Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) posted a message on his Facebook page expressing concern over the treatment of protestors to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. His April 23 posting said:
I have serious concerns about the situation in Southwest Virginia along the Mountain Valley Pipeline route. Pipeline opponents, both landowners and advocates, are rallying to #StandwithRed, frustrated about having their land seized through eminent domain at the end of what they rightly see as a flawed FERC process. And now local law enforcement is thrust into the middle of it. We need to make sure protesters are all treated humanely and we must work to ensure the situation doesn’t escalate. I’ve spoken out about how FERC didn’t handle the process for these pipelines the right way. They didn’t give the public enough opportunity for input and then they jammed through the approval with an unusual split decision when two of the commissioner slots were vacant. I have called for FERC to rehear both the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipeline applications, and I also have bipartisan legislation waiting for action in Congress to reform FERC’s flawed process for reviewing projects like these, especially when eminent domain is involved. We need to listen to local voices and make sure communities have a real say in these decisions.