Just over a week ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline to be constructed from West Virginia to North Carolina through Virginia. In Virginia, this natural gas pipeline will run underneath a large section of the Appalachian Trail and will be completed jointly by Dominion Energy and Duke Energy.
The construction of this pipeline had been under debate since 2015 in different courts. It was rejected by a lower court, siding with arguments by environmental groups that the U.S. Forest Service did not have the power to issue permits for building on what is technically National Park land. However, the pipeline company appealed this decision, at which point it was brought to the Supreme Court. Their decision ultimately came down to technicalities. Anthony Yang, a federal lawyer arguing for the pipeline company, focused on separating the Appalachian Trail from the National Park land it runs through, thus allowing the original U.S. Forest Service permit to stay valid.
This ruling was largely overshadowed by widespread news, on the same day, of a ruling that workplace discrimination based on sexuality and gender identity is illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Even though I live in Kentucky, I barely make it out to see the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, which is a large portion of Central Appalachia (which, by the way, is pronounced “Appal-AT-cha," not “Appal-AY-cha"). Being a few hours from the area, and having no family or friends to visit there, it's really never a destination in and of itself for me and my family to visit. Since this summer started, though, my family has gone on weekly hiking trips around the state, and we ended up at the Bad Branch Trail in Eolia this past weekend.
Having known of the Supreme Court decision before visiting the trail, I noticed myself paying even more attention to the scenery than I would have otherwise. It took my breath away. Stopping at an outlook on the highway leading to the trail, overlooking the mountains misty with fog and a light, chilly rain, my family was in awe. Though it was a bit difficult, the shaded trail came to a beautiful waterfall that made the effort well worth it.
Driving home, I wondered if any of the Supreme Court Justices who ruled in favor of the pipeline had ever even been to Appalachia before. If they had visited, and seen the same beauty I found there, would they have decided differently? I understand that the job of the justices is to evaluate situations based on the fair interpretation of the law. But I cannot help thinking of how the value of harmful energy industries is so often placed before the inherent value of the natural world around us.
Not all “wild" areas can be preserved such as our Natural Parks and trails because humans working in true harmony with the environment cannot simply observe it from the outside. However, everyone should have the resources available to them to experience it. Trails like the one I got to hike are what bring humans closer to nature, and what reminds us that not everything has to be domineered or used for profit. The environment, and every living thing in it, has immeasurable value simply by existing at all. It existed long before we showed up, and will recover thousands of years after we are gone as if we were never here.
This shouldn't frighten or intimidate us but serve as a reminder that humanity does not have all the answers, and is instead an infinitesimally small part of the world and universe around us.
