Monthly Archives: August 2014

Electric car charging stations popping up in Lincoln

From JournalStar.com:

Electric car owners in Lincoln will soon have places other than their homes where they can charge up. Lincoln Electric System is putting two electric vehicle charging stations in a city parking garage that’s under construction at 530 P St.

Marc Shkolnick, manager of energy services at LES, said the two stations will be on the first level of the Green Deck No. 2 garage. Each station will have two charging ports, and one port will be dedicated for LES use for charging its three electric vehicles. The other three ports will be open to the public, the first in Lincoln.

Read more.

In Neligh Sept. 27: Neil Young and Willie Nelson

From BOLD Nebraska:

Two music legends — Neil Young and Willie Nelson — will perform a benefit concert on Sept. 27 on a farm near Neligh, Nebraska, that is on the route of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and also crosses the historic Ponca Tribe “Trail of Tears.”

Proceeds from the “Harvest the Hope” concert will go to Bold Nebraska, the Indigenous Environmental Network and the Cowboy & Indian Alliance, to fund the ongoing fight against the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as a number of small, community-based clean energy projects on farms and tribal land. The afternoon concert will take place in a field on a farm owned by a family who are part of a strong collective of Nebraska landowners refusing to sell their land to TransCanada for the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline, and a sacred tribal ceremony will be included in the day’s events.

Also performing will be Native American hip-hop artist Frank Waln, Lukas Nelson (son of Willie!) and the “Stopping the Pipeline Rocks All-Stars,” some of the local Nebraska artists who recorded a benefit album in the solar-powered barn built inside the path of the Keystone XL pipeline last summer.

Read more and purchase tickets.

March against climate change crosses pipeline’s path

From the Columbus Telegram and the Schuyler Sun:

BRADSHAW — Corn grew to the left, soybeans to the right and gravel crunched under their feet on Road 22 Saturday afternoon as about 70 Nebraskans met 35 marchers who are on a cross-country trek to inspire action in combating climate change.

The Great March for Climate Action, which started in Los Angeles, reached Nebraska soil on June 30 and participants have been slowly winding their way through the state. By Saturday, their shoes’ soles had covered about 1,800 miles — about 20 miles a day — with about 1,200 miles to go to reach Washington, D.C.

In the Cornhusker State, those marching have sung in the People’s Church in tiny Max, walked in the July 4 parade in Culbertson, slept in a farmer’s field between Arapahoe and Holdrege — and spoke with thousands of Nebraskans along the way.

Read more.

Petition: End subsidies for mega-farms

From the Center for Rural Affairs:

In the final hours of debate on the 2014 Farm Bill, Congress stripped the popular bi-partisan reform that would have tightened what it means to be “actively engaged” in farming. This definition is important, because without it, mega-farmers use this as a loophole to multiply their payments for every acre they add to their operation. Instead of acting, Congress punted the issue to the administration. The time has come for the Obama Administration to fulfill their 2007 campaign pledge and close the loopholes mega-farms use to get around farm program payment limits.

Step forward by adding your voice today! President Obama and Vice President Biden need to deliver on the promise they made to Iowa farmers when working for their vote in 2007.

Sign the petition.