SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Breaking News that Keystone I was shut down by the US Department of Transportation on Friday led to a brief Lincoln Jouranal Star article on Sunday that TransCanada had “passed the safety test” and the pipeline could re-start sending toxic tar sands oil through out region. We await the DOT re-start Order for confirmation. There has never been a successful pipeline opposition campaign in the US. Please help save our Nebraska land and water from more corporate exploitation, and join Nebraska’s opposition efforts. The Department of State public comment period ends at midnight, Monday, June 6, 2011. This week, Nebraska’s Joel Sartore wrote a Local View for the LJS, “Piping in some common sense.” Published June 5th, the internationally regarded National Geographic photographer and speaker says “For the sake of my family, myself and my state, I challenge the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline.” Join him in commenting at links in CD 3 Green Notes below, if you haven’t done so yet.
Lincoln area: Congressional District 1
NIOBRARA: JEWEL OF THE NORTH . . . “Niobrara: Jewel of the North,” a 42-minute educational documentary, tells the story of Nebraska’s Niobrara River during the four seasons–from its headwaters in eastern Wyoming, through the National Scenic River stretch near Valentine, and on to its mouth at the Missouri River. It will be broadcast for the first time on NET2 (channel 12.2 in Lincoln) on the following schedule: Thursday, June 9, 8:00pm, Sunday, June 12, 2:00pm, Thursday, June 16, 7:00pm, and Sunday, June 19, 1:00pm. After June 9th, the film will be available online here.
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.
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.
LANDSCAPING FOR WILDLIFE . . . Thursday, June 9, 2011, 7:00pm, Dave Titterington, founder of the Wild Bird Habitat Stores, will present “Landscaping for Wildlife” at the Wachiska Audubon monthly meeting, Union College Dick Administration Building lower level auditorium, 3800 South 48th Street, Lincoln. For more information, click here, phone 402.486.4846, or e-mail wachiskaoffice [at] inebraska [dot] com.
WATCHDOGS OF LINCOLN GOVERNMENT . . . The new group Watchdogs of Lincoln Government has been monitoring Joint Public Agency meetings following progress on the new Haymarket arena. Watchdog Bob Olson is quoted in “Railroad demand frustrates arena board.” The article begins, “A private citizen said what others in the room likely were thinking about the city’s lack of power as construction begins on the West Haymarket arena.” “JPA will pay BNSF another $3.4 million for construction delay,” reports details of the first additional cost demanded by BNSF. “White elephant,” a letter to the editor by Marc Schniederjans, published June 3rd, also says what Greens and No2Arena coalition members said all along: “For those of us who easily could see that the Lincoln arena project would be a constant drain on taxes, it comes as no surprise that before the project has really begun, it’s already costing millions of extra dollars.” The next Watchdogs group meeting will be Saturday, June 11, 2011, 10:00am, at Gere Library, 2400 South 56th Street (56th & Normal Blvd.) in Lincoln. CPA Ron Ecklund will demonstrate how to access and read the City budget online.
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 . . . Farmers markets are now open in Lincoln. 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, May 23 through October 20. Other markets have now started, and more will start in 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 “Restrepo,” a feature-length documentary that chronicles the deployment of a platoon of US soldiers in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. Watch the trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.
PROGRESSIVE OMAHA MEETING . . . The next Progressive Omaha meeting will be Saturday, June 11, 2011, 6:00 to 9:00pm, at 4924 Chicago in Dundee (NE corner of 50th & Chicago). Curtis Bryant, a founding member of Progressive Omaha, will speak about a way to make Omaha more livable and progressive: transportation reform. There will be a potluck supper between 6:00 and 7:00; then the discussion until 8:00; followed by business and social time until 9:00pm. Contact Karen Abrams, kabrams123 [at] cox [dot] net for more information.
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.
RIDE OAK CREEK TRAIL . . . Sunday, June 12, 2011, there will be a 26 mile round trip Sierra Club Bike Outing along the Oak Creek Trail between Valparaiso and Brainard, Nebraska. This former Union Pacific rail winds its way through wooded, rolling hills and offers “highland” vistas along the way. A description of the trail is here. A trail map is here. [pdf] Bikers will leave from Wohlner’s Grocery Store, Stinson Park, 72nd and Center, at 8:30am sharp. The drive to the trailhead will take about 1.5 hours. For more information, or to rsvp, contact Bob Goetschkes, bobbygoetschkes [at] hotmail [dot] com, or phone 402.614.4788 (Home) or 402.326.1775 (Cell).
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 . . . This was Friday’s BREAKING NEW: “First Ever US Department Of Transportation Order Shuts Down Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline for Corrective Action.” Published in Wildlife Promise, June 3, 2011, the article begins “As the State Department likely wraps up a comment period on the second round of environmental review for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline on Monday, the US Department of Transportation today issued a first-ever “Corrective Action Order” for the leak-prone one year old Keystone pipeline. The order requires TransCanada to meet 14 conditions before the pipeline can restart and raises serious doubts about TransCanada’s ability to build safe tar sands pipelines.” At the National Wildlife Federation blog DOT says, “After evaluating the foregoing preliminary findings of fact, I find that the continued operation of the pipeline without corrective measures would be hazardous to life, property and the environment” The Order to TransCanada from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is here.
The Lincoln Journal Star front page headline Saturday, June 4, 2011, proclaimed “Pipeline remains closed.” It reported “A federal safety regulator Friday ordered operations on the Keystone petroleum pipeline — the TransCanada line that crosses eastern Nebraska — to remain shut down until the federal agency “is confident that all immediate safety concerns have been addressed.” The Order to TransCanada from Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is here.
Martha Stoddard’s Omaha World Herald article “Keystone pipeline shut down,” quotes Sierra’s Ken Winston saying the order calls into question promises TransCanada has made about its ability to operate a pipeline properly.
The DOT Order followed the closing of Keystone I after the twelfth leak in less than one year. Quoting Anthony Swift on the Natural Resources Defense Council staff blog, June 1st, “The first Keystone tar sands pipeline, constructed less than a year ago, has sprung its twelfth leak, spilling up to 2,100 gallons of raw tar sands crude oil in Kansas on May 29th when a pipeline fitting around a pressure transmitter failed. This comes just three weeks after a broken pipe fitting on Keystone resulted in a 60’ geyser of tar sands crude, spewing 21,000 gallons in North Dakota. Surely this appalling record of spills should send a message to the State Department as it goes through the permitting process for a second tar sands pipeline – Keystone XL – by the same company that we need better pipeline safety assessments and regulations in place before building another tar sands pipeline through sensitive U.S. lands and waters. We have an agency that handles pipeline safety – the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). They should be making the assessment of the safety of diluted bitumen pipelines a priority.” The DOT stepped up days later. Now there is a brief LJS article indicating TransCanada has already “passed the safety test” and can restart Keystone I. Until we see the Department of Transportation re-start Order, this is being regarded as unconfirmed. Quoting BOLD Nebraska’s Jane Kleeb, “to us this all seems very fast–too fast for any level of comfort of safety.”
The deadline for comments to the State Department on the proposed XL tar sands pipeline through Nebraska’s Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer, on the official Comments Page is Monday, June 6, 2011, at midnight. If you haven’t commented yet, 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. Ask her to stand up to Big Oil and NOT grant a permit to TransCanda. Remind her that the “European Union may blacklist tar sands because of higher greenhouse gas emissions.”
Petitions still open to signatures requesting the denial of a permit to TransCanada include “Stop the TransCanada Pipeline” to Secretary Clinton, Governor Heineman, and President Obama; “Protect Nebraska; Say NO to Tar Sands;” “Protect Nebraska’s Economic Activity, Put the Brakes on the Pipeline;” “Protect Your Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” and a Brave New Foundation petition to Clinton, “Say No to the Kochs and Yes to Protecting Americans.” Please sign them all, and add personal comments of concern for our ecosystem if you wish. “Time’s Running Out to Stop the Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline — Take Action Now,” by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, June 3, 2011 also links a new petition to Secretary Clinton.
TransCanada representatives are making the rounds to county meetings all along the pipeline route. On June 1st, they held a media event covered by Art Hovey for Lincoln Journal Star. “Keystone XL proponents rally round the cause” mentions the presence of opposition activists, who happen to be Greens. Quoting, “Although all the panel members were pro-pipeline, two protesters took up positions outside the room during the panelists’ remarks. John Carlini of Lincoln carried a sign that said “No Dirty Oil Over Our Aquifer.” Shari Schwartz, also of Lincoln, stood nearby with one that said “Nebraska Can’t Afford An Oil Spill.” Carlini is quoted in the article. The next XL pep rally will be Wednesday, June 8th, at Walnut Grove Park, 15050 Q Street, in Omaha–for those who want to hear propaganda, ask questions, and learn about what the Canadian company plans to do next.
Meanwhile, “the Domina Law Group is investigating a class-action lawsuit against the XL pipeline, saying the company may be abusing eminent domain laws to bully Nebraska landowners into making way for the pipeline. Environmental groups are hoping that if even a few landowners can block the pipeline from running over their turf, they can force the pipeline to be re-routed.” Keystone Facing Potential Legal Hurdle, was reported at POLITICO.
A new Nebraska Sierra 9:45 minute YouTube video of pipeline opponents speaking at the May 12, 2011 Citizen Hearing in the capitol rotunda was posted online this past week. Many letters to the Lincoln Journal Star have been published in the year since the public started realizing the threat posed by TransCanada. Letters linked in Green Notes since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.) Comprehensive news coverage related to the XL pipeline is also linked in archives.
What can you do now that the legislative session has ended and the official Department of State comment period expires June 6th? Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
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