We’ve Stopped Pipelines Before, Let’s Do It Again: Join the Fight Against the Dangerous MVP Southgate Extension

A blog by Kidest, CCAN’s Virginia Communications Manager

Kidest at MVP Rally in 2021 (second row, third person from right), photo courtesy of Will Kerner Photography

My journey as a Virginia climate activist began as a college intern in the fight against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a battle we won, proving that community power can defeat even the most well-funded fossil fuel interests. That victory taught me that Virginians can defeat giant corporations that seek to pollute our communities, and I’ve found my people.

Since then, I’ve witnessed the defeat of the polluting Chickahominy gas plant and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with neighbors as we organized against the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate extension. When the first permit for Southgate was denied in 2021, it felt like another victory for the people and the planet. But with new natural gas pipelines being proposed across Virginia, the pressure on our communities and environment is only increasing. The fight is far from over, we need to act now – together!

A Dangerous Pipeline, A Bad Deal Repackaged

The MVP Southgate extension is a proposed 31-mile natural gas pipeline that would snake from Pittsylvania County, Virginia, into Rockingham County, North Carolina. The developers claim it’s necessary to meet “growing public need” for natural gas, touting contracts with Duke Energy and PSNC Energy. But as someone who’s seen these justifications before, I know this is not about meeting real community needs, but about locking our region into decades of fossil fuel dependence.

Community Resistance to the MVP on the Pipeline Route, photo courtesy of Appalachians Against Pipelines

Right now, the Southgate extension is undergoing a crucial permit application review, and your voice is needed! The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has opened a 30-day public comment period, ending May 30, 2025, for MVP Southgate’s request for a Clean Water Act permit. This permit would allow the pipeline to negatively affect our streams and wetlands, which our communities depend on in both Virginia and North Carolina.

Join us in advocating against this dangerous pipeline and submit comments to the US Army Corps of Engineers in opposition to the project using the how to guide here

The pipeline’s original plan was even more destructive, spanning 75 miles and requiring a massive compressor station in a predominantly Black community near Chatham, Virginia. In 2021, the Chatham community stood up to oppose the toxic pollutants that would have come from the then-proposed Lambert Compressor Station, leading the Virginia Air Pollution Board to reject an air permit based on environmental justice concerns. This win, however, was sadly short-lived. In 2023, MVP submitted a new project plan that doesn’t include the Lambert Compressor Station. The new plan now has a shorter route and a wider pipe, but these tweaks do not reduce the threat to our communities and our environment. 

MVP’s Track record: Community Harm and Environmental Destruction

MVP’s track record is a warning. Construction of the main pipeline has already destroyed forests, seized private property, and violated water regulations hundreds of times. The MVP Southgate extension brings more concerns about the possibility of repeated environmental violations. Erosion from construction threatens groundwater and private wells, which are vital in our rural communities. Even worse, the risk of pipeline toxic leaks and explosions puts homes and lives in danger within a half-mile of the pipeline route. 

These are not just hypothetical risks. MVP’s mainline has racked up over 350 water quality violations, many affecting rivers and streams that supply drinking water. The pipeline also turns communities, often Black, Indigenous, and low-income, into “sacrifice zones”, bearing the brunt of pollution and health risks from fossil fuel infrastructure. 

People-Powered Organizing & Community Resistance Defeated Southgate Before

Rally in Richmond to Stop MVP and Manchin’s Dirty Deal June 2023

The denial of the first MVP Southgate extension air permit in 2021 was no accident, it was the result of relentless organizing by Pittsylvania residents and Virginians advocating for healthier communities. Just last month, thousands of Virginians submitted comments to our Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) opposing the project. In fact, our lawmakers have also recognized MVP’s history of violations and safety issues. 

I’ve seen what’s possible when we come together, we’ve stopped pipelines before, and we can do it again! We have the opportunity to speak out and refuse to let our state become a dumping ground for fossil fuel interests. Your comments will help determine if a public hearing is needed and whether this project serves our communities and the public interest.

Join us and submit a comment to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, urging them to deny the Section 404 permit for the MVP Southgate extension. You can access our comment guide here. 

About the author: Kidest is a communications strategist, storyteller, and environmental justice advocate who brings over six years of experience at the intersection of organizing, narrative change, and digital advocacy. She believes creative storytelling is a powerful tool for advancing grassroots movements, shifting public narratives, and influencing policy decisions.

Based in Richmond, Virginia, Kidest has worked alongside local organizations to amplify marginalized voices and advocate for policies that center the needs of Black communities and other historically excluded groups.

Youngkin Uses State Air Board to Illegally Repeal Popular Climate Policy

Proposed regulation would pull Virginia out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which was enacted by the legislature, delivers hundreds of millions of dollars to the state, and has overwhelming public support.


RICHMOND, VA-
Today, the State Air Pollution Control Board, at Governor Glenn Youngkin’s behest, voted to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). RGGI is an overwhelmingly popular climate policy that produces hundreds of millions of dollars per year for flood resilience, affordable housing, and energy efficiency in the Commonwealth as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Air Board, stacked with Youngkin appointees and boasting numerous fossil fuel connections, voted to repeal RGGI despite that 95% of comments provided during a public comment period were in support of the policy.

Statement from Victoria Higgins, Virginia Director for Chesapeake Climate Action Network:

“Governor Youngkin has proven time and again that his allegiances are with the fossil fuel industry, not the people of Virginia. Participation in RGGI is a commonsense policy that reduces air pollution, keeps us on track to meet our climate goals, and provides necessary funding to address the flooding we see today and that we know will get worse in the coming years. Because of RGGI’s overwhelming public support, Youngkin failed to repeal this popular policy through the legislature. It is appalling that the Governor has now turned to using unelected members of a citizen board to enact his extremist agenda. This transparently undemocratic and illegitimate attempt at repeal reveals the lengths to which Youngkin will go to drag Virginia backwards on climate.”

The state legislature voted to join the Commonwealth to RGGI during the 2020 General Assembly. Removing the state from the program requires action by the legislature, which was affirmed by 61 state lawmakers in a letter to the Board in September. Pushing repeal through the Air Board is Youngkin’s third attempt to undo the policy, after failing in the legislature and through executive action.

Contact:
KC Chartrand, kc@chesapeakeclimate.org, 240-620-7144
Victoria Higgins, vhiggins@chesapeakeclimate.org, 201-937-70174

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Related campaign:

Youngkin is Marching Virginia Backwards

Governor Youngkin’s “All-of-the-Above” Energy Plan Fails Virginia in the Midst of Climate Crisis and the Push for New Renewable Energy Nationwide

RICHMOND, VA-Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s “2022 Virginia Energy Plan” – released today – is a veiled threat to Virginia’s clean-energy progress in recent years and threatens to move the Commonwealth backwards during the world’s last-chance decade to solve climate change. The 29-page report takes a supposedly “all-of-the-above” approach to energy, calling for support for more coal and gas and nuclear while calling for changes to the state’s landmark “Clean Economy Act of 2020” and “Clean Cars Act of 2021.”

Mike Tidwell, Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, issued the following statement in response to the new energy plan from the Virginia Department of Energy:

“As hurricanes bash the U.S. in the east and wildfires torch the west, Governor Youngkin’s new energy plan for Virginia fails to meet the challenge of cleaning our air and solving the climate crisis. His ‘all-of-the-above’ approach would have been fine in 1950 but has no place in the year 2022. Methane gas is not ‘clean’ and nuclear power is fantastically expensive and will not protect consumers or the environment. Instead of embracing false solutions like gas and nuclear, the Governor should be embracing and implementing the Virginia Clean Economy Act and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – policies already on the books and benefiting Virginians. Instead, he calls for review and changes to these fully functioning and successful policies. The people of Virginia want serious solutions, not games, when it comes to energy. They want low-cost wind and solar and the electric vehicles Detroit is all-in on manufacturing. Glenn Youngkin should catch up to modern Virginia and leave 1900s Virginia behind.”

The 2022 Virginia Energy Plan can be read here.

Contact:
Mike Tidwell, Executive Director, CCAN,  mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org, 240-460-5838
KC Chartrand, Communications Director, CCAN, kc@chesapeakeclimate.org, 240-620-7144

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Related campaign:

Youngkin is Marching Virginia Backwards