The pipeline is strongly opposed by residents along the route; the quarter-mile blast radius of the proposed pipeline puts many people in danger. Construction work has already demonstrated the risks to local groundwater reservoirs, a major concern for communities who depend on these reserves.

Impacts on landowners The threat of “eminent domain”, where the company benefits from the government’s right to acquire property against the wishes of landowners, has been widely used in this project. This has damaged people’s farming enterprises, jeopardizing their economic livelihoods. The company building the pipeline has sued landowners in order to force them to provide access to their land for construction surveying. Opponents of the pipeline have faced intense criminalization; including peaceful blockaders facing terrorism charges. According to critics, helicopters nominally used to seed anti-erosion pellets have created “an atmosphere of constant surveillance and intimidation.” On July 19 2019, construction crews dug up a tree stump which rolled down the hill towards protestors, narrowly missing them.

Climate change impacts A report from Oil Change International and BOLD Alliance in February 2017 estimated the climate changing pollution from the MVP would be equivalent to 26 coal plants or 19 million passenger vehicles. These emissions come from the combustion of the gas carried by the pipeline, the emission from methane (a gas with much more severe climate impacts than CO2) which inevitably leaks throughout the gas supply chain, emissions from gas extraction, compression and processing. The expansion of pipeline capacity will enable and incentivize the production of fracked gas, with grave impacts for the local communities near fracking wells and the climate more generally. The loss of forest cover (as a result of tree-clearing for the pipeline) may also contribute to the pipeline’s climate impact.

Local environmental impacts The pipeline also has major local environmental implications. Erosion, mudslides and soil disturbances have been a major problem during construction, as documented by Mountain Valley Watch; this has led to massive influxes of mud to waterways, threatening local animal and plant life, some of which are endangered species. One expert noted of an 8 acre landslide that “events like this are almost expected; MVP chose to route…this titanic 42-inch diameter, 303-mile pipeline across several hundred of miles of “high landslide potential” areas.” The Virginia department of environmental quality sued the company building the pipeline in December 2018 for “repeated erosion, sediment and stormwater violations.” The route has 986 waterbody crossings, leading to concerns about ongoing water contamination, including from chemically-coated pipes which have sat outside for long periods of time due to construction delays. Groups have temporarily halted the project on the grounds of the threat it poses to fish, bats and plants in the region, including designated endangered species (see Appalachian Voices for more detail).

The U.S. Forest Service is assessing major impacts to the Jefferson National Forest. The project has already downed trees to clear a 125-foot wide right of way that runs along 3.5 miles of the forest.