Final protesters removed from perches

Associated Press

The final two protesters who had perched themselves on trees and poles to block construction of a natural gas pipeline through Appalachia have come down. The Roanoke Times reports one protester was forcibly removed June 1 and another came down voluntarily as authorities approached. The June 1 actions end three months of aerial blockades in Virginia and West Virginia to protest construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Authorities removed 30-year-old Catherine “Fern” McDougal the morning of June 1 from an elevated platform in Giles County where she had been camped out since May 21. She was charged with four misdemeanors in federal court. A few hours later, a man known only as Deckard came down from a tree stand on Peters Mountain in West Virginia. That stand had been occupied since Feb. 26. - ASSOCIATED PRESS