The Yesah, which in local indigenous language means “People of the River”, Rights of Nature Tribunal convenes on Saturday, June 1st, 2024, focusing on the contentious case of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and its impact on the Rights of Rivers. The MVP, notorious for its environmental violations and disregard for water quality, has drawn the ire of communities across Virginia, West Virginia, and now North Carolina. With over $2.5 million in fines amassed for water quality violations, it is imperative to spotlight the collusion between corporations and governments that perpetuate such destruction. This tribunal aims to highlight these conflicts and provide judicial recommendations for the protection and restoration of Earth, setting a precedent for frontline communities all around the globe.

LIST OF RENOWNED GUEST JUDGES

Here you can find our judges bios

Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Rights of Rivers

This Tribunal will gather testimonies from those directly affected by the MVP and its proposed extension into North Carolina, to compile a comprehensive narrative, encompassing the voices of impacted individuals, scientific evidence on pipeline hazards, and economic arguments against the purported public good of these projects. Furthermore, the Tribunal will address the violation of the Treaty of Middle Plantation, emphasizing the forced sacrifices made by communities in the name of corporate interests.

Central to the focus of this Tribunal is the Haw River, a vital waterway serving numerous cities and towns in its watershed. Despite efforts to treat wastewater, the river faces threats from various pollutants, including those stemming from the MVP and other industrial activities. Runoff laden with pesticides, fertilizers, and other contaminants poses a significant risk, endangering aquatic life and ecosystems along the river.

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Map MVP

The MVP, stretching 303 miles to transport fracked gas, symbolizes the extractive industry’s grip on the environment. Plans for its extension into North Carolina via the MVP Southgate project alarmingly traverse sensitive ecosystems, threatening the health and livelihoods of communities along its path. Eminent domain is wielded to force construction through private lands, resulting in deforestation, erosion, and sedimentation in nearby streams.

This Tribunal amplifies the voices of those marginalized by history and systemic injustice. Descendants of Indigenous communities, former slaves, and plantation owners share their experiences of resilience and resistance against ongoing oppression. From Alamance County to the broader region, these communities confront racial discrimination and environmental degradation, rooted in centuries of exploitation.

Renowned civic leaders will preside over testimonies, delving into the intricacies of human rights, environmental justice, and community impacts. Following deliberation, they will issue joint conclusions and recommendations, informed by the shared narratives of affected individuals. Meanwhile, participants will collaborate in facilitated small groups, strategizing for collective action against extractive industries.

These proceedings will be accessible via live streaming on the Tribunal’s Facebook event page, ensuring broader engagement and awareness. The entirety of the testimony video will be forwarded to the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Fracking, amplifying the urgency of our cause on a global scale.

Water

Contamination

Soil

soil contamination

Biodiversity

Loss of fauna and flora

THE EFFECTS OF THIS MODEL

Photo Appalachians Against Pipelines

The pipeline company can use eminent domain to force people to allow the pipeline’s construction (a 100′ corridor) through their land.  In the construction process of pipelines, easements must be cleared of all trees and plants, exposing the disturbed land to erosion and causing sedimentation in streams. 

In-stream sedimentation carries nutrients and chemicals into the water, and the sediments drown sensitive wildlife habitats in nearby streams. The MVP Southgate proposed route must cross several streams and tributaries that lead to the Haw River. How does the Dan River connect to the Haw River? Giles Creek, a 1st order tributary, rises in a pond about 3 miles east of Williamsburg, North Carolina, in Rockingham County on the Country Line Creek (Dan River) divide. The creek then flows south to meet the Haw River about 2 miles south of Williamsburg, North Carolina.

Potential leaks in pipes pose ongoing threats to water quality for downstream users. Fracked gas is also highly explosive. Recent explosions have caused serious injuries and destroyed homes. By allowing this pipeline into our communities, we would tie ourselves to decades of fossil fuel use, resulting in high methane emissions and heightening our effect on climate change.

THE INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS OF NATURE TRIBUNAL

The International Rights of Nature Tribunal is an international institution created by citizens to investigate violations of the Rights of Nature. The Tribunal creates a forum for people from all over the world to speak out on behalf of Nature and protest the destruction of the Earth, encouraged by corporations with the blessing of governments. In this way, the Tribunal makes conflicts and their actors visible and makes legal recommendations on the protection and restoration of the Earth as an example of jurisprudence for grassroots communities struggling to protect ecosystems. The Tribunal also focuses on supporting Indigenous Peoples to raise their voices and share the impacts they see on their territories as stewards of the Earth. It is a space to share alternatives on land, water and culture with the global community. The Tribunal’s verdicts, if applied at the highest level, could provide a necessary tool in the struggle for environmental protection and justice.

For more information on the Rights of Nature Tribunal, click here.

International Rights of Nature Tribunal
Who are the PEOPLE:

Growing up with the legacy of eugenics, plantation slavery, and erasure that still holds sway. Descendants of torn-apart indigenous communities, former slaves, and descendants of plantation owners with the same last names live on either side of the color line on the same lands where our ancestors had been slaves, indentured servants and masters.

In my community of Alamance County, I was taught that it was taboo to speak about being Indian or “the old times” (Jim Crow South, Slavery) or to voice publicly that racial discrimination at every level of socioeconomics, culture, and politics was “racism.” Since 1607, most indigenous communities were murdered, raped, ran off the land, held in bondage, and brutally punished, or our communities had to acculturate. Few outsiders are told about the various forms of retribution still taking place against local indigenous or African Americans who name racial discriminatory actions as such.

These renowned civic leaders will listen to testimonies, ask questions, and at the close of will sequester themselves for an hour to write a statement with their joint conclusions and recommendations. While they meet, the rest of the participants will break into facilitated small groups to plan their next steps together.

This will be live-streamed on our Facebook event page, audiotaped for podcasts, and videotaped for short and longer YouTube videos – and the entire testimony video will be sent to the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Fracking.

The idea to hold the People’s Tribunal is my hoped-for means to bring to public awareness the link between that lack of local and state protection against white supremacist violence on that fateful day and the slow, steady violence to the Indigenous, African-American, economically oppressed communities from the 1720s right up to today. For this community, we hope the tribunal will make clear that the threats they face, as do all people directly impacted by the MVP, are losses of key basic human rights protections agreed upon and signed to uphold by the U.S. and all signatories to United Nations treaties and conventions — that is, health rights, clean air, water, and food, to public participation, and to protection from social losses to their communities.