Dear Editor:
“For a man to say he ‘owns’ the land is like a flea claiming he ‘owns’ the dog he’s living on.” —Ted Williams, Tuscarora Indian
This amazing earth was here long before mankind and it will still be here long after our foolish and pitiful species has driven itself into extinction. We are just visitors here. Our host is none other than God Himself This is HIS land; we are His guests. But what kind of guests are we?
The despicable Mountain Valley Pipeline Corporation is bragging about the number of poor West Virginians who have sold rights-of-way of “their” land that MVP wants to use to install one (or more) 42” diameter natural gas transmission pipelines. The proposed pipeline would cut across 330 miles of WV to link with another transmission line in Virginia. Another out of state company is also trying to buy and/or confiscate land to build another similar pipeline north of us. Since there is already a working transmission line across the northern part of the state, neither of these proposed lines is really necessary – the corporations in question just want a piece of the natural gas rush before the gas fields are exhausted (in about 20 years).
Various Summers County residents have accepted between $4,726 and $52,765 for agreeing to give over control of their land to MVP. After taxes that’s not really a lot of money – especially given that MVP stands to make multiple tens of millions of dollars off the deal with essentially no accountability for the incredible damage they will cause. If you actually read the agreement, it’s truly a pact with the devil – right down there with Judas Iscariot and his cursed 30 pieces of silver.
Despite the lies told by the land grabbers, the pipeline front men, and our own West Virginia politicians, this pipeline offers no benefit to the 99 percent of West Virginians. Apparently we have learned nothing from the devastation perpetrated by the coal companies in the southern part of the state. And now that the coal fields are just about played out, the energy corporations are moving in to destroy the rest of West Virginia with their fracking technology.
I have Republican friends who patiently try to explain to me that we NEED natural gas for energy. That’s like a pill head saying he NEEDS his drugs.
What we NEED is clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, non-toxic land to grow our food and, if we want to delay the extinction of our species, we need to learn to live on this sacred earth with respect for God’s creation.
If God had intended mankind to use natural gas (or coal or oil) to produce energy, why did he hide those things miles below the earth’s surface while offering us unlimited and easily accessible solar, wind and water power?
I pray that enough of us wake up and stop the expansion of fracking and the infrastructure that supports it before it’s too late. People tell me it’s hopeless because “they” have the money and the power. But “they” are the one percent; we are the 99 percent. Money is just a blip in cyberspace and we have the power of numbers. If we work together, we can stop this atrocity. Please Google “Stop the Pipeline” and learn how. And for God’s sake, DON’T SIGN ANY AGREEMENTS WITH ANY PIPELINE COMPANIES!
Thanks for reading this,
Anne Brown
Alderson
