Climate activist Jerome Wagner in Concord, North Carolina. Climate activists opposed to the Mountain Valley pipeline were accused of breaking West Virginia’s new critical infrastructure law Revealed: how the fossil fuel industry helps spread anti-protest laws across the US It was around dawn on a chilly day last November when West Virginia state troopers forcibly extricated Jerome Wagner out from a 25ft-deep pit where he was locked to a drilling machine being used to finish construction of a beleaguered gas pipeline. The veteran climate activist was trying to draw attention to the Mountain Valley pipeline (MVP) – a 300-mile (480km) fossil fuel project mired by environmental controversies and blocked by court orders and regulatory red tape until it was pushed through by the Biden administration in mid-2023. Biden resurrected the MVP to secure the vote of fossil fuel-friendly West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, which was needed to pass a debt ceiling bill. The decision came amid worsening climate disasters across the US, and was condemned by environmentalists for overriding due process and widespread local and scientific opposition to the pipeline. The move triggered a wave of peaceful protests and civil disobedience against the pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia. It wasn’t the first time residents and climate activists had tried to thwart construction of the MVP, but this time the crackdown was unprecedented. Almost 50 non-violent activists were arrested in multiple counties across both states, with charges ranging from trespass and obstruction to conspiracy and abduction, which carry maximum prison sentences of up to 10 years. The actions ranged from rallies and brief walk-ons of MVP land to roadblocks and activists chaining themselves to machinery to disrupt the final stages of construction through some of the most environmentally sensitive forested Appalachian mountains and waterways. “Legal intimidation is a tactic […]