CHARLOTTESVILLE — More than 20 organizations in Virginia and West Virginia are calling on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to include a Cultural Attachment review of all four of the major natural gas pipelines currently proposed for the Blue Ridge and Central Appalachian region in the Environmental Impact Statement review.

According to a press release from the Sierra Club, many of the groups are based in counties where the Atlantic Coast Pipeline or Mountain Valley Pipeline would cut through mountainous, rural farms owned by generations of families and rural communities with unique cultures.

If approved by FERC, the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline natural-gas project would span Buckingham, Cumberland and Prince Edward counties.

In a letter to FERC, the groups said the agency must include the “cultural attachment issue” in the EIS to give public policy makers the ability to consider the economic, social and cultural impacts that might occur from the routes under consideration by proposed pipelines.