Oil and Gas Update
Monkey Wrenches on the Way: Anti-Pipeline Group from the Midwest Wants in on the Appalachian Action
January 30, 2017
According to a recent publication by Inside Climate News, a group claiming to have played a pivotal role in the efforts to block the Keystone XL Pipeline, is here to help wage war against the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines. A group known as Bold Alliance bills itself as a network of “small and mighty” groups in rural states (Nebraska, Iowa, Louisiana and Oklahoma), which “fight fossil fuel projects, protect landowners against eminent domain abuse, and work for clean energy solutions while building an engaged base of citizens who care about the land, water and climate change.” The group has recently announced that it now has “Three Pipeline Fighter Positions” available in the Appalachian Region (specifically West Virginia and Virginia); the Great Lakes Region (Wisconsin and Minnesota) and Indian Country.
The “Pipeline Fighters” are billed as the advance guard of the Bold Alliance who will be “the principle point of coordination with other local and national groups fighting pipelines in the region.” In the Appalachian Region the Pipeline Fighters “will have a specific focus on organizing landowners along proposed pipeline routes.” Specifically, their tasks will include: 1) “identifying and creating a list of landowners” along the proposed routes and connecting them through at least an email list; 2) organizing several landowner meetings to develop trust among pipeline opponents; and 3) creating a legal structure similar to one adopted in Nebraska where landowners pooled resources with one legal team to protect their property rights.
See hyperlinks for more information about Bold Alliance and its founder, Jane Kleeb. Ms. Kleeb addressed an anti-pipeline summit sponsored by the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance at Natural Bridge, Virginia in November.
This article was authored by Robert G. McLusky, Jackson Kelly PLLC.