In early June, The Alliance for Appalachia, representing twenty organizations from six states, will travel to Washington, D.C., as an annual outreach to inform decision makers of issues affecting their constituents. Protect Our Water Heritage Rights, based in the New River Valley, will be participating in order to help legislators connect the dots between the dangerous and unwanted Mountain Valley Pipeline Boost proposal and the data centers it would help to fuel.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline Mainline is a 303-mile, 42-inch fracked gas pipeline running from northwestern West Virginia through the Appalachian Mountains to southern Virginia. From the outset it was wildly opposed by landowners, farmers, neighbors, activists, and enough impacted folks to form local groups representing their communities to say “No!”
Communities resisted by gaining skills in environmental monitoring of erosion and sedimentation pollution in the waterways crossed by the pipeline and off the steep mountain slopes. Citizens spoke up in public hearings to demand accountability for their pollution, and raise awareness about public safety risks from degraded pipe coating overexposed to UV radiation throughout the years.
Over 300 water quality violations were issued and fines in the millions of dollars were slapped on the pipeline company. A stop work order was also granted as issues were reviewed. The opponents were winning UNTIL a full government shutdown loomed in 2023. Then Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia lobbied for this project to be inserted into a continuing resolution to fund the federal government to fulfill the “Dirty Deal” Democrats made in exchange for the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. In short, the project resumed after an act of Congress and was “mechanically completed” on June 14, 2024. The concerns did not stop here. In 2025, Michael Barnhill, a welding inspector on the MVP Mainline, was fired and filed a whistleblower lawsuit after he had raised safety concerns about improperly welded pipes. Meanwhile, communities continue moving forward knowing that the pipeline’s blast zone would be approximately a half-mile radius and incinerate most life therein.
Now, MVP is proposing a project called MVP Boost. They want to increase the MVP Mainline capacity by 30% and expand three existing compressor stations in West Virginia, and build a new compressor station, named the Swann, in Montgomery County, Virginia. This compressor station would have (15) 200 kw turbines for primary power running on pipeline gas and (3) Titan turbines to boost pressure on the mainline, all systems running 24/7. This would be the largest of the four proposed compressor stations.
EastMont is a rural area encompassing the Shawsville, Elliston, Ironto, Alleghany Springs, Bradshaw and Lafayette communities near the Roanoke County line. It is a rural region where folks raise chickens in their back yards, grow tomatoes, and where everyone seems to know everyone else. It is a peaceful valley of agriculture, small business and schools with a railroad and roadways that connect the New River Valley and Roanoke Valley. The residents treasure the peaceful enjoyment of their property and clean air and water.
The Swann Compressor Station is an unfit industrial imposition on Montgomery County. It would add air pollutants that include formaldehyde and benzene. It would produce noise and sound impacts on public health and wildlife. There will be periodic “blow downs” purging the pipeline of pollutants, methane and radium, which make a frightening noise while in process. Penny Artis, a community member who lives on the pipeline’s path near the compressor station, named the concerns clear as day when she said, “Not only am I in a blast zone, but now you’re going to poison me?”
The 2022 Lafayette Area Household study funded by the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention at Virginia Tech surveyed residents within a one-mile radius of the proposed Swann compressor station parcel. The survey found that the area qualifies as a “low-income community” given that at least 50.4% of area households have an income below $52,216. Low-income communities qualify as “environmental justice” communities under the Virginia Environmental Justice Act (Va. Code § 2.2-235) and the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy [Virginia Code § 45.2-1706.1(B)], both meant to protect historically disadvantaged groups from inequitable impacts from energy infrastructure.
EQT, the largest stakeholder on the Mountain Valley Pipeline mainline, has stated to investors that the MVP Boost project will help fuel the expansion of data centers. The use of a new Swann compressor station in an environmental justice community to fuel unnecessary and unwanted data centers would add insult to injury, compounding community concerns about the treatment of Appalachia as a sacrifice zone where residents’ health, well-being and right to community-level decision-making are compromised for the sake of billionaires. As we head to D.C. this week, we hope you’ll add your voices to our chorus clamoring for our elected representatives to protect people over corporate profits.
Mary Ann Capp is a resident of eastern Montgomery County and lives near the proposed Swann compressor station site. Lief Hurt is the organizing and programs manager with the POWHR Coalition.
