Mountain Valley Pipeline

FACT CHECK: Are Mountain Valley Pipeline Protesters “Peaceful”?

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CLAIM: Media reports out of Virginia claim that extremists protesting the Mountain Valley Pipeline “are peacefully protesting the pipeline,” with one activist saying they are non-violent and respect state police.

RATING

False

FACT CHECK

Developments quickly overtook the narrative, and that story needed to be updated:

A Giles County man was charged with assaulting a Mountain Valley Pipeline worker during a protest at a construction site Monday. … Jammie Hale, 46, was charged with assaulting a Mountain Valley employee, a misdemeanor. He was later released on a $2,500 bond.

Another was arrested for locking himself to concrete …

FACT CHECK: Social Justice Professor Admits Anti-Tampering Laws Are Not About First Amendment

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CLAIM: In an article critical of new laws and proposals to crack down on illegal activity associated with protests at pipelines and pipeline construction projects, environmental extremists complain that those measures are “infringing on the rights of political expression and having a chilling effect on freedoms.” That’s especially true for indigenous protesters, according to the Sierra Club.

RATING

False

FACT CHECK

Proposed federal legislation and laws in states across the country are in no way aimed at First Amendment-protected rights of speech and assembly. Instead, they are aimed at illegal and/or violent crimes that routinely occur at pipelines or pipeline …

FACT CHECK: More Atlantic Coast, Mountain Valley Pipeline Fear Mongering

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CLAIM: A letter to the editor published in the Wilson Times claimed a epoxy coating used to protect pipelines from corrosion is susceptible to UV degradation. The letter goes on to allege the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines pose safety risks because some of the pipe used for the projects had been stored outside for an extended period of time.

RATING: False

FACT CHECK: This letter is more focused on spreading fear than it is on establishing facts. Fusion-bonded epoxy or FBE is a corrosion resistant coating used in the pipeline industry to protect steel pipe from corroding once …

CLAIM: Mountain Valley Pipeline Developer Admits Project May Never Be Completed

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CLAIM: The Sierra Club claimed in a Dec. 17 press release that EQM Midstream, the lead developer of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, had “raised the possibility that the project would not be completed “at all.””

RATING: Quote Taken Out of Context, 70% False

In a quarterly financial report filed in October with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EQM Midstream provided investors with an update on the regulatory and judicial challenges affecting the company’s pipeline projects, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).

“The regulatory approval process for the construction of new midstream assets is challenging, and recent decisions by regulatory …