Dear Editor,
Now that the public comment period has ended for the USDA Forest Service Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) in regard to the Mountain Valley Pipeline crossing the Jefferson and the George Washington national forests, I would like to share some of my comments in regard to watersheds: water, soil, air, and aquatic species.
The description of the George Washington and the Jefferson National Forests as “lands that no one wanted” is incomplete. These lands, as stated in the USDA Forest Service DSEIS, had been logged, mined and poisoned by the harvesting of the natural resources for monetary profit. When for profit corporations project their profit margins, the costs of restoration, rehabilitation and clean up are not included in the equation. Each project site is then reduced to “lands that no one wanted — to be financially responsible to restore, clean up or rehabilitate.” Petrochemical corporations will plan to pay a miniscule fine to the state or federal government, which then assumes that cost and responsibility, along with a multitude of nonprofit environmental organizations, to restore and care for the devastated lands for the (hopeful) return of naturally regenerating, life supporting habitats.
The current federal administration in the United States of America has dismissed those persons educated in Earth sciences, who held positions of authority within the Environmental Protection Agency and acknowledged the true threat of climate change and replaced them with former petrochemical corporation lobbyists. Pandemic viral plague and accelerated climate change are the planet Earth’s way of reducing the numbers of any overpopulating species and of balancing the temperature differentials caused by the environmentally unsustainable lifestyle (waste dumping and dependence on electricity) of the corporate culture’s city empire. Life is the miracle on Earth as we have temperatures on this planet that allow water to be liquid. However the corporate balance sheets may total, the truth is still the truth, no matter how big a number of dollars one speaks over it. As long as the gas is not flowing through the Mountain Valley Pipeline, our communities still have everything, our life’s breath, our food, our water and our peace of mind to protect and defend. I certainly would not encourage our young people or any environmental organizations to work on rehabilitation of pipeline destroyed forests if pressurized natural gas were to be flowing in the 42″ pipe, given the number of explosive incidents that other smaller pipelines have had of leaks burning out of control.
Do not allow the Mountain Valley Pipeline to go through our National Forests or to cross any waterways. Leave the fossil fuels in the ground. Protect and preserve our oxygen producing, naturally regenerating, life supporting habitat on Earth. Got Oxygen?
Linda L.E. Emrich
Hinton
