For the six years it took to build the Mountain Valley Pipeline, countless opponents hindered work by sitting in trees along its path, standing in front of bulldozers and chaining themselves to heavy equipment.
Although the resistance died down after the controversial project went into operation last June, the legal battles it spawned live on.
At least seven lawsuits remain pending in the state and federal courts of Southwest Virginia, filed against more than 50 people who took direct action to fight the natural gas pipeline. Mountain Valley is seeking an undisclosed amount of money from the defendants, who it says 鈥渨illfully, intentionally and maliciously鈥 interfered with its construction of the underground pipeline.
Last week, a federal judge in 麻花视频 denied a request to dismiss one lawsuit, while striking down part of a second one.
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In one of the cases, Mountain Valley claimed that 11 people conspired together to enter a posted right-of-way where the pipeline was being constructed through the Jefferson National Forest in Giles County.
A Mountain Valley Pipeline protester raises her hands after state police cut the chains she used to lock herself to construction equipment in 2023. MVP filed a lawsuit against dozens of people seeking penalties for protests.
On the morning of Oct. 16, 2023, Ashley Wagner of Berkley, California, chained herself to an excavator by using a sleeping dragon, a reinforced metal pipe through which she inserted her arms and locked herself to the equipment.
The other protesters assisted Wagner and surrounded equipment in the construction zone, refusing to leave until police arrived and broke up the demonstration, Mountain Valley says.
In alleging a conspiracy among the opponents, the company argues that Wagner could not have acted alone, and that everyone involved was a part of an unlawful plan and agreement.
Their attorney, Paul Beers of 麻花视频, argued that Mountain Valley had failed to show a common plan.
鈥淣o matter how many times the word 鈥榩lan鈥 appears in the lawsuit, Beers wrote in court records, 鈥渞epetition of a legal conclusion cannot compensate for the absence of facts supporting it.鈥
Beers also contended that Mountain Valley鈥檚 conspiracy claim was undermined by its failure to detail its financial losses.
In a written opinion March 17, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Dillon declined the defendants鈥 motion to dismiss. 鈥淚n short, although details are not robust, the court concludes that MVP has plausibly alleged damages as a result of defendants鈥 actions,鈥 the opinion states.
However, Dillon agreed to dismiss conspiracy claims made in a second lawsuit.
That case involved the actions of Madeline Ffitch of Millfield, Ohio, who chained herself to equipment that was being used to drill a tunnel for the pipeline to pass below the Appalachian Trail in the national forest.
A woman chained herself to pipeline equipment in January 2024.
Because Ffitch was the single defendant named in the second lawsuit, Dillon ruled that she could not be found to have participated in a conspiracy.
But the judge declined to dismiss a second claim that accused Ffitch of interfering with an easement Mountain Valley held on property through which it was building the pipeline. That allegation, as well as the lawsuit involving Wagner, will proceed to trial.
Other lawsuits are pending before Dillon and in the state courts of 麻花视频 and Montgomery counties.
Efforts to reach Mountain Valley for comment last week were unsuccessful.
The company has said the 303-mile pipeline 鈥 which runs from northern West Virginia, through the New River and 麻花视频 valleys, to connect with another pipeline near the North Carolina state line 鈥 is needed to meet the country鈥檚 growing energy needs.
Opponents decry the pipeline鈥檚 environmental impact on scenic land and pristine streams, its contribution to climate change by transporting natural gas that will produce greenhouse gases, and its seizure of private land along its route.
Meanwhile, prosecution of criminal charges against pipeline opponents in a variety of cases continues as well.
Eleven people appeared in Giles County General District Court on Feb. 25 and were convicted of misdemeanor charges, most of them trespassing and interfering with Mountain Valley鈥檚 property rights.
The defendants 鈥 including Ffitch and Wagner 鈥 all received suspended jail sentences and were ordered to perform 50 hours of community service, according to Commonwealth鈥檚 Attorney Bobby Lilly.
Lilly said he decided not to prosecute felony charges of abduction in some cases. Those charges were brought on behalf of construction workers who said they were trapped briefly in the cabs of their excavators as the equipment was surrounded by protesters.
In some cases, offenders were ordered to pay for the costs of special teams from Virginia State Police who were called in to remove the protesters from their sleeping dragons, a process that can take hours.
Theresa Minor Terry and her mother, Theresa 鈥淩ed鈥 Terry, took to the trees to block Mountain Valley Pipeline from building on their family鈥檚 land on Bent Mountain.
The most recent prosecutions did not involve tree sits. Those actions, in which people camped out in tree stands along the pipeline鈥檚 path to prevent chainsaw crews from moving in, occurred in the first few years of construction, which began in 2018.
In a statement after the Giles County hearing, Appalachians Against Pipelines called the cases 鈥減art of an escalated wave of repression against people resisting the MVP. 鈥
鈥淒espite MVP鈥檚 attempts to stifle resistance, people continued to fight the toxic project through to its completion, and there remains sweeping opposition to the pipeline today,鈥 the group said.
In court documents, Mountain Valley has said Appalachians Against Pipelines organized the protests and recruited participants, many of them from other states.
While opponents are free to exercise their First Amendment rights, Lilly said, charges were brought when their words crossed over to illegal actions.
鈥淲e recognize that the defendants felt very strongly about their beliefs, and were willing to stand up for what they believed in, and that鈥檚 a very admirable thing,鈥 he said.
鈥淏ut these cases were brought because of the conduct they chose to engage in.鈥
