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Mother / Daughter Protesters Tell Their Story

Calvin Pynn

The mother / daughter team of tree-sitting, anti-pipeline protesters met with like-minded activists in Harrisonburg Thursday.  It’s part of their tour around the state, as WMRA’s Calvin Pynn reports.

Red Terry and daughter Teresa Minor Terry addressed a small group of about 20 supporters at Gray Jay’s Provision. Their Bent Mountain property in Roanoke County is directly in the path of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline.

THERESA "RED" TERRY: This land has been in my husband’s family for…

Red points to her daughter, Minor.

TERRY: ...this is generation seven. It’s a beautiful virgin mountain, creeks, streams, just beautiful property, and I told them: “you can’t afford this land, it’s priceless.”

Red and Minor Terry sat in tree-stands a quarter mile apart on their property for five weeks to halt construction before coming down when threatened with $1000 daily fines. The money for those fines would have been paid directly to the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The two have made their way around the state since coming down to share their story and rally awareness about the pipeline’s potential dangers as activists are pressuring lawmakers in Richmond to prevent its construction, and that of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

TERRY: I need to keep the momentum going, we need to keep the fight going, and we need to get rid of these pipelines before they destroy everyone’s drinking water.

Red and Minor took their message to Waynesboro after visiting Harrisonburg, and then they’re on their way back home.

Calvin Pynn is a radio reporter, writer, and photographer based in Harrisonburg, Virginia.