To the editor:

Depicted in the 1992 film, “A River Runs Through It,” the great outdoors can provide a sanctuary for people where they can find peace and recreation within its confines.

What the 1920’s Brad Pitt didn’t know was that almost 100 years later, on land similar to Montana’s, the integrity of the forest would be sacrificed for the sake of the industrial monstrosity, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
The ACP, set to begin construction in 2017, would carry hydraulically fractured gas 550 miles across three state lines — West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Its 42-inch girth would require a football field-sized clearcut of trees through protected national forest and leave a permanent scar on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail.
So, how are we to reconcile these two opposing views on the utility of our wilderness? The answer is, we can’t. There is no perfect universe where pipelines and unspoiled nature coexist.

Maybe this is a daunting choice in light of global climate change and exorbitant fossil fuel consumption, but will it be so in the coming years, when it is no longer a voluntary one?
It is our duty to entrust future generations with the necessity of protecting our land and bearing witness to its value. Generations before our own have accepted this onerous burden, which is why we can all empathize with a movie based in 1920’s America.

I don’t wish to see the day when that universal understanding of nature is merely confined to a movie screen.
Help stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline by writing in to Virginia Gov. Terry McAullife and stating your opposition to the destruction of our wilderness.

Courtney Fano

Fredericksburg