SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in District 3 Green Notes.
Lincoln area: Congressional District 1
VIGIL AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY . . . Every Monday, from noon to 1:00pm, Nebraskans for abolition of the death penalty meet in front of the governor’s mansion when weather is good, 1425 H Street, Lincoln. In winter, the vigil is inside the capitol, near the Information Desk. The lunch-hour presence reminds the governor of a constituency that does not want state killings. Weekly vigils have taken place year-round since July, 1991. All abolitionists are welcome to participate for a few minutes, or the hour. For information about Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, click here.
LINCOLN PEACE VIGILS . . . Lincoln peace vigils continue at the Federal Building, 15th and O streets, every Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. Contact Mark at 402.499.6672 or e-mail mark [at] weddleton [dot] com for more information.
RIDE OF SILENCE . . . Wednesday, May 18, 2011, The Great Plains Bicycling Club will lead the fifth annual Ride of Silence in memory of cyclists who have been killed or injured while riding. The 10-12 mph ride will start at 7:00pm, Sawyer Snell Park, 1st & South Street, go through downtown, the Haymarket, and back to the park.
THINK GREEN IT’S THURSDAY . . . TGIT is a new happy hour for planning a sustainable future at the Eco Stores Conference Room, 530 West P Street, Lincoln. This is an informational, educational, and social weekly event, with locally grown food and beverages. (Beverage donations will be accepted.) Learn about the latest green products, businesses, policies and practices every Thursday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. For the spring schedule of TGIT speakers, click here. For more information, e-mail Mitch Paine at mitch [dot] paine [at] ecostoresne.org.
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECTIONS . . . The Lancaster County Health Department will host two household hazardous waste collections this week: Friday, May 20,2011, 3:00 to 7:00pm, at the Community Center, 115 and Locust Streets, in Hickman; and Saturday, May 21st, 9:00am to 1:00pm, at Pfizer, 601 West Cornhusker Highway, Lincoln. Phone 402.477.3606 for more information.
NEBRASKA BOOK FESTIVAL . . . The public is invited to celebrate Nebraska’s literary heritage and contemporary authors at the 2011 Nebraska Book Festival, “Cultivating Creativity,” Saturday, May 21, at the Nebraska State Historical Society’s Nebraska History Museum, 15th and P Streets, and NuVibe Juice & Java, 126 North 14th Street, in downtown Lincoln. The keynote panel, “Local Wonders: From Book to Musical Theatre Production,” features US Poet Laureate and Nebraska poet Ted Kooser, Nebraska Repertory Theater’s Virginia Smith, and Columbia College Chicago’s Paul Amandes discussing how Kooser’s book “Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps,” has evolved into musicial theater. Writers who will present their 2010 works, conduct free workshops, and participate in the keynote panel are listed and linked here. View the schedule of events by category here.
QUEEN OF THE SUN: WHAT ARE THE BEES TELLING US? . . . Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling us? examines the global bee crisis through the eyes of beekeepers, scientists, farmers, and philosophers unveiling 10,000 years of beekeeping, highlighting how our historic and sacred relationship with bees has been lost due to highly mechanized industrial practices. The 1 hour and 23 minute documentary runs at The Ross, 313 North 13th Street, Lincoln, through Thursday, May 19, 2011.
WEEKLY WALKABOUTS AT WILDERNESS PARK . . . Friends of Wilderness Park is hosting weekly hikes through the Park, led by Adam Hintz, starting at 1:00pm every Saturday from now through October. Each week will focus on a different area, highlighting the diversity of life in the Park. Hikes will start in parking lots according to the following schedule: the first and second Saturday of the month, meet at the Pioneers Boulevard entrance; the third Saturday, meet at Old Cheney Road; the fourth Saturday, meet at 14th Street north of Rokeby Road; and every fifth Saturday, the hike will start at Saltillo Road east of the Jamaica Trail. For more information, contact Adam at 402.421.8464.
LINCOLN FARMERS MARKETS . . . The Haymarket Farmers Market is open every Saturday, 8:00am to noon, in the Haymarket District at 7th & P Streets. Expect to find more than 120 vendors with fresh produce, flowers, baked goods and handmade items plus a performance showcase featuring local folk, jazz, blues and classical music. The Market continues through October 15th. Every Sunday, from 10:00am to 2:00pm, the Old Cheney Road Farmers Market at 5500 Old Cheney Road features in-season heirloom and traditional produce, artisan breads and cheeses, homemade baked goods, wild-crafted and traditional jams, jelly, honey, meats, fish, eggs, and bedding plants. The Piedmont Farmers Market opened Saturday, May 14th, at 1265 South Cotner, 8:00am to noon, and runs to mid-September. Saturday Farmers Markets at the FARM, 11855 Yankee Hill Road, 9:00am to noon, run until October 29th. Community CROPS, 1551 South 2nd Street, has garden pick-up 4:00 to 6:00pm Monday and Thursday, May 23 through October 20. Other markets start in June and July. Find out what’s new this year, check an interactive map of Lincoln’s Farmers Markets, Farms and Community Supported Agriculture programs, and learn more about markets, CSAs, and local farms at the Buy Fresh, Buy Local Facebook page.
Omaha area: Congressional District 2
OMAHA PEACE VIGILS . . . Omaha peacemakers vigil every Wednesday, 4:30-5:30pm, at StratCom/UN-O, 6801 Pine Street, east of the Scott Technology Center on the UN-O campus. Free parking is available at the NE Corner of 67th Street and Pine in a student lot. For more information, phone Jerry Ebner, 402.502.5887. Every Saturday, 1:00-2:00pm, there is a Peace Vigil at 72nd and Dodge Streets. Park next to 72nd Street, in the pet store parking lot. Contact Steve Horn at 402.426.9068 for more information about Saturday vigils.
OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film is “The Constant Gardener,” a suspense-thriller starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.
PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for details. STOP THE PIPELINE yard signs are available in Omaha by calling Nebraskans for Peace Coordinator Mark Welsch, 402.453.0776, or e-mail NFPOmaha [at] nebraskansforpeace [dot] org.
BENSON COMMUNITY GARDEN . . . Omaha’s newest community garden is at 60th & Lafayette, at the south side of the historic Benson neighborhood. The Benson Community Garden is looking for individuals and families interested in garden plots. For more information, phone 402.714.0290 or e-mail goetzinger2 [at] cox [dot] net. To get involved, or help support the garden, please register here.
ENGAGE OMAHA . . . One of the nation’s first city-wide, virtual town hall websites, EngageOmaha, is now online. Omaha residents may weigh in on issues for the city to consider. Pick a topic, and join the mix here.
Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3
KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Since Nebraskans were not given an opportunity to speak out about the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed XL pipeline through our fragile Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer, BOLD Nebraska and the coalition of groups opposing the project held a May 12, 2011, “Citizen Hearing” at the state capitol rotunda. That morning, the Lincoln Journal Star editorialized “Indifference over pipeline hard to fathom: The passivity of Nebraska’s elected state officials to the planned crude oil pipeline through the Sandhills becomes more alarming with every new reported problem. …It’s unfathomable that the pipeline route is not even a matter of public debate in the Legislature.”
Media coverage of the Citizen Hearing included a tv report from KHAS, “Citizens speak out against future pipeline,” “Pipeline bill gets boost,” KVNO News audio, “Deadlock broken, panel advances pipeline bill,” by LJS reporter Art Hovey, and “Frustration over proposed pipeline fills capitol rotunda,” published in the Hastings Tribune.
A BOLD Nebraska blog “Langemeier Says Citizens Have No Relevance,” by Jane Kleeb, expresses a shared theme: “There is at least one thing that is crystal clear out of this process–Sen. Langemeier is a weak leader who is out of touch and not serious about protecting our land and water.” Call or e-mail Langemeier. Phone: 402.471.2719; E-mail: clangemeier [at] leg [dot] ne [dot] gov.
New action alerts this week include a Food & Water Watch webpage where you can enter your zip code and send a message asking your state representative to protect Nebraska’s landowners and natural resources; and Jane Kleeb’s petition to Secretary Clinton, Governor Heineman, and President Obama: “Every elected official talks about the need for clean energy, biofuels, and energy independence. Now it’s time to live up to your words. We urge you—Sec. Clinton and Pres. Obama—to deny the permit to TransCanada. We urge you—Gov. Heineman—to get serious about protecting our land and water and get state-based regulations passed in the Unicameral. Stop the TransCanada pipeline. It’s too risky and threatens the good life of Nebraska.” MoveOn is circulating the petition. Sign it here.
The Saturday, May 7, 2011 rupture of the Keystone I pipeline in Cogswell, North Dakota was covered extensively, including articles by AlterNet and Friends of the Earth, reporting that “the incident is the 12th spill from the Keystone I pipeline, which is not even a year old.”
FOE describes more about this spill: “According to eyewitnesses, Saturday’s rupture of the Keystone I pipeline sent a six-story high gusher of oil into the air. The spill occurred at a pumping station, but the spray contaminated soil and water in a nearby field before it could be contained. The latest spill brings attention again to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, currently (and controversially) under review by the Obama administration. The XL pipeline would carry 900,000 barrels of tar sands oil a day from Canada to Texas. The Keystone I pipeline carries 591,000 barrels a day, and concerns—and opposition—are mounting.”
LJS coverage, “TransCanada cleaning up spill at N.D. pump,” reported that Bob Banderet saw a geyser of oil higher than cottonwood trees about a mile and a half from his farm when he got up Saturday. He “called the TransCanada hotline and said he spent five minutes on hold, suspecting the person who answered thought his call might be a hoax.”
A May 10th article covering local concern by statepaper.com, “TransCanada Oil Leak Draws Attention In Nebraska,” is here. Rapid City Journal reporter Kevin Woster calls the North Dakota spill a “sign of things to come,” if the proposed XL pipeline is built.
Just before the North Dakota rupture, Alberta, Canada experienced “one of the largest oil spills …reinforcing Nebraskan’s concerns that our state is not prepared for the massive tarsands oil pipeline planned by TransCanada.” Both tar sands environmental disasters are covered in a Reuters article, “Latest pair of oil accidents fuel opposition to Keystone pipeline extension” here.
For background information about the tar sands extraction process, and photos showing Alberta’s devastated landscapes, BOLD Nebraska has posted a 9:44 minute YouTube segment from last summer’s Tar Sands Pipeline Summit in Lincoln. A 53:46 minute audio interview with John Hansen, Ken Winston, & Graham Christensen on the Derry Brownfield Show discusses TransCanada Pipeline Issues (mp3).
A five-page Executive Summary of the 320-page Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement is here. [pdf] The Journal Star editorialized “The statement is unfairly dismissive of the unique characteristics of Nebraska’s Sand Hills.” and encourages “Nebraskans — actually all Americans –” to comment on the ESI during this final comment period. The official State Department Comments Page is here. Comments may also be submitted via e-mail at keystonexl@cardno.com, by US Postal to Keystone XL EIS Project, P.O. Box 96503-98500, Washington D.C. 20090-6503, or fax (206) 269-0098. In comments, please invite Secretary of State Clinton to visit the Sand Hills, see our unique ecosystem, and meet the people who will be most effected by XL pipeline construction.
A LJS Local View, “Fence off Sand Hills to pipeline,” by Ben Gotschall, was published May 9th. Letters to the LJS encouraging legislative action include “Shouldn’t governor lead charge?” by Kevin L. Johnson, and “Strangely quiet on pipeline,” by Dorothy A. Kubick, both from Lincoln.
“Silence deafening,” references Mary Pipher’s April 24th letter urging “all readers to do what they can to motivate our state senators and governor to act now. …The silence of most, but not all, of our elected senators and Gov. Dave Heineman on the subject is deafening.” Marilyn Barnes writes “Nebraska must take action,” concluding “Nebraska should not cede its oil pipeline siting authority to a Canadian corporation. I hope those who care about Nebraska’s water and agriculture will call or write to the governor and state senators urging immediate legislation to regulate this and future pipelines.”
April 21st, LJS revealed “TransCanada has encountered problems with the reclamation phase on a 50-mile stretch of a new natural gas pipeline through southeast Montana and western North Dakota that even its own spokesman calls severe. Erosion and …”very severe subsidence,” or settling of the soil, are visible in photographs taken by the Billings Gazette.” In the May 12th editorial, LJS referred to the “Wide gaps as deep as three feet and hundreds of feet long (that) have opened above the 30-inch Bison pipeline. Saturated with spring meltwater, the loamy, sandy soil along Bison’s 50-foot permanent easement is sinking into broad crevasses through wheat fields, corn fields, alfalfa and rangeland. …In low areas of the rolling ranchland where deep snow gathered, fissures branch across the easement, eroding the topsoil and washing it out into creeks and ponds.”
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. A Study and Memo from the Congressional Research Service dated September 20, 2010 determined that primary authority over location of interstate pipelines belongs to individual states. A BOLD Nebraska blog post, [pdf] includes background information, a transcript of the media roundtable held upon discovery of the memo, and action alert.
Action: write your state senator urging that oil pipeline regulations be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters. Find your state senator’s contact information at the map linked here. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244 asking him to be responsive and join opposition efforts. Secretary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline. Click here to ask her to stand up to Big Oil and NOT grant a permit to TransCanda. You might want to remind her that the “European Union may blacklist tar sands because of higher greenhouse gas emissions.”
“US-Canada oil pipeline – water source threatened,” is an excellent 2:49 minute AlJazeeraEnglish report featuring Nebraska property owners Randy Thompson, Cindy Myers, and Nebraska Audubon representing the issue. Thompson’s letter to TransCanada in response to their “final offer” for his land in Merrick County ends “Until a court of law determines otherwise, your arbitrary claim to condemnation powers is nothing more to us than an empty threat. We feel very strongly that this pipeline could place our property and way of life at risk. Therefore, we are unwilling to succumb to such a threat and respectfully decline your final offer.” Thompson’s May 13th letter to the LJS editor is here.
The New York Times joined citizens, experts and opinion leaders in opposition to the pipeline in an editorial “No to a New Tar Sands Pipeline,” concluding “Last July, an older bitumen pipeline in Michigan spilled 800,000 gallons of the stuff into the Kalamazoo River. A new TransCanada pipeline that began carrying diluted bitumen last year has already had nine spills. …From all of the evidence, Keystone XL is not only environmentally risky, it is unnecessary.” Read the entire editorial here.
New Neal Obermeyer cartoons addressing the legislature’s passive inaction were published in the Lincoln Journal Star on May 8, 2011, and May 1st. Pipeline educator and local musician Jim Pipher recently made a 1:40 minute YouTube video demonstrating a one barrel oil spill. And a new documentary making the independent film circuit right now, The Pipe is based on a struggle in Ireland, but there are many similarities with our own Stop the Pipeline efforts in the US.
What else can you do? Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Other excellent letters to Lincoln Journal Star are here, here, and here. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska.
Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here. For comprehensive references in media since May 30, 2010, click here and scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Green Notes coverage.
Be a community educator and organizer. Let’s change the world together.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.“
PETITION THE EPA . . . Tell the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately prohibit the use of clothianidin and conduct a full scientific review to determine its impact on honey bee populations. Learn more about clothianidin and sign the petition here.
TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA NOT TO CAVE TO MONSANTO AND THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY . . . In the past 3 weeks, the Obama administration has unbelievably chosen to approve three biotech crops, Roundup Ready genetically modified alfalfa, Roundup Ready genetically modified sugar beets and a new industrial biotech corn for ethanol production. These decisions are a devastating blow to our democracy and the basic rights of farmers to choose how they want to grow food on their land and the rights of consumers who increasingly choose organic and sustainably grown food for its positive health and environmental impacts. Please tell the President it’s time to stand up to Monsanto and reject GMO crops.
AGENCY SCIENTISTS OPPOSE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON . . . The following quotes are from Fish and Wildlife Service scientists themselves: “The environmental impact of escaped GE salmon is of great concern.” – Gregory Moyer, Regional Geneticist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; “…approval of the proposal is premature, given the unknowns and uncertainties regarding the possible ecological and environmental effects of these fish.” – Jeff Adams, Branch Chief, Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and “…I do think the chance of escapement is huge” – Deborah Burger, Manager, Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Ask the President to stop the GE salmon approval process.
BUY FRESH. BUY LOCAL . . . . Farmers, gardeners, and craftspeople meet through The Nebraska Food Cooperative, an on-line, year-round farmers’ market and local food distribution service offering the best in local freshness. For ordering and pickup schedules, refer to the calendar here. Click here for products and prices from North Star Neighbors, a Cooperative member that doesn’t therapeutically medicate or unduly confine animals. Click here for Tomato Tomäto, Omaha’s year-round indoor Farmer’s Market at 156th & West Center. Shop for fresh foods grown in or very near your own community at Open Harvest Lincoln’s member-owned natural foods retail cooperative at 1618 South Street. Buying local grows family farming, grows the local economy, and is thousands of miles fresher.
HELP NEBRASKA GREENS WITH GOODSEARCH . . . Each time you search the Internet (or shop online at a participating store), a donation can be made to Nebraska Green Party at no cost to you! To help NGP in this way, enter Nebraska Green Party where it says WHO DO YOU GOODSEARCH FOR? here. Bookmark the GoodSearch Homepage, or make it your own Home Page. Enter the url you want in the GoodSearch search box. Each time you do, one penny will be donated to Nebraska Greens. THANK YOU for your support!
We are no longer the alternative; we are the imperative. –Rosa Clemente
STOP THE PIPELINE