Tree sitters end pipeline protest after contempt ruling

ROANOKE, Va. – Two women have come down from tree-top perches where they have been protesting a natural gas pipeline granted eminent domain to run through their property in Virginia.

Sixty-one-year-old Theresa Ellen Terry and her adult daughter, Theresa Minor Terry, came down Saturday afternoon.

A federal judge had given them until midnight to comply with her order giving Mountain Valley Pipeline developers access to a forced easement on their property.

Had the women not complied, they faced arrest by U.S. Marshals.

The Roanoke Times reports that Theresa Minor Terry rappelled down about 3:45 p.m. Saturday, and her mother climbed down a ladder about an hour later.

Roanoke County authorities issued arrest warrants for the women last month, did not try to remove them by force.

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Information from: The Roanoke Times, http://www.roanoke.com