The base map from the CDC shows the degree of social vulnerability by county. The dark blue areas are the most socially vulnerable and the light green is the least. The overlay of the red line represents the approximate route of the Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate project. It would traverse two socially vulnerable counties — Rockingham and Alamance — as well as part of Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation tribal lands, north of Burlington.
Four academic researchers, including Ryan Emanuel and Louie Rivers III of NC State University, have found that of the 2,261 U.S. counties traversed by natural gas pipelines, counties with more socially vulnerable populations have significantly higher pipeline densities than those less socially vulnerable.