On 4 March 2024, two people protesting the Mountain Valley Pipeline locked themselves to a broken down vehicle on Poor Mountain in Roanoke County, Virginia, for more than nine hours. 81-year-old elder Karen Bixler (who goes by the name "River") and 63-year-old Andrew Hinz aimed to block the road to a major work site for the pipeline. Hinz was extracted by law enforcement from the vehicle.

Hinz received two misdemeanors (obstructing free passage and disorderly conduct) and was jailed briefly before being released on bail. Bixler received a summons for one misdemeanor (obstructing free passage) and was released to the other protesters.

Hinz became involved in climate activism after he retired from 25 years working as an information technology professional at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). He said that while he worked at FERC, he didn’t fully understand the damage done by methane to the climate. “I didn’t realize that I was facilitating rapidly increasing climate change,” he said. “I have a mixture of guilt from having participated in that and anger at having been lied to (by the fossil fuel industry).”

In an emailed statement to Inside Climate News, Mountain Valley Pipeline said: “We strongly condemn these protesters’ blatant disregard for safety and the rule of law, and, regardless of their view of the project, these unlawful and dangerous activities must end... The illegal and reckless behaviors exhibited by certain protesters have served only to create unnecessary safety risks for themselves, project crew members, first responders, and our community members…As we have consistently stated, the safe construction and operation of the MVP project remains our top priority and ensuring public safety is paramount.”

The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a gas pipeline spanning approximately 300 miles (480km) from northwestern West Virginia into southern Virginia in the United States. Environmental advocates have spent a decade fighting the construction of the pipeline, which started in 2018. The pipeline became operational on June 14, 2024.