Neighbors from all over Virginia are currently on a two-week walk along the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) route and they are coming to Buckingham, going to church and inviting you to come sing a song with them at Union Hill Baptist Church on July 2 at 10 am. A potluck will follow.

“Walking the Line: Into the Heart of Virginia” began on Saturday in Bath County and steps out for a two-week tramp that will span five counties and 150 miles and will end with two days in Buckingham on July 1-2.

By walking across the beautiful landscape that is threatened by the ACP, walkers want to highlight what will be lost if it is built.

The dangers and robberies of the ACP and the Mountain Valley Pipelines are the same and we have to come together as a state to stop them. We may not all have these pipelines coming through our land, but we all have them coming through our water and their unneeded costs will come through our utility bills. We will be paying for the line, and our neighbors will lose their property and heritage, even though we will not benefit from the gas, which is clearly being shunted to export terminals for corporate profit.

The proposed Buckingham compressor station will be one of the largest of its kind and will ask the small, rural community of Union Hill to bear the largest burden of all in terms of higher risks of fire, toxic emissions and ruined land values. The conversion of the ACP and the Transcontinental Pipeline at Woods Corner will also be an abomination to a recognized Most Endangered Historic Place, the post-emancipation African-American settlements and burial sites found there.

Walk with these folks for an hour or a day or the entire two weeks. Invite them to listen to your community along their way. Join them at the church and help sing “Sow Em on the Mountain” and film the third “Sow Em” song video. 

Kay Leigh Ferguson lives in Charlotteville. Her email address is walkingthelineva@gmail.com.