About Us

We are a group of 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 regenerative 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) 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!

The Current Friends of Buckingham Council Members

Scott Flood, President

Dr. Scott Flood is President of Friends of Buckingham, joining the group out of a shared vision to protect nature and the well-being of the community. He advocates for the responsible deployment of industrial solar facilities —projects that meet energy needs without destroying vital habitats or compromising local ecosystems.

With a biology degree from Longwood University and a dental degree from the Medical College of Virginia, Dr. Flood brings a scientific, practical perspective to the conversation —one that prioritizes long-term ecological health and community resilience over short-term profit.

Laura Luniewski, Treasurer

Laura’s family has deep roots in Buckingham, having lived in the county since the 1960s. After graduating from nursing school in the spring of 2025, Laura plans to return to the area and settle there full-time. She shared that she looks forward to supporting the Friends of Buckingham in their mission to preserve and protect the county’s natural environment.

Karen Kreps (a.k.a. Karuna), Secretary

Karen Kreps, a.k.a Karuna

A long-time Integral Yoga and the Yogaville community member, Karuna is a web developer, (Net Ingenuity) residing in Austin, TX. She has a retirement home on Woodland Church Rd, where she now invites visitors to enjoy https://karunakutir.com. She has been active and successful in protecting communities in the Hudson Valley (doubling the size of Fahnstock State Park) and Austin (protecting Barton Springs) and she hopes to do likewise in Buckingham.karuna@netingenuity.com

Chad Oba, past president

Chad Oba, a co-founder of Friends of Buckingham, Va

Chad Oba, past president of FoB

Chad is a cofounder of Friends of Buckingham and recently resigned from serving as President of Friends of Buckingham since its beginnings in 2014. Initially organized to defend rural communities in Buckingham against the threat of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, she has focused predominantly on working with environmental justice or in low-income communities or communities of color. Her professional background includes 27 years as a mental health professional working with families in Buckingham and the surrounding counties. She has lived in Buckingham for the past 39 years. Her personal mission is to honor and nurture all her relationships here on Earth.

Marie Flowers

Marie Flowers, a native of Baltimore, MD, has been a self-proclaimed, “troublemaker” since she was born nearly a century ago. She’s been a proud resident of Buckingham County for nearly three decades. From personal experience, she understood what poverty does to people. She got involved with Friends of Buckingham after reading in the Farmville Herald about fracking in W. Virginia to accommodate a pipeline. Believing that even people in W. Virginia have value in the human race, she got involved in the successful fight to stop the ACP. She regularly attended meetings and participated in demonstrations–especially by hugging other members. She currently serves as the treasurer of the Buckingham Democratic Committee, a board member of the Curdsville Community Center, and a member of the Garden Club. She is also active with her church and makes phone calls for the Piedmont Senior Citizens Resource Center. Her forte is picking up road trash.

Kenda Hanuman

Kenda Hanuan, Council-at-large

Kenda Hanuman co-founded Friends of Buckingham (FoB) in 2014, with the mission to protect the natural environment and cultural heritage of Buckingham County. She worked in numerous facets supporting the Environmental Justice community of Union Hill until the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project was canceled on July 5, 2020. Her 31 years living in Buckingham has given her respect and understanding of the people, their history, and the beauty and peace of this rural area. Upon hearing from a neighbor in June 2020 about a Canadian company’s exploratory gold drilling, she began researching the implications of an open-pit mine in Buckingham County. She served on the HB2213 Impacts of Gold Mining in the VA State Agency Committee and currently serves as a FoB Councilor-at-Large addressing the Industrial Scale Solar issue.

Irene Leech

Irene Ellis Leech grew up on Mt. Rush Farm and today is involved in the operation of that family business. She is a graduate of Buckingham County High School and Virginia Tech. Most of her career has been at Virginia Tech, in positions including Consumer Education Extension Specialist and teaching/research faculty in Consumer Studies. Irene’s consumer advocacy has been focused on consumer pocketbook issues, especially around utilities and financial services at the state and federal levels. She joined Friends of Buckingham during the ACP fight and became a board member in 2022. Her property in Montgomery County is affected by the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and she continues to fight for safety and landowner rights with involvement in multiple coalitions and organizations, including the Pipeline Safety Trust.

Ruby Laury

Kathy Mosley

Ella Rose

Ella Rose has served on the Council since the beginnings of Friends of Buckingham in 2014. She had a long career in food service in the Washington DC area and retired to Buckingham 12 years ago to be near where she was born and raised and near family in the area. She became active during the Atlantic Coast Pipeline campaign making significant contributions as a spoke person. Her home in Union Hill was the closest home to the then planned ACP compressor station. Her actions on behalf of her neighbors and environmental justice included speaking out at many local and state regulatory hearings, attending rallies, and speaking at conferences nationwide.

Richard Walker

Richard Walker is a Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMHP). He is also the Founder and CEO of Bridging the Gap in Virginia, a 501(c)3 non-profit whose mission is to empower returning citizens, veterans, persons in substance abuse recovery, and those experiencing chronic homelessness. A strong advocate for environmental justice and renewable energy, Richard developed a green workforce development program that has already facilitated free clean energy career training to 52 justice-impacted vulnerable individuals and marginalized citizens, providing them a crucial path to overcoming barriers to change. Richard received the VA-REA Virginia Renewable Energy Alliance’s Leadership Award for 2022. (www.vrea.com) He is also a Virginia Energy Workforce Consortium committee member for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Richard’s work across Virginia as an advocate for rights restoration and “Ban the Box” (Fair Chance hiring) legislation; has assisted over 10,000 individuals in getting their civil rights restored. Richard has served on the Stakeholders Group for Restoration of Rights for three governors and is a Federal Bureau of Prisons Certified Offender Workforce Development Specialist. During COVID-19, Bridging The Gap secured the release of 30 individuals into transitional housing. He also serves as a Committee Member for multiple Regional Reentry Councils, facilitated “Overcoming Barriers” employment workshops for the City of Richmond’s Office of Community Wealth Building, and is a certified VADOC Statewide Volunteer for Cognitive and Reentry Community Units. He has advocated for Expungement legislation, supporting legislation to reduce/end Solitary Confinement, fair access for public housing, and other legislation that has adversely affected all Virginians. For many years, Richard has been a strong community advocate and through his work, Richard continues to uplift vulnerable individuals and advance justice.

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Membership is free. Support us by adding your name and make a contribution, as you wish. United we can be effective. We stopped the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. We supported the ban on cyanide in metalic mining. We can't do it without you!

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Piedmont Environmental Center
Protecting and restoring the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, while building stronger, more sustainable communities.