A welding inspector for the Mountain Valley Pipeline says he was fired for reporting corrosion of the metal pipe as it was being installed in 2023, about the time a federal safety agency voiced concerns about what it called 鈥渁 pipeline integrity risk.鈥
Michael Barnhill made the claims in a lawsuit filed in Monroe County, West Virginia, where the buried pipeline crosses the state line and enters Giles County on its way through Southwest Virginia.
The lawsuit claims that in November 2023, Barnhill spotted three sections of the pipe in West Virginia that were corroded to the point of violating construction standards and federal regulations.
A section of Mountain Valley Pipeline waits to be buried in December 2023.
Although Barnhill鈥檚 supervisor agreed that the pipe joints were deficient, the lawsuit quotes a higher Mountain Valley official as saying: 鈥淚f you want to keep your job, just install [the joints].鈥
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Barnhill refused to create false inspection reports approving the corroded joints, the lawsuit claims, and as a result was transferred to a different section of the natural gas pipeline and later fired.
A spokesman for Mountain Valley 鈥 which was completed last year and went into operation June 14 鈥 declined to comment Wednesday on the pending litigation.
After learning that the corroded joints were approved by another inspector and welded into the 42-inch diameter pipe, Barnhill says he reported his concerns to the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
On Oct. 3, 2023, PHMSA took action to address long-held concerns by pipeline opponents that prolonged exposure to sunlight may have damaged sections of pipe that were stored above the ground for years, as construction was delayed by legal fights over the controversial project.
In a consent order, the safety agency directed Mountain Valley to take additional steps to inspect and repair the pipes to ensure that a protective epoxy coating had not worn down to the point of making them vulnerable to corrosion.
The fear, Mountain Valley critics say, is that a weakened pipe could rupture and cause an explosion.
Barnhill鈥檚 lawsuit, first filed April 29 in Monroe County Circuit Court and transferred last week to West Virginia鈥檚 federal court, makes no direct connection between his complaints and the PHMSA consent order 鈥 which had been set in motion several months earlier.
Rather, the filing focuses on what it calls his 鈥渞etaliatory discharge鈥 by Mountain Valley and its parent companies for reporting his safety concerns. Barnhill, who is from Texas, claims that he was terminated on Dec. 8, 2023, for speaking out about the corroded pipes and later voicing concerns in a written report about what he deemed to be an improper welding job.
In that case, the lawsuit quotes a project manager identified only as John Z. as telling Barnhill: 鈥淚鈥檓 sure you can appreciate what a problem that would cause if this document was audited.鈥
Filed by Charleston, West Virginia, attorney John-Mark Atkinson, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for lost wages and the 鈥渋ndignity, embarrassment, humiliation, annoyance and inconvenience鈥 suffered by Barnhill.
The 303-mile pipeline 鈥 which cuts through the New River and 色多多 valleys on a route that takes it from northern West Virginia to connect with another pipeline in Pittsylvania County 鈥 encountered more than a decade of fierce opposition to its environmental impact and the taking of private land for its route.
News of the lawsuit 鈥渦nderscores the concerns raised by community members along the pipeline route that there was no safe way to construct the ruinous Mountain Valley Pipeline,鈥 said Jessica Sims, Virginia field coordinator for Appalachian Voices, one of the groups that waged legal fights against the project.
Tests of the pipeline鈥檚 integrity through March 2024, obtained by The 色多多 through an open records request, showed about 130 potential problem aeras. But in greenlighting the project three months later, PHMSA said all the problems had been fixed.
In a report filed this week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the lead agency that oversaw construction of the pipeline, Monroe County resident Maury Johnson included an article from the Charleston Gazette-Mail about the lawsuit.
鈥淚 watched very closely as MVP rushed to put this pipe in the ground on my property and across nearby properties,鈥 Johnson wrote in asking FERC or PHMSA to shut the operation down until it can be deemed safe.
鈥淢y life and the life of my family, friends and neighbors are at stake,鈥 he wrote.
