Workers laying the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Roanoke County, Virginia. (Ned Oliver | Virginia Mercury)
Last week an investigation from the Guardian confirmed what many in West Virginia have long assumed to be true — corporations, specifically the fossil fuel industry, have a captive hold on our state officials. The Guardian obtained communications records between fossil fuel lobbyists and lawmakers in several states, including West Virginia , showing how closely the stakeholders worked to pass laws that criminalize protests against fossil fuel infrastructure.
Generally speaking, the anti-protest laws that popped up around the country in recent years add enhanced penalties for trespassing or destruction of property at sites deemed “critical infrastructure.” West Virginia’s version, originally passed in 2020, includes protections for sites like hospitals, military facilities and steel factories. While that sounds reasonable, it was the trick used to help get the bill passed.
While the bill included those sites, the reporting from The Guardian makes the case that fossil fuel lobbyists and Alec, a right-wing group that pushes model conservative bills in statehouses across the country (and an organization that one of our lawmakers, Sen. Patricia Rucker , R-Jefferson, serves on the board of) promoted this legislation in order to protect pipelines against acts of civil disobedience. These acts include nonviolent protests, like people chaining themselves to equipment and blocking access roads to delay and halt work on projects they rightfully fear could harm their communities and the environment .
The argument against the bill in West Virginia at the time was that the crimes the bill was trying to address were already illegal . Trespassing, vandalism and destruction of property were already covered as offenses under state code. Never satisfied when it comes to further contributing to mass incarceration, the West Virginia Legislature amended the bill this year to add prison time and increase monetary fines for violating the statute. Now someone could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of a second offense.
What ALEC and fossil fuel lobbyists have actually been trying to do is preemptively chill dissent. The wave for this anti-protest legislation began about seven years ago, after grassroots activism against the Dakota Access Pipeline gained national attention. Since then, environment and climate advocates have turned more toward civil disobedience and direct action against fossil fuel infrastructure. As we face worsening hurricanes, wildfires, floods and rising temperatures, activists are often the lone voices against actions and projects that are known to worsen these events and pose threats to both humans and the environment.
Here in West Virginia, the most salient example of this activism has been directed at the Mountain Valley Pipeline, an unnecessary 300 mile methane pipeline that cuts through steep terrain and rivers across our state and Virginia.
For years, Appalachians have tried to hold the MVP’s developers — as well as state and federal agencies — accountable for repeated failures to reduce damage from the pipeline while the project was underway. Courts found that agencies cut corners when issuing permits for the pipeline, while at the same time agencies issued violations to the developers for things like polluting streams. Landowners along the route and other advocates often took action like locking themselves to drilling machines in desperate attempts to stop the project.
The West Virginia players mentioned in the Guardian’s reporting include a couple names familiar to the public, like Sen. Randy Smith, R-Tucker, who serves as chair of the senate energy committee; Del. Amy Summers, R-Mason, and former Delegate John Kelly (It was reported that Summers was the one who brought up the idea of the bill to industry lobbyists).
But the people mentioned in the story who are behind the scenes are just as important, and show how industry has more direct access and influence with our state lawmakers than the general public could ever hope to have.
Dominion, an energy company, employs a lobbyist in West Virginia, Robert Orndorff. The Guardian reports that he exchanged emails with Summers and other industry lobbyists about a possible protest bill. In addition to his lobbying job, Orndorff is also a longstanding member of the Department of Environmental Protection’s Air Quality Board. This board decides on hearing appeals regarding industry air permits. To summarize, a person in bed with the fossil fuel industry — a major polluter — is also charged with hearing citizen complaints about industry polluting our air.
Another person mentioned who has direct access to lawmakers and plays an important role in our legislature is Robert Akers, the attorney for the Senate energy committee. The Guardian found emails sent to Akers by industry lobbyists for the MVP, as well as from a lobbyist working for Orion Strategies, a local lobbying firm in Charleston.
Looking at these conflicts of interest and the backdoors available to certain industries to influence and push legislation, I can’t help but think about the anti-community air monitoring bill that popped up at the Legislature this year . The substance of the bill was vague, but the spirit of the bill is to downplay citizen air monitoring, which has been democratized thanks to affordable sensors. A grassroots network in West Virginia has picked up the slack of our federal and state regulators and began to place air monitors where they’re needed most.
The model bill was pushed by the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, whose executive director told West Virginia Watch that his organization as well as other similar ones in the industry were “very involved” in crafting the bill for lawmakers. It failed in West Virginia but Louisiana wasn’t as lucky .
As a person who has emailed and met with officials in West Virginia about issues I care about and watched, spoken at and reported on public hearings, it is disheartening to be reminded how much more they prioritize industry concerns over the general public. I’m sure I’m not alone in that feeling. Political power and industry have long been intertwined in our state, and hopefully journalists can continue to shine a light on dark money and influence.
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