In 2015, energy companies across the US Mid-Atlantic region announced plans to build a 550 mile fracked-gas pipeline through the Shenandoah Valley. The pipeline would collect fracked gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale basins in Ohio, Pennslyvania and West Virginia, and transport them for refinement in North Carolina. |
Proposed pipeline through historic Shenandoah Valley meets civil disobedience by local landowners and grassroots climate activists
Description:
Basic Data
| Name of conflict: | Atlantic Coast Natural Gas Pipeline. Virginia, USA |
| Country: | United States of America |
| State or province: | Virginia |
| Accuracy of location | MEDIUM (Regional level) |
Source of Conflict
| Type of conflict. 1st level: | Fossil Fuels and Climate Justice/Energy |
| Type of conflict. 2nd level: | Other Shale gas fracking Transport infrastructure networks (roads, railways, hydroways, canals and pipelines) Oil and gas refining |
| Specific commodities: | Natural Gas |
Project Details and Actors
| Project details | |
| Project area: | 142,449 |
| Type of population | Rural |
| Start of the conflict: | 02/01/2015 |
| Company names or state enterprises: | Dominion Energy from United States of America - Principal investor Duke Energy from United States of America Piedmont Natural Gas from United States of America |
| Relevant government actors: | Federal Energy Regulatory Commission |
| Environmental justice organizations (and other supporters) and their websites, if available: | Richmond Resistance Free Nelson |
Conflict & Mobilization
| Intensity | MEDIUM (street protests, visible mobilization) |
| Reaction stage | PREVENTIVE resistance (precautionary phase) |
| Groups mobilizing: | Local ejos Neighbours/citizens/communities |
| Forms of mobilization: | Development of a network/collective action Shareholder/financial activism. Street protest/marches Occupation of buildings/public spaces |
Impacts
| Environmental Impacts | Potential: Groundwater pollution or depletion, Large-scale disturbance of hydro and geological systems, Global warming |
| Health Impacts | Potential: Accidents, Exposure to unknown or uncertain complex risks (radiation, etc…) |
| Socio-economical Impacts | Potential: Displacement, Loss of livelihood, Land dispossession |
Outcome
| Project Status | Planned (decision to go ahead eg EIA undertaken, etc) |
| Conflict outcome / response: | Criminalization of activists |
| Proposal and development of alternatives: | Climate justice activists are proposing that the State of Virginia divest from fossil fuels. Landowners along the pipeline cooridor are developing a proposal for an alternative route to the pipeline. |
| Do you consider this an environmental justice success? Was environmental justice served?: | Not Sure |
| Briefly explain: | Dominion has started surveying land across the pipeline corridor, but construction has yet to begin. |
Sources & Materials
|
Meta information
| Contributor: | Eleanor Finley, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. |
| Last update | 18/08/2019 |
| Conflict ID: | 1816 |
Related conflicts
Comments