Public Radio for the Piedmont and High Country
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Pipeline watchdogs praise bill that could improve transparency

Downed trees sit atop a ridge near homes along the route of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Lindside, West Virginia, in 2018. An extension of the natural gas pipeline is planned to run from Virginia into North Carolina. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Downed trees sit atop a ridge near homes along the route of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Lindside, West Virginia, in 2018. An extension of the natural gas pipeline is planned to run from Virginia into North Carolina. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Environmental activists are hailing the introduction of a measure in Congress designed to enhance safety and transparency involving the transport of natural gas.

The bill was recently filed by Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts. Among its provisions is the establishment of a national Office of Public Engagement. 

Jessica Sims, a Virginia field coordinator for the grassroots Appalachian Voices organization, says adding an engagement office could help local communities get facts more quickly about the risks and environmental impacts of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. 

“It's months and months of waiting for that information," she says. "And we find that to be a great difficulty because those experiencing pipelines coming through their area want to be as well informed, as quickly and as fully as they can.”

The roughly 300-mile pipeline became operational in June. It runs from West Virginia into southern Virginia, and an extension is planned that would cross the border into Rockingham County.

Supporters of the gas pipeline say it will help meet public demand for clean and affordable energy.

 

Paul Garber is a Winston-Salem native and an award-winning reporter who began his journalism career with an internship at The High Point Enterprise in 1993. He has previously worked at The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The News and Record of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Journal, where he was the newspaper's first full-time multimedia reporter. He won the statewide Media and the Law award in 2000 and has also been recognized for his business, investigative and multimedia reporting. Paul earned a BA from Wake Forest University and has a Master's of Liberal Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Master's of Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Lewisville.

Support quality journalism, like the story above,
with your gift right now.

Donate