Mountain Valley Pipeline-requested injunction against opponent declined by judge - Roanoke Times
Mountain Valley Pipeline-requested injunction against opponent declined by judge
CHRISTIANSBURG — A Montgomery County judge declined to issue an injunction Friday against a woman described by Mountain Valley Pipeline lawyers as a leading opponent of the highly divisive project.
Emily Satterwhite of Blacksburg is helping to organize a “mass action weekend” starting Friday in which protesters are encouraged to block construction of the natural gas pipeline, the company said in court papers.
Satterwhite — who is out of town on business this weekend — has done nothing wrong and is engaging in “core First Amendment speech” in opposing what she sees as an environmental disaster, her lawyers said.
“MVP clearly doesn’t like these grass roots, I understand that,” attorney John Fishwick of Roanoke told Circuit Judge Robert Turk. “But there’s nothing wrong with asking people to join a grass roots organization.”
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In denying Mountain Valley’s request to enjoin Satterwhite from going onto restricted pipeline property or encouraging others to do so, Turk said there are already adequate legal remedies available to address such conduct if it happens.
Since work on the pipeline began in the New River and Roanoke valleys in 2018, dozens of opponents — including Satterwhite — have been charged with misdemeanors for chaining themselves to construction equipment or blocking work in other ways.
As Mountain Valley attempts to put the pipeline in operation by year’s end, the company has asked for civil injunctions against a growing number of protesters. A separate case was filed in September against more than 40 individuals and two organizations.
“There’s no sign that it’s going to stop,” a company official testified Friday, listing the protests as one of the hurdles it faces.
In seeking an injunction that could have led to fines against Satterwhite, Mountain Valley pointed to social media posts in which she invited people to join protests this weekend. “Another world is possible,” one entry read. “Block the path. Join the grassroots.”
Satterwhite did not attend Friday’s hearing. Fishwick said she is out of town on a grant project affiliated with her work as a professor of Appalachian Studies at Virginia Tech.
Wade Massie, an attorney for Mountain Valley, said the company is only trying to stop unlawful conduct that has complicated its work and posed a safety threat to opponents and pipeline workers.
“We’re not seeking to limit political speech in any way,” he told Turk. “What we’re saying is don’t encourage people to come to a mass action weekend which purpose is to block the pipeline.”
Laurence Hammack
(540) 981-3239
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