4/29 - The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a massive, but well hidden, and emersed construction project. It’s current immediate ramifications in just this area extend from Salem, VA, over to the city of Roanoke, and even into Floyd. All along these relevant areas, giant, yellow Caterpillar wrecking machines rest upon the top of the freshly exposed blood red clay, which is so ubiquitous to this region, the Southeast US. There are political yard signs everywhere stating their opposition: “NO PIPELINE”, “NO MVP”.
We reach the top of the mountain where the tree sit is happening (after an exhilarating drive up Appalachian cliffsides). Our ears pop a few times, we finally arrive at the specifically relevant area, which looks like a Bald. The community here is called Bent Mountain. We drive to the tree-sit. It's in a yard. There is a sign instructing visitors and supporters to call the number, which has been hand-painted on a few wooden planks nailed to a tree.These signs are all over Bent Mountain.
We regroup for a brief picnic at around 4000’. Amazing views of the Roanoke Valley. After only a brief time, we are evicted by a lawn-mowing crew. They tell us the area will soon become a market, with restaurants and bars complete with craft beers, to be sold by newly-opened stores and restaurants.
We use Google Maps to find some public land to park out on for a time. There’s a small library we decide to check out. The librarians are very friendly and open. We hear about the Bent Mountain community’s fight against the MVP. Seems a great majority oppose the construction, they are all white people, whose amazingly gorgeous land has mostly been in their families since the time when slave labor was legal in America. We didn't meet any Native Amerindians.
We called the number on the sign and had a cordial conversation with an official organizer of the tree-sit, who after a night still hadn't reached out to us again, so we eventually just went home. We also found a group of organizers at the library, who basically interrogated us (a bunch of anarchistic hippies) as to our motivations for coming. They were concerned about security and national, even international, attention on their private land.
Bent Mountain was a place of frequent farmland, specifically dairy farm, and American liberalism. No one really talked about what capitalism is doing to the ecosphere. All the discussions were framed in the context of the State and large corporations infringing on the capital of small-time farmers and business owners in the area.
Overall, the struggle is very closed-off to outside sympathizers right now, and private. We were asked multiple times if we were active voters. No one seemed to oppose the ongoing considerations for the placement of a wind farm in the area. According to Wiki, 54 of the turbine sites are already underway.
From preoccupied Catawban, Cherokee, Manahoac, Monacan, Occaneechi, Saponi, and Tutelo lands,
Zhachev
Source: https://anti-civ.net/showthread.php?tid=337&pid=1598#pid1598