On Wednesday, May 8, 2024, a crowd of 100 frontline community members impacted by the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and allies gathered in Charlotte to hold the financiers behind MVP accountable for the destruction the pipeline has wrought across Appalachia. This action took place a week after MVP experienced serious pipe failures during hydrostatic testing as it tries to go into service at the end of May.
“We face life-threatening conditions on this methane gas pipeline route due to MVP’s recklessness and it’s all made possible by these banks and asset managers. We are in the midst of a climate crisis; these financiers must stop locking their investors into bad deals by backing companies like MVP,” said directly harmed community member and co-director of POWHR Russell Chisholm.
Activists, carrying signs that said “Defund MVP”, met in the morning at Vanguard’s offices to call out their continued reckless and immoral financing of methane gas pipelines like MVP which contribute to climate chaos and destruction. Vanguard is the single largest investor of fossil fuels in the world.
“Vanguard is often insulated from the ugly impacts of its massive investments in expanding fossil fuel development, but we know that the Mountain Valley Pipeline is a danger to everyday people living nearby, and ultimately, a bad investment for Vanguard. We came all the way from Pennsylvania to act in solidarity with those on the frontlines of this pipeline, and we will be sharing their stories with the growing number of Vanguard customers who are ready to move their money out if Vanguard continues on this dangerous path,” said Lina Blount, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at the Earth Quaker Action Team.
The actions continued in uptown Charlotte where 100 Indigenous water protectors, frontline leaders, and allies carrying puppets and signs, and singing songs and chants, delivered letters on the financial risk of MVP to Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank of America. They conducted a mock-trial in front of the Bank of America headquarters called “The People vs. Bank of America”, to expose the crimes against humanity and the planet.
“No human being can survive without clean water, yet Bank of America continues to fund projects like MVP that destroy precious drinking water sources without a second thought. These banks and asset managers must know that MVP continues to wrack up unprecedented violations, including violations of the rights of tribal nations to informed consultation. So long as they choose to keep funding these harms, our multiracial, multi-faith grassroots movement will only keep getting louder,” said Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, Citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, and impacted community member on the Southgate route.
This action continues the work that local faith leaders and activists with GreenFaith have been leading against Bank of America including monthly Earth Witness Wednesday events and the most recent protest on April 23 the day before the bank’s annual general meeting.
“Our many faiths teach us that we are to care for people and protect the planet. The financial decisions of big banks are destroying the planet and causing untold human suffering. As people of faith and conscience we know this is wrong, inhumane and also deeply unjust since so many of these projects disproportionately exploit Indigenous lands and peoples as well as many black and brown communities in the US and the Global South,” said Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise, US Organizer with GreenFaith.
Further interviews are available with frontline leaders, including: Dr. Crystal Cavalier Keck (co-founder of 7 Directions of Service and impacted community member on the Southgate route), Russell Chisholm (co-director of the POWHR Coalition and directly harmed community member on the MVP mainline route), and Mariah Clay (MVP organizer with West Virginia Rivers Coalition).
This article was published first by POWHR.
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