Opponents of Mid-Atlantic Pipeline Strategize in Wake of Election

"NATURAL BRIDGE, Va.— In the Natural Bridge Hotel lobby before a pipeline summit in opposition to two planned fracked-gas pipelines, two words could be heard in almost every conversation: 'Trump' and 'election.'

Smaller and quieter than the Standing Rock pipeline protest in North Dakota, this Mid-Atlantic pipeline resistance movement met here in the Shenandoah Valley this month to reassess and reenergize in the wake of the Presidential election.

The summit, co-sponsored by the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance and Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR), brought together more than 200 activists, experts and property owners concerned with halting the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines, which would bring a combined 900 miles of fracked-gas pipeline through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.

Opposition has built up for several years now, but with a major political shift heading to Washington in January, every speaker reframed strategies for the new political reality: How do you continue a pipeline fight in the age of Trump?"

Kara West reports for the Daily Climate November 18, 2016.