Equation Campaign Announces $1M to Close Justice Gaps in IRA
September 13, 2022
WASHINGTON D.C. — Equation Campaign today announced $1 million in funding to support organizations who have formed frontline opposition to the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a proposed natural gas pipeline stretching more than 300 miles across Appalachia from West Virginia to North Carolina.
With Equation Campaign’s support, local organizations who previously have had few resources but have fiercely opposed the pipeline with every strategy available will be able to build capacity and expand their efforts to protect their rights and homelands. Funded organizations will reinforce their campaigns that target investors, courts, media, local, state and national government entities.
“It’s in Equation Campaign’s DNA to support local efforts to block new oil and gas infrastructure, especially where corporations, politicians and their backers intimidate and overwhelm local residents with money and power,” said Katie Redford, Executive Director of Equation Campaign. “The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a classic David vs. Goliath story, and we are proud to have the backs of frontline activists as they battle companies and politicians raking in record profits from climate destruction. They are fighting for all of us and it’s time we fund them to win.”
Equation Campaign’s support is an emergency response to a backdoor deal this August by Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) during the Inflation Reduction Act negotiations. Manchin hinged his vote passing the groundbreaking climate legislation by securing a concession that Democrats would support separate legislation to make large infrastructure projects, like the MVP, easier to build.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline would defy climate science by unnecessarily extending the fossil fuel era in the region for decades to come, carrying annual emissions equivalent to 19 million new passenger vehicles, while threatening lands, waters and communities along the way. Even though construction is not complete, the project has already caused over 350 environmental policy violations in significant waterways and forests.
Equation Campaign’s grants will go to support groups in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina who are opposing the pipeline that cuts through the heart of their homelands. Equation Campaign’s Climate Legal Defense Fund will direct resources for legal advocacy including funding to defend the rights of activists and organizations who face harassment and retaliatory litigation from the industry.
Equation Campaign launched in 2020 to raise funds and fast-track resources
to frontline community and environmental justice organizations focused on keeping oil and gas supplies in the ground, a critically underfunded piece of the climate solutions equation. Today’s announced funding follows Equation Campaign’s success in rapidly moving over $10 million dollars in 2021 to frontline organizations across the country— from the Pacific Northwest to Appalachia, and the Great Lakes Region to the Gulf.
About Equation Campaign Founded in 2020, Equation Campaign (https://equationcampaign.org) is a ten-year funding initiative working to bring about a safe and just future by enhancing the power of movements to keep oil and gas in the ground. Equation Campaign supports the climate movement by funding resistance on the ground and diminishing the industry’s sources of financial support. The fund makes grants for strategic litigation and the legal defense of activists, while also working to revoke the fossil fuel industry’s social license by countering its deception and unmasking its deceit. Co-founders Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert and Peter Gill Case, two Rockefeller family members and cousins, recognize the window of opportunity to fast-track their philanthropy with the urgency that science and justice demand.