Four CAAV members participated in an afternoon of pipeline fighting in Churchville on March 8, 2016. A Dominion-organized open house about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) scheduled from 5-7:30PM prompted groups like Friends of Augusta and Wild Virginia to organize peaceful action outside the open house venue at Churchville Elementary School. Senator Tim Kaine held a Kaine Connects event from 3-4pm at the Churchville Branch of the Augusta County Library hosted by his representative Gwen Mason.
Cathy Strickler offered this report on the group’s Churchville trip:
Anne, Bishop, Charlie and I went to the public meeting that Sen. Kaine’s staff person, Gwen Mason, held at the library. We got there 15 min. late, the room was SRO with about 40 people and the only topic was the ACP. A new voice was Tom Dirman(?), an expert on pipelines with life long professional experience. The discussion focused on what a terrible idea the ACP is, what a terrible player Dominion is, what FERC and Sen. Kaine can do to stop the project. Toward the end I commented on the need for more frontline community action and what Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE) is doing. We left at 4:45 and the meeting was still going.
We walked next door to the elementary school and joined other protesters, 40-50, lining the sidewalk into the Dominion open house to explain the new proposed route. There was a fairly steady stream of people going into the building. There was a lot of interest shown to the information the protesters were sharing, lots of conversations. We left at 6.
All photos from Cathy Strickler
Climate Action Alliance of the Valley 