Appalachia and the Tennessee River Valley
Unyielding Resistance to a Fracked Gas Boondoggle
Appalachia and the Tennessee River Valley continue to face unwanted and dangerous energy infrastructure projects, such as the Mountain Valley Pipeline and an ever-growing list of carbon and hydrogen proposals. Home to the prolific Marcellus and Utica shale formations, the northern Appalachia natural gas industry is so large that if it were its own country, it would rank as the third-largest fracked gas producer in the world, behind only Russia and the rest of the United States.
Equation Campaign’s grants support groups in North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia who are opposing pipelines that cut through the heart of their homelands; the national climate and environmental organizations working with them; and the lawyers defending the rights of activists and organizations who face legal harassment and retaliation from the industry.
Site Fight Spotlight: The Mountain Valley Pipeline
The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is a fracked gas pipeline that would run more than 300 miles and involve hundreds of water crossings, steep slopes, and rugged terrain, making it a threat to one of the most diverse and temperate forests in the world. This pipeline could carry annual emissions equivalent to 19 million new passenger vehicles and disproportionately affect low-income communities, elderly residents, and Indigenous populations.
Thanks to frontline-led sustained resistance, MVP is more than five years behind schedule and over budget by almost $3.7 billion. In 2023, the movement to stop MVP’s construction gained national and international attention as Senator Joe Manchin used it as a bargaining chip in Congressional debt ceiling negotiations. Today, the project continues to face movement-forced delays, though construction has resumed. Grantee partners in the region are working to delay its completion through monitoring and reporting of violations, ongoing lawsuits, and strategic nonviolent action.