Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is at it again, supporting a giant energy company against environmental interests in a project miles away from Arkansas.

She’s joined 17 other states in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a 4th District Court of Appeals decision that said the U.S. Forest Service couldn’t give right of way for an interstate pipeline underneath the Appalachian Trail.

Ruitledge’s news release on joining in support of the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline makes it sound as if blocking a little ol’ tenth-of-a-mile crossing of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia would be a huge blow to the national economy.

As ever, there’s more relevant information than Rutledge has shared in her news release. Here’s a full account from the Washington Post, which includes criticism that the pipeline is unnecessary, doesn’t account for changes in the energy market and holds peril for communities, national forests, endangered species and the environment. The photo with the article of the path being gouged through forests is example enough that it is about more than a 176-yard tunnel, with permit problems in many other locations.


The Southern Environmental Law Center has lots more about the projecy that inspired Rutledge’s latest foray in behalf of moneyed polluters. An image from its website illustrates the contrary view: