Should government—or a private company for that matter—be allowed ed to enter and claim your private property without permission or consent?
I believe owning private property is the cornerstone of achieving the American Dream and we must protect the rights of private property owners at all costs.
When I first learned of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, I was encouraged by the prospect of more economic development, more jobs, and cheaper energy costs for all residents in our region. As jobs were quickly leaving our valley and the war on coal raged on, I hoped that putting more of our residents to work as a result of this pipeline would provide a positive uptick in our local economy.
Over the past several months more details of the MVP project have come to light while other questions have remained unanswered. I am concerned putting this pipeline in our region will adversely affect small businesses, families, and property owners who are simply trying to achieve the American Dream.
I was heart-broken this week to read that the Mountain Valley Pipeline and its joint partners, EQT and NextEra Energy—baseed in Philadelphia—were in the process of suing several local landowners to gain access to their property to survey the land. Under Virginia State Law, utility companies are allowed in certain circumstances to access private property for surveying—as long as adequate notice is provided. It should be noteed that this law has been challenged in both state and federal courts.
What made this situation even worse, is that at least one of these landowners—Occanneechi, a small business in Boones Mill – had reached out to Mountain Valley Pipeline to discuss their surveying request and try to understand exactly what MVP would be doing on the land. Mountain Valley Pipeline allegedly never responded back to Occanneechi and instead sent their team to begin surveying. When those surveyors were asked to leave by the family who owns the land and small business, MVP left and came back a few weeks later to serve a lawsuit to gain access to the property.
My original hope – that Mountain Valley Pipeline would work with local property owners and find a way to resolve this in a mutually agreeable way—is now gone.
After seeing what this group of property owners, along with a number of others affected in a similar way in Giles County over this past summer, have gone through—I can’t support the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and I won’t.
One of the most unfortunate parts of this entire situation is that the General Assembly has failed to act, allowing a large company to use bully-tactics to force their way on to private property. SB663, passed in the 2004 General Assembly session—with four separate “yea” votes from our local Senator Edwards, states that utility companies “may enter upon any property without the written permission of its owner.” This law must be overturned and we must do more to protect the rights of private property owners as guaranteed by both the US Constitution and Virginia Constitution.
As your State Senator, I will always seek innovative ways to increase economic development in our region—but I believe we must also work collaboratively with small businesses, local residents, and property owners in our region to ensure that we don’t negatively impact those who already call western Virginia home.
Nancy Dye
Republican Candidate for VA State Senate
