thomas karam

Chairman of Equitrans Midstream Partners

At the helm of the company behind the highly controversial new Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), Thomas Karam is allegedly responsible for a slew of climate crimes. The 303-mile pipeline spans Virginia and West Virginia, transports over 2 billion cubic feet of fracked gas each day, and emits almost 90 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution annually. That is comparable to the emissions of about 24 US coal plants or 19 million passenger cars. It will damage countless waterways and wetlands, cut through thousands of acres of forests, and run the risk of leaks and explosions. Karam’s company has also been filing SLAPP suits against anti-pipeline protestors to silence the opposition. The proposed MVP project was facing growing criticism and failing regulatory scrutiny until Karam and other leaders of the pipeline secured Senator Joe Manchin's support for a federal provision to override all legal and regulator channels.

  • Birthday: October 1958

    Primary residence: Waverly, PA

    Current role: Executive Chairman of Equitrans Midstream Partners (EQM) (as of January 2024)

    Net worth: at least $16 million (WealthX). 

    2022 income: $8,329,965

    Education:

    • BS from the University of Scranton (1981) 

    Board memberships, affiliations, and roles:

    • Trustee of US Ski and Snowboard Team Foundation 

    • Director of Energy Association of Pennsylvania

    • Director of Pennsylvania Gas Association (PGA) 

    • Director of Mental Health Association Northeastern Pennsylvania

    • Director of Boys and Girls Club of Northeastern Pennsylvania

    • Committee member of Team Pennsylvania Foundation

    Past roles: 

    Fun facts: 

    • Karam is a skier and races in USSA and FIS events.

  • Environmental Destruction 

    • The Mountain Valley Pipeline is predicted to transport over 2 billion cubic feet of fracked gas each day and emit 89 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution annually. This is comparable to the annual emissions of roughly 24 US coal plants or 19 million passenger cars. These emissions will cause long-term and irreversible damage to the climate. 

    • It will also cut across nearly 1,146 streams, creeks, rivers, and wetlands, and go through 4,856 acres of forests in Virginia and West Virginia. The pipeline runs the risk of leaks and explosions, water contamination, deforestation, and other environmental disturbances.

    • Before it was fully operative, the pipeline already had multiple violations against it. For example, in Virginia, its violations include unpermitted waste release into waterways and failure to maintain erosion and repair sediment damage. 


    Environmental Injustices

    • An attorney with the National Resources Defense Council said, “There is no doubt that folks who are environmentally and economically disadvantaged would bear the brunt of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and would not reap the benefits.”

    • A planned extension to the MVP – the Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate Extension – would carry natural gas from the mainline of the pipeline to Alamance County, North Carolina. MVP and Equitrans, with FERC’s green light, have forced landowners to sell parts of their property through which the pipeline runs. The pipeline was also built along swaths of the ancestral lands of Tribes including the Occaneechi and the Monacan Indian Nation. Multiple complaints were filed with FERC saying that MVP surveyors ignored an Indigenous burial mound during pipeline construction. Surveyors also reportedly found hundreds of artifacts including arrow points and stone tools along the pipeline’s route. 


    SLAPP Suits Against Protestors

    • To squash its critics, Equitrans has filed various lawsuits against anti-pipeline protestors. For example, Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sued 41 individuals and the group Appalachians Against Pipelines for over $4 million in damages. These lawsuits have been characterized as SLAPP lawsuits, Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, as they are specifically meant to silence public opposition.

  • Thomas Karam has profited handsomely off his climate crimes. According to WealthX, his net worth is at least $16 million, and he owns properties in Wavely, Tobyhanna, and Palmerton, PA. 

    From 2021 to 2023, Karam earned $39,245,673 in CEO compensation, with over half being in stock awards. Part of that compensation was a $7.5 million cash bonus in 2023 for his “relentless efforts towards navigating legal and regulatory setbacks to the MVP project.”

  • The Mountain Valley Pipeline, if finished, will be a 303-mile pipeline stretching across West Virginia and Virginia, transporting liquified shale gas. Equitrans Midstream Corporate is the primary owner and operator of the pipeline, but other companies involved are NextEra Energy, Inc., Consolidated Edison, Inc., AltaGas Ltd., and RGC Resources, Inc. 

    The pipeline was originally supposed to be operative by 2023, then the deadline was pushed back to May 2024, and then again to June 1, 2024. It did not open on June 1 – the deadline was missed again. The pipeline was mechanically completed on June 10, 2024, and FERC approved the pipeline to begin commercial service on June 11, 2024. 

  • The community-led movement opposing the Mountain Valley Pipeline has been fervent and persistent. Activists with groups such as Appalachians Against Pipelines have spoken out against the pipeline for years, condemning its immense environmental destruction, and others have taken more direct action. In March 2024, one young activist spent 36 hours inside the pipeline in protest. The activist told Grist, “This project is worth fighting until the end…Winning looks so much bigger than just stopping this pipeline…It’s a win because, whether or not this pipeline ever has gas running through it, the legacy of resistance in Appalachia still lives.”

    On March 4, 2024, two pipeline activists – aged 81 and 63 – locked themselves to a vehicle to prevent MVP workers from accessing the work site. Their banner read: “OLDER THAN THE HILLS. WATER IS LIFE.” On March 11, two other activists locked themselves to a drill for over 8 hours, holding banners reading “We won’t be complicit and we won’t back down,” and “Land Back, from Turtle Island to Palestine.” 

    EQM responded to these protests with SLAPP suits, detailed in the above section. An MVP spokesperson also said: “If opponents were truly interested in environmental protection, they would have engaged with us to address their concerns through honest, open dialogue, which we respectfully offered on numerous occasions, rather than wasting agency resources and burdening the courts to support their myopic agendas.”

    • On Joe Manchin: “He has emphasized the importance of reliable natural gas and renewable energy infrastructure and the need for comprehensive reforms to bring these critical projects to fruition. His support for the Mountain Valley Pipeline is emblematic of his commitment to West Virginia and to the United States, helping to unlock additional natural gas supply and delivery that will strengthen regional and national energy security” - Karam, 2023

    •  “Equitrans recognizes that climate change is one of the most critical issues facing our Company, our society, and the world — the effects of which require global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As an energy infrastructure company, we understand the ongoing developments and risks surrounding climate change, as well as the corresponding opportunities. As such, we must continue to focus on long-term sustainable performance — working to minimize impacts to the environment and society by pursuing climate change mitigation targets.” –EQM website

    • “Equitrans acknowledges the effects of climate change present pressing challenges to society and risks to our Company; however, we believe that natural gas and its associated infrastructure is, and will remain, a critical component of our nation’s energy strategy.” –EQM website

Connections within the Polluter Industrial Complex

What is the Polluter Industrial Complex?

    • MVP owners donated to Joe Manchin before and after he made his support of President Biden’s 2023 debt deal contingent on MVP’s approval. 

    • Between 2021 and 2023, five Equitrans employees donated a combined $25,800 to Manchin. $10,000 came from Diana Charletta, the current CEO. Other Equitrans Midstream donors to Manchin were Mark Hanna, Janice Brenner, Stephen Moore, and Robert Cooper. Toby Rice, president and CEO of the related EQT Corporation, donated $8,100 to Manchin. 

    • In a press release on June 1st, 2023 Manchin said: “I am proud to announce that we have finally secured the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline...For more than nine months, I have worked tirelessly to build consensus and garner the support necessary to complete MVP. Last fall, my bill to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline received a bipartisan vote on the Senate floor but failed to receive the Republican support necessary to become law…After that, I doubled down to build support by working with Speaker McCarthy, Leader Schumer, White House officials and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate to make the case for this critical energy security project.” 

    • Willie L. Phillips, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission which regulates the MVP, has a history with the fossil fuel industry. FERC’s approval was necessary for the start of the MVP project, and it extended the construction deadline to 2026. 

  • MVP worked with Bighorn Public Affairs Group to get its necessary federal permits. According to its website, “The Bighorn Public Affairs Group played a key role in securing federal permits -- from both Republican and Democrat Administrations -- and passing legislation to complete the stalled pipeline, highlighting its importance as a crucial energy infrastructure project for the southeastern U.S. that will create jobs, provide energy reliability, and lower energy costs for homes and businesses.” The webpage continues to tout the MVP’s alleged benefits and in-depth environmental research. 

    The West Virginia Botanic Gardens is opening a new “Vistors Center” in July 2024. Equitrans donated $400,000 to the gardens, and in return, the visitors center will be named the “Equitrans Midstream Visitors Center.” This is a clear attempt to greenwash its public image by aligning itself with an environmentally friendly institution. 

  • MVP Lobbying

    • MVP spent $240,000 on lobbying expenditures in 2022. All of this funding went to Kai S Anderson and Amelia Jenkins, members of Cassidy and Associates. Amelia Jenkins was previously the Deputy Staff Director of the House Natural Resources Committee. 

    Anderson and Jenkins specifically lobbied for:

    •  H.R.5376 Inflation Reduction Act of 2022

    • H.R.7776 James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023

    • H.R.2617 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023

    • H.R.6833 Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023. 

    Equitrans Midstream Lobbying

    • Equitrans spent $460,000 in 2023 on Cassidy and Associates, Bradley, and Big Horn Public Affairs Group.

    • Paul Kavinoky of Bradley, Jennifer Johnson Jarrell of Big Horn Public Affairs Group, and Michael Killion of Equitrans Midstream lobbied for:

      • H.R.3746 Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023

      • H.R.1118 Lower Energy Costs Act

      • H.R.5376 Share the Savings with Seniors Act

      • H.R.3500 Mountain Valley Pipeline Completion Act

      • H.R.2384 Complete American Pipelines Act of 2023

  • Equitrans has worked with Hunton Andrews Kurth and Jones Day, which both scored an “F” on Law Students for Climate Accountability’s Scorecard for their money spent lobbying for the fossil fuel industry and otherwise exacerbating climate change through litigation. 

    Equitrans worked with Jones Day in 2020 for Sierra Club v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In this case, the Sierra Club challenged the FERC authorization of the Southgate Expansion of the MVP for failing to consider the impact of climate impacts such as erosion and sediment from heavy precipitation. The challenge was ultimately denied a review, because “[o]n the whole, Petitioners’ criticisms miss the point of the mitigation measure discussion as an ‘information-forcing’ exercise.”

  • Thomas Karam does not appear to have a personal private foundation, but the philanthropic arm of Equitrans is called the Equitrans Midstream Foundation. The Foundation “is dedicated to the social and economic prosperity of our asset footprint” and works to “create a more secure future for the members of communities where we live and work.” Its three focus areas are community development, education, and environment. Its specific environmental goals are to “Limit our operational impact and support initiatives that: Target energy education and the stewardship of air, land and water; Support the preservation of natural resources and encourage individuals and organizations to utilize accepted conservation techniques to minimize adverse impacts on the environment; Encourage environmental stewardship.” 

  • Equitrans claims to be transparent about its contributions to political advocacy, lobbying, campaigns, and trade associations. Its website says that in 2022, “Equitrans contributed $779,000 to various political advocacy groups and trade associations.” These groups and associations are not listed. 

  • Karam attended the University of Scranton, and he was formerly a Trustee of the school. 

  • In March 2024, a Roanoke Times investigation found that Michael Rolband, the Director of Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) since 2022, used to run Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc. This consulting firm was hired by the MVP to advise the pipeline on the environmental impacts of running through streams and wetlands. Before Rolband worked for the VA DEQ, MVP had been cited with over 300 environmental violations and fined $2.15 million in 2019. In the year after Rolband started working for the agency, however, MVP had been cited for only two violations and fined $2,500.  

    Wells Fargo, Barclays Bank, Citibank, Bank of America, MUFG Bank, PNC Bank, and JPMorgan Chase are among the banks providing millions of dollars in general funding for the pipeline owners. 

    Other stakeholders in MVP, in order of shares owned, include Blackrock, Vanguard Group, Capital International Investors, State Street Corp, Invesco, and others.