Pipelines Offer Hope, Provoke Despair

Fern and Earl Echols stand near a pipeline marker on their property in Giles County. Photo credit: Roanoke Times

Fern and Earl Echols stand near a pipeline market on their property in Giles County. Photo credit: Roanoke Times

Recent articles have highlighted rural communities that stand to win and lose from proposed natural gas pipeline mega-projects crossing the state.

On the hopeful side, the Daily Press reports that Isle of Wight County economic development director Tom Elder would like to build a lateral line off the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) to supply gas to the county’s intermodal industrial park. Gas from the interstate pipeline would supplement supplies made available by local gas distributor Columbia Natural Gas.

“If we had a heavy user, there’s some stipulations that Columbia couldn’t provide at this point,” Elder told the Isle of Wight Board of Supervisors.

Said County spokesman Don Robertson: “We’d love to have a gas line at the intermodal park — it’s going to make that park more marketable. … How and when that happens is obviously going to be determined by the amount of funding and the board’s willingness to do that.”

Isle of Wight joins Brunswick County, Buckingham County and others that view natural gas as a potential boon to their industrial development efforts.

By contrast, residents of Newport in Giles County worry that the economy of their small town will suffer from the Mountain Valley Pipeline. “Newport, more than any community in the pipeline’s proposed path, is potentially going to take a direct hit in the heart of our historic district, while avoiding more affluent communities and homes,” lifelong resident Perry Martin told the Roanoke Times.

Initially, Newport residents expressed concerns that the MVP route would run close to a school, recreation center and rescue squad building. When the pipeline company adjusted the route closer to the center of the town, foes said it threatened other assets such as an ante-bellum church and the historic C.A. Hardwick house. If the pipeline exploded — admittedly, an unlikely event — the potential impact zone would encompass those buildings and several others.

Pipeline companies attempt to negotiate with landowners to obtain the right to cross their land, and often adjust their routes if they can’t reach agreement. But sometimes altering the route is impractical, in which case they can invoke the power of eminent domain on the grounds that their projects are a public necessity. Communities along the route of the ACP in Augusta, Nelson and neighboring counties voice similar fears to the residents of Newport.

“I just don’t understand how people can come in and just take what you’ve worked your whole life for,” said resident Earl Echols. “Where’s 80-year-old people going to go and start over?”