As plans for natural gas pipeline expansions in southwest Virginia are rapidly taking shape, proposals from two major energy firms to transport gas through the Appalachian regions of Virginia and North Carolina are fueling community concern.

Critics are disturbed by the route of the two proposed pipelines, now under review amid a surge of applications to build massive data centers in the region. Among their concerns: the lines, and compressor stations related to gas distribution, will be laid within hundreds of feet of each other in some locations in a North Carolina county and potentially disrupt rural lifestyles and landscapes.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Virginia environmental regulators are reviewing long-running requests from Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC and

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