Friends of Buckingham

We are a group of Buckingham County citizens united to work with our county leaders to attract economic investment opportunities that benefit all of our residents and contribute to a healthy environment. We are dedicated to celebrating our county’s diverse cultural heritage, our rural lifestyle, and to protecting our natural resources and last, remaining, wild places.

Towards that end, we are committed to protecting our health and environment from any outside interests that seek to exploit our natural resources, such as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), industrial-scale solar installations, and the dire threats of gold mining.

We, in collaboration with other communities and organizations across the nation, SUCCEEDED in having the plans for the ACP canceled by Dominion Power on July 5, 2020. That protected Buckingham County residents from having built the largest compressor station in the country. It would have poured toxic chemicals into our air 24 hours a day, with heavy truck traffic and constant loud noise.  Immediately preceding this cancellation, we discovered yet another dire threat to our communities: Gold mining statewide threatened to drastically lower water levels and poison waterways. After a four-year campaign, Friends of Buckingham, in collaboration with other statewide groups, effectively stopped gold mining in Virginia. Thanks to our lobbying efforts, in February 2024, a bill was passed in the General Assembly to ban the use of cyanide in mineral mining.

There are many volunteer opportunities as we explore options for creating a positive, economic and environmental future for Buckingham County. Currently, many of us are focusing on stopping the pipeline which we consider to be an environmental hazard to all who live here. But if you have other ideas of how the citizens of Buckingham might grow and prosper don’t be afraid to call and offer suggestions, better still, start your own category and use the website as a place to advertise your club or service.

Interested in helping? We are looking for all sorts of energy, writing articles, research, and many more areas where you might be able to help your friends and neighbors with your experience and expertise. Remember, this is a community, and as such, when we help each other to prosper we help ourselves. Don’t be afraid to stand up and let your light shine!