SCROLL DOWN FOR THIS WEEK’S TRANSCANADA KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE.

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. here.  A Lincoln Journal Star front page feature story about 84-year old Norma Fleisher’s summer tour of all Nebraska counties calling for an end to the death penalty is 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.

POV . . . Wednesday, September 14, 2011, 7:00pm, Simon Kilmurry, Executive Director of POV, the PBS “independent non-fiction film” series, will present a behind-the-scenes look with film clips, followed by Q&A at NET Television, 1800 North 33rd Street, Lincoln. No reservations are required.

UPRISING: SYRIA AND ISLAM . . . Thursday, September 15, 2011, 3:30 to 5:00pm, Dr. Leif Stenberg, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden, will present “Uprising in the Middle East: The Example of Syria and Official Islam,” at the Un-L City Campus Union, 15th & R Streets, Lincoln. For more information, e-mail Lory Dance, danceinthecorn [at] gmail [dot] com

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, 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.

BENEFIT FOR THE COALITION AGAINST THE PIPELINE . . .  Saturday, September 17, 2011, 7:00pm, there will be a Benefit Concert for the Coalition Against the Pipeline at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 South Street, Lincoln, with live performances by Chance Preston, Joe Lenzo, and Elijah Jett.  Members of the Coalition will be available for questions.   Meet  pipeline opponents, learn about the State Department Hearings, and pitch in with a suggested donation of $5 to help with expenses of continuing the campaign to Stop the XL Pipeline in Nebraska.

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 is open Saturdays, 8:00am to noon, at 1265 South Cotner, through 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, through October 20. Through mid-September, a Wednesday market in University Place is open from 3:00 to 7:00pm at the former Green’s Plumbing site, 48th & Madison Streets. Thursday’s market from 4:00 to 8:00pm at Fallbrook Town Square Park on the corner of Fallbrook Blvd. between NW Sixth and Seventh Streets will be open through October 13th. 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. Wednesday, September 14, 2011, the main attraction, Fresh, celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. View trailers here.  Matt Ohloff, from Food and Water Watch, will be the guest speaker. The weekly event is always free and open to the public. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

REAL DEMOCRACY, NOT HYPOCRISY . . . On Thursday, September 15th, 2011, “International Day of Democracy,” rallies and demonstrations will be held across the country and around the world to bring awareness to the the upcoming vital UN Vote on Palestinian Statehood September 20th.  The Omaha Call to Action will be at 5:00pm, on the Dodge Street side of Memorial Park, in support of Palestinian self-determination and ending US tax dollars for Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian territory.  For more information, click here.  To volunteer helpful resources, contact Katie Huerter, or at khuerter [at] unomaha [dot] edu

POV . . . Thursday, September 15, 2011, 6:30pm, Simon Kilmurry, Executive Director of POV, the PBS “independent non-fiction film” series, will present a behind-the-scenes look with film clips, followed by Q&A, at Film Streams, 1340 Mike Fahey Street, Omaha. To reserve tickets, e-mail maggie [at] filmstreams [dot] org

MASTER PLAN PUBLIC MEETING . . . Thursday, September 15, 2011, 6:30pm, the City of Omaha will hold a Transportation Master Plan Public Meeting at the UN-O Scott Conference Center, 6450 Pine Street. The meeting will include an opportunity for citizens to vote on street design and transportation preferences, and will send a signal to the City Council and Mayor that citizens are interested in expanded mobility in Omaha. Click here for a video that explains why this is so important. For more information, check out Mode Shift Omaha, which is organizing express buses and group bike rides to the meeting.

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 xMark 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. 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 . . . A National Interest Determination document released September 8, 2011, by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Oil Change International, and the Dakota Resource Council begins with the following paragraph.
“The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline proposed by the Canadian pipeline company TransCanada would bring as much as 900,000 barrels per day to the United States from under Canada’s Boreal Forest. To give a presidential permit to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the U.S. State Department must find that the pipeline serves the national interest. This pipeline will double U.S. reliance on dirty tar sands fuel and contribute to a massive expansion of destruction of the Boreal Forest in Canada. The pipeline threatens to pollute drinking water supplies in the U.S. heartland and poses safety risks from oil spills. The pipeline will also increase already dangerously high greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands extraction undermining the many gains being made in the United States through fuel efficiency standards and other means to reduce our dependence on oil and to reduce our contribution to climate change. And rather than increasing U.S. energy security, this pipeline will provide tar sands producers with a major deepwater port from which it will be exported to other countries. The Keystone XL pipeline primarily serves oil industry interests increasing the profits of tar sands producers. Tar sands have no place in America’s clean energy economy.” The Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Is Not in the National Interest. Other links relating to the National Interest Determination are here.  Peter Lehner summarizes the NID document here.
A September 9, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star letter to the editor by Kenneth W. Moore begins “The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not in the national interest. Unless the State Department responds to the requests of our governor and our senators to relocate the pipeline, it would cross the ecologically sensitive Nebraska Sandhills. This is a fragile area with few pipelines of any kind. …This project is not in the national interest because the pipeline would run directly over and through the nation’s largest aquifer and would move our nation toward dependence on an even dirtier and more dangerous form of oil at a time when we need to be investing instead in clean, sustainable sources of energy.”
On the last day of sit-ins in Washington DC opposing the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska’s fragile Sand Hills and the Ogallala Aquifer, Bill McKibben wrote from the White House lawn: “In front of me there’s a sprawling rally underway, with speakers ranging from indigenous elders to the great Canadian writer Naomi Klein. In back of me, another 243 courageous people are being hauled away to jail — it’s the last day of Phase 1 of the tar sands campaign, and 1,252 North Americans have been arrested, the biggest civil disobedience action this century on this continent.  But we’ve been just as cheered by the help that has poured in from around the world — today, activists in front of the White House held a banner with a huge number on it: 618,428. That’s how many people around the world who signed on to the “Stop the Tar Sands” mega-petition to President Obama.” Check out photos of passion and courage on display here.  Click on the Tar Sands Action website for final press releases, more photos and videos.
Activist author Ted Glick, also writing after the White House protest for his Future Hope Column September 5th, says “…”Let’s be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil.” That’s one of the things Obama said, along with this big applause line, that his election was “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” He hasn’t yet delivered. Worse, he and his administration have opened up public lands in Wyoming for coal mining, allowed most mountaintop removal permits to proceed forward, done nothing to stop natural gas fracking, supported the expansion of deepwater ocean drilling beyond the Gulf of Mexico and, so far, given lots of indications that he will approve the Keystone XL pipeline. These methods of extreme extraction of fossil fuels are exactly the wrong direction to be going. …For those who want to see Obama reelected, for those who are turned off by all of his administration’s many betrayals of his campaign promises and unsure of what they’ll be doing about the Presidential election, and for those who have had it with both Republicans and Democrats, the campaign to defeat the Keystone XL pipeline is a classic unifying issue, an urgent issue. The next few months are key. Let’s keep building the Tar Sands Action momentum and win one for the people and the earth this year. Si, se puede!”
Local activist Carol Smith joined 15 other Nebraskans on caravan to DC for the sit-ins. Carol’s pre-trip Local View for the LJS, “I Will be Sitting in Front of the White House,” is here.  On Thursday, September 1st, a photo of Carol being arrested ran in LJS with a column by Cindy Lange-Kubick reporting on Carol’s activism. A blog about the caravan’s experiences on the road, with photos, is here.  Thank You Carol!
A photo of climate change activist James E. Hansen being arrested at the White House accompanies his must read post-sit-in article “Climate Story Tellers” published in TruthOut September 4th. “If the Keystone XL pipeline is approved, can we make a citizen’s arrest on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for violating the Energy Independence and Security Act? If they were put in the back of a hot paddy wagon in DC and held for at least several hours with their hands tied behind their backs, maybe they would have a chance to think over this matter more clearly. …Have no doubt — if the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is approved, we will be back, and our numbers will grow. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, we must find a leader who is worthy of our dreams.” Hansen’s remarks to the protesters before his arrest are here.
Public support for a special session of the Nebraska legislature continues with new letters to the LJS editor this past week. Quoting Pam Herbert Barger’s September 7th letter, “All of us who own cars must admit that we make use of the very oil that is choking our planet. Even as we drive to the mall, we admit to discomfort about being “dependent” upon oil from tenuous sources. However, it does not follow that the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline is a good thing. There is no reason for TransCanada to insist that this pipeline flow through our Sandhills and our Ogallala Aquifer, especially when a safer route exists. Oil may be precious, but water is a necessity. Even TransCanada’s most optimistic predictions allow for leaks. Are we willing to risk ruining the very water we drink and use for irrigation?  I urge Gov. Dave Heineman to call a special legislative session so that we may find a way to insist upon rerouting the pipeline away from our state’s lifeblood.”
On September 6th, Mary Jane Bruce wrote “Thanks to Gov. Dave Heineman for taking a stand against the Keystone XL pipeline (“Pointing fingers,” Sept. 1). Now it’s time for him to put action behind his words. I call for Gov. Heineman to call a special session of the Legislature to reroute the pipeline away from the Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer. If he doesn’t deal with this important issue, we’ll know his opposition is purely political and an effort to straddle the fence. Don’t play politics with our water.”
A September 4th letter by Jim Knopik of Belgrade also asks the governor to “Call special session on Keystone.” It begins “Wednesday morning I heard some great news. Gov. Dave Heineman wrote a letter to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, but he continues to drag his own feet, saying the ball is in the hands of our federal government. Sen. Ben Nelson, on the other hand, said Gov. Heineman could do something about making TransCanada reroute the pipeline. Personally, I believe all of them could do something, but won’t. The letter is here.
“Dismayed by Heineman,” a letter by Vernon Forbes, begins “I was dismayed that Governor Dave Heineman will not call for a special session of the Legislature to protect the Ogallala Aquifer, even though he admits that a majority of Nebraskans (including himself) believe that the Keystone XL Pipeline should not go through the Sandhills. He believes this should have been taken care of in the regular session, that a special session is too expensive, and that the votes to pass a bill are not there. During the regular session, the senators did not feel they had the authority to determine a pipeline’s route through the state. It is now clear they do have that authority, and Senator Ken Haar is trying to make that correction.” The letter continues here.
Several Nebraska groups have formed a coalition called Save Our Sand Hills for the purpose of calling for a special session.  Call Your senator and ask him or her to press for a special session of the legislature. We have no legal petition route to calling a special session. Citizen input is the only way the senators will become interested enough to act. They need to hear from constituents.
In a September 8th letter to the editor, “TransCanada’s ploy,” Nancy A. Anderson writes “So now TransCanada thinks it can ingratiate itself with Nebraskans with a none-too-subtle sponsorship of a HuskerVision video celebrating the football team’s own “pipeline”? I’m happy that judging by fans’ response — stunned silence quickly followed by resounding boos — that the ploy appeared to have backfired. Anyone in the Athletic Department who approved this brazen attempt to win favor on a highly controversial issue by association with the Huskers should be ashamed.”
This past week a group of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, including The Dalai Lama, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, wrote President Obama urging him to reject the Keystone XL pipeline permit and build a clean energy legacy. From the letter, “We urge you to say no“ to the pipeline and “turn your attention back to supporting renewable sources of energy and clean transportation solutions. …This will be your legacy to Americans and the global community: energy that sustains the lives and livelihoods of future generations.” Read a September 7th Nobel Womens Initiative here.
Pipeline Inspection Agency Chronically Undermanned,” by Dan Frosch and Janet Roberts, was sourced by Reader Supported News from the New York Times, September 10, 2011: “This summer, an ExxonMobil pipeline carrying oil across Montana burst suddenly, soiling the swollen Yellowstone River with an estimated 42,000 gallons of crude just weeks after a company inspection and federal review had found nothing seriously wrong. And in the Midwest, a 35-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan, once teeming with swimmers and boaters, remains closed nearly 14 months after an Enbridge Energy pipeline hemorrhaged 843,000 gallons of oil that will cost more than $500 million to clean up.” Read the article here.
The Kochs’ Keystone Clique Exposed, by Robert Greenwald, Guardian UK, RSN, September 8, 2011: “The Koch brothers would profit from this oil pipeline at the expense of working families, who live and work along the approximately 2,000 miles of the pipeline’s route. The brothers own almost all of the $100 billionn Koch Industries, which is ‘among Canada’s largest crude oil purchasers, shippers and exporters,’ according to a Koch subsidiary’s website. The Kochs also operate an entire business line called Koch Exploration Canada, LP, which is devoted to exploring and refining one of the most toxic energy sources on Earth.” Read, view 3:47 minute video, and sign the petition here.  The video is dated–it mentions 7 leaks, not 12 in 12 months of the current Keystone pipeline production, but it includes Hillary Clinton’s “we are inclined” to sign off on XL remark. When asked if she would be willing to reconsider, her answer was “probably not.” Please watch, and sign the petition.
Add your voice to the “Protect Our Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” petition urging the president to deny the construction permit here.
And new this week from CREDO Action,  “Tell Oprah: Stop promoting dirty tar sands lies on your network.”  Oprah Winfrey is a respected voice for advancing the rights and lives of women all over the world. But now she is allowing that work to be co-opted, by validating a dangerous campaign of flat out lies that promote the development of the Canadian tar sands on her network. Read the petition, and sign with an e-mail here.
In the Final Environmental Impact Statement, the Obama administration “removed a major roadblock to a planned $7 billion oil pipeline from western Canada to the Texas coast” saying that the project is unlikely to cause significant environmental problems during construction or operation. The EIS is 1,200 pages. Early AP coverage is here.  Lincoln Journal Star coverage is here.  The New York Times called the EIS “a crucial green light” to the 1,711-mile tar sands pipeline. The Department of State said it was eliminating route alternatives from further consideration! Read the BOLD Nebraska response to the FEIS here.
A background document on the FEIS by the Natural Resources Defense Council mailed to grouplists September 2nd summarizes the bottom line: “1) There is ample evidence that Keystone XL will cause an increase in tar sands oil extraction and significant harm to climate, wildlife, water and health. 2) The pipeline will risk health and safety through oil spills as well as water and air pollution. 3) The State Department’s finding that the pipeline will cause “no significant impact” is flawed. 4) The FEIS is lacking in several areas including an expert study on safety impact, clean energy alternatives to the pipeline, a serious review of an alternative path avoiding the Nebraska Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer, climate change impacts, and an on-the-ground study or refinery pollution in Port Arthur and Houston.” Ken Winston’s response for Nebraska Sierra, “Final Environmental Impact Statement Flawed” is here.  Please take a moment to call the White House and tell the President to deny the permit to build this pipeline.  The White House Switchboard number is 202.456.1111.
Department of State Public Hearings following the final EIS will offer the final opportunity to speak for preservation of Our land and water. Randy Thompson and the entire Coalition of groups taking action to Save the Sand Hills will now focus on fostering a large presence at the two Nebraska hearings.  Please mark your calendars now for Tuesday, September 27, 2011, at Pershing Center, 226 Centennial Mall South, Lincoln, 12:00pm – 3:30pm, and 4:00pm – 8:00pm; and Thursday, September 29, 2011, West Holt High School, 100 North Main Street, Atkinson, Nebraska, 4:30pm – 10:00pm.
The Omaha World-Herald editorialized “Protect this Special Gift,” a strong statement for rerouting the pipeline. “The Ogallala Aquifer is a special gift to Nebraskans. Nebraskans have a special responsibility to protect it. Allowing an oil sands pipeline to cross the heart of that aquifer poses a potential threat to a unique natural resource. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline should be rerouted.” And a Lincoln Journal Star Op-Ed September 2nd called for a strong public presence at the scheduled State Department hearings. Although that day’s editorial is not online, it says “We hope senators continue the effort to establish stronger state control before it’s too late.” The editorial board first wrote “Reroute Keystone LX pipeline around Sand Hills” on September 28, 2010.
From “Pipeline Protests: Beyond the Usual Suspects,” by Madeline Ostrander, Yes! Magazine, in TruthOut August 29th, “Several months ago, John Stansbury, a soft-spoken professor from Omaha, Nebraska, took his 12-year-old grandson to a public meeting to discuss Keystone XL, the proposed mega-pipeline that would carry oil from Canada across his home state to the Gulf of Mexico. At the time, Stansbury knew almost nothing about the pipeline and had never done anything particularly political. ‘I’m not really an activist,’ he says, a bit sheepishly. But he wanted his grandson to ‘see democracy at work.’ The 61-year-old civil engineer also happens to be an expert in the transport of hazardous materials. And as he learned more about Keystone XL, he saw a disaster in the making. After the meeting, Stansbury began poring over official risk assessments of the pipeline and thought they grossly underestimated the probability of a spill. He was so troubled that he did something he’s never done before—he courted media attention. He drafted an independent report on the pipeline, asked the organization Friends of the Earth to help announce his findings, and held a press conference. He predicts the pipeline could have approximately 91 significant spills over the next 50 years—eight times as many as the energy company TransCanada estimated. …The pipeline could be a rare moment for Obama to act on his commitment to post-partisan politics, make good on his promise to act on climate change, and stop one of the world’s most environmentally disastrous projects.” Read here.
In “3 Reasons Why the Tar Sands Pipeline Has to be Stopped,” Janet Redman writes “why the pipeline is truly idiotic and why I’m willing to get arrested to stop it.” The AlterNet article begins “The latest bone-headed move by the fossil fuel industry to build a pipeline across the United States is testing my patience. And I’m someone who’s seen a lot of really dumb environmental behavior. …For all the oil money in politics — and there’s about $24 million of it in Congress — I still hold out the hope that with a little help from his friends Obama will see the Keystone XL pipeline expansion as a really stupid idea. Obama’s no dummy. He knows that increasing national energy security means reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. He knows that we don’t have extra money lying around to clean up spills and foot the bill for health impacts. And he knows that building a clean, renewable energy economy in the United States would create millions of jobs.” The complete article is here.
A great new Huffington Post “Keystone XL Pipeline Infograph: Built to Spill,” was posted August 28th. Emma Pullman of DeSmogBlog and Heather Libby of TckTckTck created the infographic. Their statement provided the following description: “TransCanada says their Keystone pipelines are the safest on the continent. But what about those 12 spills in the past year? Since its operation began in June of 2010, the Keystone 1 pipeline has suffered more spills than any other 1st year pipeline in US history, a track record which does not bode well for the proposed Keystone XL which tracks across one of the largest aquifers in the world – the Ogalalla – which supplies drinking water to millions of mid-Westerners and provides 30% of the nation’s groundwater used for irrigation. The Keystone pipeline map shows the spills documented in TransCanada’s publicly released safety records alongside the proposed route for Keystone XL, indicating key risk areas near waterways and major metropolitan areas.” Please click here to view this new infograph.
Comprehensive Green Notes covering international, national and local opposition to the XL pipeline since May 30, 2010 are in archives here.  (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.)
The governor could stop this pipeline madness right now by making the Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer off limits to pipelines. He needs to hear from EveryOne who opposes the XL project.  Please contact him with thanks for his letter to the President and Secretary of State, ask him to call a special session of the legislature, and also contact your own senator requesting he or she joins Ken Haar in seeking a special session. Continue writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper, and keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska.  And please plan to be at the Department of State Public Hearings in Lincoln, Tuesday, September 27th at Pershing Center, 12:00pm – 3:30pm, and 4:00pm – 8:00pm; and Thursday, September 29th at West Holt High School in Atkinson, 4:30pm – 10:00pm.  E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers, and t-shirts. New armbands that say “Sandhills and Ogallala Aquifer Lover” and “Pipeline Fighter” will be ready for the State Department hearings.
Be a community educator and organizer. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project.

STOP FRACKING NOW . . . “We, the undersigned, call on Congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act this year. It’s time to hold the oil and gas production industry to the same standards as any other industry to ensure the safe protection of America’s drinking water.” Sign the Petition and view 6:20 minute Colbert Report interview with Tom Ridge.

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 . . . 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.

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 asks you to name your cause 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!

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.“

STOP THE PIPELINE