tree (on a platform, a “magic treehouse”) on her property, refusing to come down. Police officers now keep 24/7 watch of the tree, preventing radical supporters from passing food and water and toilet paper up to Red and her daughter. The “more than a dozen” Democrat lawmakers at yesterday’s farce waved “I stand with Red” signs and said preventing radicals from aiding and abetting Grandma Red in her illegal tree sitting is “inhumane.” If anyone can now just decide to disobey a law they don’t like, maybe we’ll disobey a law too. What if we show up at the home of one of those Virginia lawmakers and sit down in the middle of their driveway and refuse to move–preventing that lawmaker from backing his/her Mercedes out of the garage? Maybe set a pup tent up in the driveway and hang out for a few weeks–block that person from leaving the house. How is that any different from what Grandma Red is doing? When our leaders, the people who make the laws, encourage disobedience of those laws, we have anarchy–a lawless society…
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Va. Water Bd Wants More Assurances re MVP & ACP Pipeline Projects
In October 2017, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved two important Marcellus/Utica pipeline projects–Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), and EQT Midstream’s Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) (see FERC Approves Atlantic Coast, Mountain Valley Pipeline Projects). ACP is a $6.5 billion, 594-mile natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. MVP is a $3.5 billion, 303-mile natural gas pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. However, as we’ve all learned the hard way, federal approval by FERC is only the first step. Individual states get a very limited say in pipeline project siting by being given the power to issue federal Clean Water Act permits for stream crossings. Some states, like New York, abuse the power and attempt to shut down federal projects. Other states, like Virginia, waffle around. Here’s the latest from Virginia. The state Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) decided last year to let the federal Army Corps of Engineers handle the water permitting for the two pipelines. But then the state Water Control Board (WCB) stepped in, claiming they have authority to help regulate the construction of these two federal projects (which they don’t, but that’s a story for another day). The WCB eventually approved MVP and conditionally approved ACP. However, under extreme pressure (bullying) from Big Green proponents, the WCB is rethinking their approvals and has “cracked the door open” to review the water crossings already approved by the Army Corps of Engineers. Yeah, it’s a hot mess in Virginia…
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Williams Seeks OK to Expand Transco to Move Marcellus Gas South
The hits keep comin’ from Williams. Yesterday Williams announced it has filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand capacity along the mighty Transco Pipeline to increase the amount of gas the pipeline can flow to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S by 296,375 dekatherms (296 million cubic feet) per day. The Southeastern Trail expansion project (SET), as it is called, includes building 7.7 miles of 42-inch pipeline looping (pipeline laid next to existing pipeline) in Virginia, adding extra horsepower at existing compressor stations in Virginia, and making some pipe and valve modifications on other existing facilities in South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana to allow for bi-directional flow. The project aims to bring more gas to utilities, including PSNC Energy, South Carolina Electric & Gas, Virginia Natural Gas, the City of Buford, Ga., and the City of LaGrange, Ga. Note that Mountain Valley Pipeline recently announced they want to expand the MVP project an extra 70 miles to serve PSNC Energy (in North Carolina) too. Williams is currently working to finish up the Atlantic Sunrise project, which includes new pipeline to feed Marcellus gas from northeastern PA into the Transco mainline. Bottom line: This new Southeastern Trail expansion project will bring Marcellus gas to more customers in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. And that’s a good thing!…
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MVP Tree/Pole Sitters Select Wrong Area, Tree Cutting Continues
We’ve been monitoring the developing situation in Virginia where anti-fossil fuelers continue to protest against Mountain Valley Pipeline in the Jefferson National Forest. Some of the protesters are fueled by an irrational hatred of fossil fuels (movement people), while others are locals who believe digging a trench for a pipeline will destroy their scenic vistas. The movement people arrived from out of town and whipped up the locals. A mix of both have taken to sitting in treetops (see WV Judge Refuses to Eject Tree Sitters Blocking Pipeline Work), while one is sitting at the top of a pole illegally planted in the middle of a roadway (see US Forest Service Gets Tough on Illegal MVP Pole Sitting Protester). The tree sitters and pole sitter can’t exist without ground support–people who pass food, water and toilet paper up to the nuts at the top. Police and the Forest Service are beginning to clamp down on the people on the ground. This past week three people were arrested for various crimes–mostly for refusing to move out of the way, although one was arrested for assault and another for reckless driving. The protesters sitting in trees and on the pole thought all tree cutting would stop after March 31, due to federal regulations protecting potential endangered bat habitats. What the sitters apparently didn’t know (or bother to find out) is that tree cutting CAN continue in areas not included in bat habitats. Where the sitters are perched is not included in the cutting prohibition. Whoops! All of that tree and pole sitting has been for nothing (laughing our posteriors off)…
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Mountain Valley Pipeline Launches Plan to Expand 70 Miles into NC
We love it! Even though Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) has only just begun to build along it’s 301-mile route from West Virginia to southern Virginia, and even though MVP faces opposition from extremists who sit in the tops of trees and on top of poles (see Radicals Go Up a Tree in Quest to Illegally Block MVP Construction and US Forest Service Gets Tough on Illegal MVP Pole Sitting Protester), MVP is now going on offense. Yesterday MVP announced a binding open season (time when customers can sign on the dotted line) to expand the not-yet-built MVP pipeline where it will terminate in southern Virginia by another 70 miles–into two northern North Carolina counties. The MVP Southgate project, as it’s called, will flow gas from the MVP mainline in Pittsylvania County, another ~70 miles south to new delivery points in Rockingham and Alamance counties in North Carolina. MVP Southgate will provide low-cost natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale regions for delivery to PSNC Energy customers as well as existing and new end-user markets in southern Virginia and central North Carolina…
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Busybody Brigade to Help Va. DEQ “Monitor” MVP Pipe Work
As Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) begins construction and launches a plan to expand their pipeline another 70 miles (see today’s lead story), the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) says it is eager to work with radical antis to monitor work that will be done by MVP in the Old Dominion. MVP is a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA–and perhaps beyond into North Carolina (see Mountain Valley Pipeline Launches Plan to Expand 70 Miles into NC). MVP is being built by EQT Midstream, NextEra Energy and several other partners. It has been hassled by protesters and sued by a cadre of Big Green groups–all with no result. The pipeline is currently under construction. Since there’s no stopping it, antis intend to launch a host of volunteer “monitors” to rat out pipeline workers that do anything from drop a candy wrapper on the ground to drive 2 miles an hour over a locally posted speed limit. In other words, a busybody brigade. To which we say: Go ahead–knock yourselves out. MVP has nothing to hide. If you want to waste your time, it’s yours to waste. The DEQ, under Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam, is only too happy to work with the busybody brigade to further hassle MVP…
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US Forest Service Gets Tough on Illegal MVP Pole Sitting Protester
The kooky antis who are trying to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in the Jefferson National Forest are a gift that keeps on giving. On Monday MDN told you that some of the antis (movement people, from other states/areas) had erected a pole in the middle of a gravel road in the Forest–a road MVP construction equipment uses–and that an anti had scampered up to the top of the 50-foot pole (suspended with ropes) and is living in a platform at the top of the pole (see One MVP Radical Protester Arrested, Another Goes Up a Pole). Other antis, some movement people, some local, are sitting nearby in magic tree houses in a couple of trees. Unfortunately a judge refuses to allow law enforcement to forcibly remove those in the magic tree houses (see WV Judge Refuses to Eject Tree Sitters Blocking Pipeline Work). The tree (and pole) sitters are getting on the nerves of the U.S. Forest Service. According to a Facebook page maintained by the radicals, the Forest Service has blocked volunteers from sending food and water up the illegal pole to the person at the top. They’re also shining bright lights on the top of the pole 24/7. There’s more than one way to make them leave! We also have updated comments from one of the tree sitters–Grandma Red, a 61 year-old woman who recently climbed up to one of the magic tree houses–who says she’s “swinging in the wind.” You got that right, Grandma…
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VA Tree Sitting Continues in Failed Attempt to Stop MV Pipeline
Here’s the latest update in the ongoing story of “protesters” who are trying to stop progress in cutting trees for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which will run from West Virginia into Virginia. We previously reported on illegal tree-sitters that judges and law enforcement refuse to remove (see WV Judge Refuses to Eject Tree Sitters Blocking Pipeline Work). The latest to join the tree sitting movement is a 61 year-old woman who calls herself “Red” and claims her family has owned land in the area for seven generations. When MVP workers began removing a ladder on the tree where Grandma Red planned to sit, she began screaming like a petulant three year-old child. Her histrionics got them to stop. She subsequently climbed the ladder and is still perched up a tree. The bald truth of the matter is this: Regardless of this nonsensical display by (a) misguided locals like Grandma Red, and (b) movement anti fossil-fuel radicals, MVP is in the process of getting built and will be completed. Tree sitting protesters are not going to stop it. So let’s grab some popcorn and enjoy the show in the meantime!…
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One MVP Radical Protester Arrested, Another Goes Up a Pole
First they went up trees to try and stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from getting built (see WV Judge Refuses to Eject Tree Sitters Blocking Pipeline Work). Now they’re illegally erecting poles for crazies to sit in. That’s what paid, radical protesters do these days: think up the most freakish, idiotic, outlandish stunt they can pull (or pole), in an effort to get publicity for their misguided cause. Not far from where radicals built tree houses in the Jefferson National Forest, a group of protesters gathered on a gravel access road, erected a 50-foot pole (held in place with ropes to nearby trees), and one of the crazies scampered up to the top to sit there (and is still there) in an attempt to block construction vehicles from passing down the road. The protesters on the road near the pole were ordered to move by the police. Most did, although one of them was arrested. As for the woman up the pole, she’s sitting in a makeshift shelter up there and refuses to reveal her name, nor will she come down…
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FERC Won’t Extend Atlantic Coast Pipeline Tree Cutting Deadline
Two weeks ago Dominion Energy asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to extend tree cutting/felling season by an extra 45 days, from March 31 to May 15, in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina (see Atlantic Coast Pipe Asks FERC for More Time to Cut Trees). Due to restrictions for species like the threatened Indiana bat, tree cutting season is limited–from November 16 to March 31. ACP said it couldn’t meet the March 31 deadline due to a late start following state bureaucratic delays. In a presentation Dominion gave to North Carolina environmental officials a few months back, the company said if “we cannot start [pipeline construction] in time to ensure a full and efficient construction season and have to delay service by one year, the impact would be $1 billion.” Dominion maintains that worst case scenario has not yet happened. Following the FERC decision to deny extending the date for tree cutting, Dominion said they’ll shift things around and can still meet their contractual deadline of getting ACP up and running by the end of next year…
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MVP Pipeline Cleared to Begin Building Pipeline in Virginia
In January, MDN reported that Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA–had received permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin tree clearing and construction of access roads and construction yards in five West Virginia counties (see Mountain Valley Pipe Gets FERC Approval to Begin WV Construction). That was MVP’s very first permission to begin construction-related activities. It was the trickle. The flood gates burst open in February when FERC issued four new orders granting MVP permission to continue not only tree clearing and building roads, but also to begin construction of the actual pipeline itself in WV, and tree clearing/preliminary construction activity in VA (see FERC Grants MVP OK to Begin Pipeline Construction in Virginia & W.V.). The activity in VA was in just one county (Giles) and in one location. MVP still could not construct pipeline in VA pending required state permits. The situation in VA fundamentally changed this week. On Monday, the VA Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued erosion, sediment and storm water control permits for the project–meaning actual pipeline construction can now begin. And yesterday, FERC granted MVP permission to construct pipeline not only in Giles, but also in Craig, Montgomery and Roanoke counties. MVP is now fully authorized in VA and there’s no stopping it…
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WV Judge Refuses to Eject Tree Sitters Blocking Pipeline Work
If the so-called “tree sitters” in Jefferson National Forest who are trying to block tree cutting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) get themselves hurt, Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Robert Irons will be the one to blame. Well actually, the protesters can blame themselves (they’re idiots), but Irons is certainly complicit. On Tuesday Judge Irons refused to grant MVP a court order to remove the radical protesters. Apparently they are 7 feet outside of the right of way zone for tree felling. Have you ever cut a big tree down? Trees don’t care if they fall 7 feet this way or 7 feet that way when they fall. MVP wants to ensure the protesters don’t get hurt, and wants them gone before they cut trees near them. But because the radicals technically, according to the judge, are not in the actual right of way, they can stay up the trees where they’ve been for the past 25+ days. There are two suspended tree houses (platforms), held in the trees with ropes. Up to seven people have been living in the two magic tree houses, eating, breathing and defecating up in the trees (harming the environment they profess to be protecting). MVP technically has a deadline of March 31 to fell trees along the path of the pipeline. We suspect MVP has a Plan B for this segment where the loons have perched themselves up a tree. We predict sitting up a tree will get old sooner or later–and MVP can wait them out…
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Virginia Governor Moves to Bypass FERC in Regulating Pipe Projects
Not until a few years ago when the corrupt Andrew Cuomo decided to block federally approved pipeline projects like the Constitution, and then Northern Access, did the issue of states rights verses the rights of the federal government come into sharp focus with respect to pipeline projects. At its core, it is an age-old issue. During the founding of our country the early leaders wrestled with how much control a federal government should have. We have a Bill of Rights (and a Constitution) specifically to LIMIT how much control the federal government exercises over the individual states. We support a very limited federal government. However, the founders recognized there will be times when the interests and “rights” of states clash with the federal government, and with other states. How to break a tie when deciding competing interests? Perhaps not in their wildest dreams would the founders have foreseen things like interstate highways, high tension electric lines, and yes, natural gas pipelines. Through the years our country has innovated a system based on the original founders’ vision, using agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to oversee the permitting and permissioning of infrastructure projects like pipelines. What happens if several states want and need gas from a pipeline, but a single state stands in the way and blocks it, denying the citizens of other states the benefit of that gas? That’s why FERC was created–to referee such “wisdom of Solomon” situations. New York plunged us down the slippery slope of overturning long-established law with their lawless action in blocking FERC-permitted pipelines. Other states noticed and are now trying it themselves (like Massachusetts). The latest state to take a stab at assuming powers it doesn’t legally possess is Virginia, under a Democrat governor who plans to pass legislation that can willy nilly stop construction of federally approved pipelines like Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline…
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Praying Against the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia
When was the last time you read a news story about 50 people gathering to pray…*against* an infrastructure project? Ever see or read a news story about people gathered to pray against a new highway being built? What about people who pray against construction of a new bridge? Or maybe those who pray against a new high-tension electric line coming through the area? We’ve never heard of or read any of those kinds of stories. Ever. So why does Virginia Public Radio feel compelled to publish a story about 50 people gathering to pray against the Mountain Valley Pipeline? What about the 5,000 people who live in the same area who are just fine with the pipeline? Do you think they might deserve a story too?…
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Atlantic Coast Pipe Asks FERC for More Time to Cut Trees
Dominion Energy’s $6.5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (running from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina) is supposed to get built this year. ACP began to cut trees along the pipeline’s path in late January (see Atlantic Coast Pipeline Begins Cutting Trees in WV & VA (Not NC)). ACP chainsaws have been busy since that time. Due to restrictions for species like the threatened Indiana bat, tree cutting season is limited–from November 16 to March 31. ACP says it won’t be done by March 31 and is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to continue clearing trees in WV, VA and NC until May 15th. Antis are making loud noises that FERC should deny the request. What will FERC do? If they don’t grant permission, ACP will be delayed–perhaps by a year…
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