UPDATE: ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — Two women have come down from tree-top perches where they have been protesting a natural gas pipeline granted eminent domain to run through their property in Virginia. Sixty-one-year-old Theresa Ellen Terry and her adult daughter, Theresa Minor Terry, came down Saturday afternoon.
A federal judge had given them until midnight to comply with her order giving Mountain Valley Pipeline developers access to a forced easement on their property. Had the women not complied, they faced arrest by U.S. Marshals. The Roanoke Times reports that Theresa Minor Terry rappelled down about 3:45 p.m. Saturday, and her mother climbed down a ladder about an hour later.
Roanoke County authorities issued arrest warrants for the women last month, did not try to remove them by force.
Previous: ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — A federal judge has given a mother and daughter until midnight Saturday to come down from trees and comply with a court order granting a natural gas pipeline rights to their property. Judge Elizabeth Dillon found Theresa “Red” Terry and Theresa Minor Terry in contempt of her order granting Mountain Valley Pipeline an easement through their land on Virginia’s Bent Mountain. The Roanoke Times reported Friday that if the women don’t climb down voluntarily, U.S. Marshals will be authorized to arrest them five days later. The judge says she understands their frustrations, but people who express opposition through civil disobedience should be prepared to face the consequences.
