BROWNS SUMMIT, NORTH CAROLINA, USA – The International Rights of Nature Tribunal held its 12th local hearing at the Haw River State Park in North Carolina, United States of America on the 1st of June 2024. Led by North Carolina organization 7 Directions of Service with partners Movement Rights and the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, it was the first Indigenous-led tribunal of its kind in global history, The Yesah Tribunal: Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Rights of Rivers” was brought against the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).
More than100 people attended in person, and dozens more tuned into the day-long proceedings via livestream. The Tribunal took place shortly after MVP experienced serious pipe failures during hydrostatic testing, all while developers are demanding FERC grant the project an in-service request.
‘Yesah’ means People of the River in Yesá:sahį – the language of the Occaneechi. The Panel of Judges for the Yesah Tribunal was presided by Ponca Nation leader Casey Camp Horinek; together with Heather Milton Lightening Néhiyaw, Anishinaabe, Blackfoot & Dakota; Hartman Deetz, Mashpee Wampanoag; La’Meshia Whittington, Apalwaci Mvkoke; and Patrick Suarez, Meherrin Nation.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is an incomplete, underground 42-inch fracked gas transmission pipeline project that is steamrolling its way over life-giving water and land across 303 miles, from northern West Virginia to southern Virginia.
Construction has involved over 500 violations of permit conditions, laws, and regulations, and 75% of the route slices through landslide and earthquake-prone terrain, including sacred Indigenous burial sites, waterways, and the Jefferson National Forest. Frontline communities and Water Protectors have been fighting the harmful, unnecessary pipeline for nearly 10 years, and came extremely close to canceling it.
In June 2023, the MVP mainline was fast-tracked by Congress and the White House, a result of being folded into the nation’s must-pass debt ceiling legislation. The MVP provisions forced the approval of all remaining federal permits, and forbids judicial review of any permits. The provisions did not include fast-tracking the MVP Southgate Extension, which is missing all necessary permits to begin construction of the proposed 31 mile extension of the mainline into North Carolina.
Read all the press release here
