(WVNS) — Update: 8/6/2021 4:15 p.m. — The Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department released the identities of the protesters arrested on Friday.
Deputies responded to a disturbance call in the Dawson area just before 6 .am. When they arrived, investigators said 19-year old Anna Grace Woolly of Viles, NC and Thomas George Tackett, 25, of Jackson, MO had chained themselves to pipeline construction equipment.
Deputies said they asked the protestors to remove themselves from the equipment, and they allegedly refused to do so. One protestor eventually reportedly climbed out voluntarily, once their attachments were removed. The second person refused, according to law enforcement. Members of local fire departments lifted them out of the hole using a stokes basket.
Woolly and Tackett were charged with trespassing on property, obstructing an officer and conspiracy. They were arraigned before a Greenbrier County Magistrate.
Members of the WV State Police provided on scene assistance, as well as members of the Clintonville and Smoot Fire Departments.
DAWSON, WV (WVNS) — Update: 8/6/2021 10:15 a.m.: Two protestors have been arrested after they locked themselves to equipment used for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
At 8:30 a.m. on Friday, August 6, the two protestors who locked themselves to the drill equipment at the Mountain Valley Pipeline were arrested. They were then taken into custody and bail has not been set.
DAWSON, WV (WVNS) — Protestors of the Mountain Valley Pipeline have locked themselves to the drill tracks 30 minutes outside of Beckley.
Appalachians Against Pipelines is reporting that two people are stopping work at the Mountain Valley Pipeline construction site in the Dawson area of Greenbrier County. These two protestors have locked themselves to the drill tracks.
One of the protestors stated, “As I write and as you read, 303 miles of Appalachian soil is being held captive by the Mountain Valley Pipeline. As pipeline construction intrudes upon the ground under the pads of our feet, we are reminded of the long history of rural communities, of Appalachian flora and fauna reduced to a mere commodity for the sake of bolstering a capitalistic agenda.”
The Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department is on scene.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a pipeline project that runs for 303 miles from northern West Virginia all the way to Southern Virginia. Construction on the pipeline began in February of 2018.
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