A 70-year-old Vietnam veteran sued by Mountain Valley Pipeline for allegedly interfering in April with pipeline route surveyors on his Bent Mountain property has turned around and filed a countersuit that seeks $475,000 in damages from the pipeline company.
In April, Mountain Valley sued Fred Vest. The company said he had interfered with surveyors who were attempting to study Vest’s property off Mill Creek Road in Roanoke County for a possible route for the natural gas pipeline the company wants to build through parts of West Virginia and Virginia.
Mountain Valley sought an injunction barring Vest from impeding subsequent surveying. And it sought $25,000 in damages, alleging that Vest’s interference, which included obtaining misdemeanor criminal trespass charges against four surveyors, had caused the company irreparable harm.
Mountain Valley cited a controversial state law, 56-49.01, that allows a natural gas company to survey private property without an owner’s permission as long as the company follows the statute’s requirements for advance notice.
