Victory! Never give up – the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is dead

 

We will be blogging individual articles from The League Line, our quarterly newsletter

Summer 2020 Issue: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Summer2020.pdf

Index to this and other issues: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/index.htm

By Therese Vick and Sharon Ponton

On Sunday afternoon, July 5, 2020, we got wonderful news. After 6 years, Dominion and Duke Energy had abandoned their plans for the unneeded, unwanted, and unjust Atlantic Coast Pipeline! First emotions, disbelief, distrust, then pure joy and jubilation. Tears, screams, dancing, laughter.

BREDL staff called, texted and emailed each other, we contacted our members who have been fighting on the frontlines, our allies, our families. You may have heard us holler from where you were. The victory belongs to the thousands of grains of sand thrown into ACP's gears, most of all to the

frontline communities that stepped outside their comfort zone to fight for environmental justice.

Impacted landowner Valerie Williams, from BREDL chapter Concerned Stewards of Halifax County, is one of those powerful grains of sand. After learning of the cancellation of the ACP, she declared, “It’s been a long and winding road to this victory, but when you have a determined people – with legacy, memory

and heritage – we must be committed to never give up. I want to thank all those involved in the project, and especially reinforce how important it is to all landowners that private property is still private property! And now we can breathe fresh air and drink clear water.”

Communities like Union Hill threw many of those grains of sand, standing tall throughout this fight to protect the historic community their freedmen ancestors settled after the Civil War. Kathie Mosley, who serves as chair of the BREDL chapter, Concern for the New Generation, said, "Dominion chose to ignore

the Union Hill community, but we stood up, never stopped fighting. They tried to divide our community, but we never, ever gave in. It feels good today to know we slayed the giant." John Laury, a long-time member of Concern for the New Generation and supporter of the pipeline fight, said in response to the cancellation of the ACP, "I am so elated it's hard to put into words. I can say

beyond a shadow of a doubt we knew we were fighting a giant, a giant that had many more resources than we could ever obtain. We also knew that we serve an unlimited God, a just and righteous God. We knew this project, itself, was destructive to our natural environment. We thank God today...to God be the glory."

Others, like Frank McManus from Nelson County, VA’s Protect Our Water chapter spoke eloquently: "I have been part of many victories in my life, but none could be more satisfying than the news that the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline has been cancelled. To be a small part of such a David defeats Goliath moment is something that makes the heart swell, for reward is not awarded to a single champion but to

everyone, for WE all share in this victory. For so many came together to form one voice, to push back against corporate America, saying, not this time. It feels really good."

Hands Across Our Land Action at James River Bridge at Nelson and Buckingham County Line  -  August 18, 2015 Photo Credit: Marion Kanour

We were ecstatic when we saw the Facebook notification “Atlantic Coast Pipeline Cancelled” pop up in our newsfeed. We immediately started planning how to make Dominion vacate landowner easements and replant the trees they had felled.

So many said that this pipeline was a "done deal." But we didn't give up. BREDL's founder, Janet Marsh used to say "We only have to last one day longer than they do."

We did!