Happy 4th of July! On this freedom day, we remember that three years ago, on July 5th, 2020, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy announced the cancelation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (“ACP”) due to ongoing delays and increasing cost and uncertainty, threatening the project’s economic viability.
We celebrate with Virginians and all communities along the canceled ACP route. The cancelation was a great victory for our neighbors in Buckingham County, Union Hill, and Friends of Buckingham, who have worked tirelessly to defend the pristine land, water, and collective history. Duke and Dominion Energy’s decision to cancel resulted from the sustained resistance and effort of frontline communities threatened by its construction. We are always proud of their efforts to protect the environment and their community’s quality of life.
On this Independence Day, we also recognize how the environment is exploited and the continued impediments to enjoying freedom. Pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructures contribute to the climate crisis. The costs of climate change, pollution, and commonly occurring pipeline leaks and breaks threaten all Virginians. But, their direct social and economic costs are health impacts to air, water, and land, and loss of land values and rights, often forced upon communities of color and low-income rural communities.
Virginia Interfaith Power & Light continues to fight for solutions that do not threaten access to clean water and fresh air to meet our energy needs. We can all enjoy a healthy quality of life unencumbered by threats to freshwater supplies and clean air while preserving important legacies of African American Freedman’s communities like Union Hill.
Today we stand with communities along the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) who continue to resist polluting their waterways, soil, and air by this contested fossil fuel infrastructure. We must make significant strides together as people of faith and conscience to fight for a just and sustainable world. Help us work to see the MVP canceled by next July 4th! Learn more about ACP’s defeat here!
