WHAT KEY ISSUES DO STAKEHOLDERS CARE ABOUT REGARDING THE MVP?
OCCURRENCE OF VARIABLES: ALL COMMENTS
This graph displays the total number of times each variable was coded over the entirety of the 1,507 comment sample.
Land Rights: eminent domain as being a “public good” vs. intrusion on property rights
1
Corporate Overreach: governmental relationships with private companies and abuse of power
2
Top
Four
Issues
Environment: degradation of natural resources and increased erosion due to deforestation
3
Health:
drinking water quality and health and safety living in proximity to the pipeline
4
HOW IS THE MESSAGING DIFFERENT BETWEEN FAVORABLE AND UNFAVORABLE COMMENTS REGARDING THE MVP?
RELATIVE OCCURRENCE OF VARIABLES: FAVORABLE AND UNFAVORABLE
This graph displays which coded variables were most common depending on favorability or unfavorability. Overall, 4% of posts (n=54) contained favorable content and 42% of posts (n=632) contained unfavorable content. 54% contained neither.
OCCURRENCE OF OTHER CODED VARIABLES
n=11
n=46
n=7
n=44
n=8
n=47
n=17
n=42
n=5
n=27
n=5
n=12
*Limitation:
Please note that the Pro Pipeline category had a considerably smaller sample size. Results represent only online comments and not people groups as a whole.
This graph separates posts into categories: pro pipeline (favorable), anti pipeline (unfavorable), neither (about pipeline but not favorable or unfavorable), or no pipeline (the post was not about the pipeline), and then shows the percentage of posts by category that included insulting language, profanity, and/or reference to politics.
HOW HAVE PERSPECTIVES ON THE MVP CHANGED OVER TIME?
TOTAL COMMENTS BY YEAR
This graph displays that the number of comments increased each year with the exception of 2016. 2018 had the most comments by far, and this sample only extended through the month of July.
RELATIVE OCCURRENCE OF CODED VARIABLES OVER TIME
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
This graph displays how often each variable occurred yearly, signifying which issues were most prominent at different stages of pipeline construction.
WHERE are people talking about the MVP?
All comments on The Roanoke Times are linked to the personal Facebook profiles of the commenters. Of the 1,507 comments, we were able to obtain location data from Facebook on 982 of the comments. Due to a high number of people who posted multiple comments over the 4 year time frame, these 982 comments were attributed to only 278 unique people. These people came from a total of 129 towns across 24 states.
National
This map displays number of total comments by state. Results show that the vast majority of comments are coming from Virginia, which is not surprising given the Roanoke Times location and pipeline placement in Virginia. West Virginia and Pennsylvania also had a significant amount of comments. The remaining comments were scattered mostly in the Appalachian region, with a few outliers coming from across the country.
Regional
It is clear the majority of comments come from individuals in Blacksburg, Roanoke, and surrounding areas whose homes may be directly affected by construction or whose water may be supplied by watersheds influenced by the pipeline. As expected, most major cities in Virginia also had a significant number of commenters. The lack of comments in West Virginia could be explained by the lack of population or heavier reliance on West Virginian news sources.
Local
Taking a closer look at the Blacksburg/Roanoke area shows that while the pipeline avoids crossing any major cities, smaller towns are indeed directly affected. The majority of people who comment live at least within 30 minutes of being able to see the pipeline and may have had their land taken through eminent domain.