SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Keystone XL pipeline news is in CD 3 Green Notes below.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

CITY BUDGET . . . A $144 Million budget reflecting the mayor’s proposed property tax increase has been presented to the City Council. The Council will discuss any changes at the July 25th meeting, and a public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for Thursday, August 8, 2011. Deena Winter blogs on “What you need to know about the Mayor’s budget proposal,” here.

HELP THE FOOD BANK . . . Lincoln Food Bank donations are being accepted in bright red bins at the Bennett Martin Public Library, 126 South 14th Street, and Anderson, 3635 Touzalin Avenue, Bethany, 1810 North Cotner, Eiseley, 1530 Superior, Gere, 2400 South 56th, South, 2675 South Street, and Walt branch library, 6701 South 14th, through July 25, 2011. Click here for a list of the most needed foods.

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.  A July 13, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star front page feature story with photo about Norma Fleisher’s statewide 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.

MORRILL HALL THURSDAYS . . . The UN-L State Museum, Morrill Hall, at 14th & Vine Streets in Lincoln, is offering free admission every Thursday, 4:30 to 8:00pm, through August 25th. Visit the Morrill Hall website for summer schedule information.

GROUNDWATER RULES . . . The Lower Platte South Natural Resources District will hold a series of public hearings about proposed changes to its groundwater rules starting on Thursday, July 21, 2011, 7:00pm, at the VFW Club, 13820 Guildford Street, Waverly. Oral or written testimony can be presented. Other hearings will be Monday, July 25th at the Weeping Water New City Auditorium, 101 West Eldora Avenue; and July 27th at the Elmwood Village Hall, 113 West E Street. Changes requested by NRD are listed in LJS coverage here.  For more information, or a complete copy of proposed changes, contact Dick Ehrman or Dan Schulz at the district office, 402.476.2729 or lpsnrd [at] lpsnrd [dot] org.

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 [dot] paine [at] ecostoresne.org.

SAVE THE DATE: August 25, 2011 . . . The annual potluck supper for the group Alternatives to the Military will be on Thursday, August 25, 2011, 5:30pm, at Christ United Methodist Church, 45th & A Street, Lincoln. Longtime local peace and justice activists Paul Olson and Lela Shanks will receive the Peacemaker of the Year Award.

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 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. 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.

SAVE THE DATE . . . Friday, August 5, 2011, Lincoln’s “I Stand With Randy–Keep Heineman Accountable” event will circle Governor Heineman’s mansion, 1425 H Street, at 9:00pm. Get ideas for other events, and sign up to host your own at links provided here.

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 “Speaking Freely Vol. 5: Hugo Chavez,” featuring Chavez speaking to members of the international press core about the advantages of socialism over capitalism, explaining why true democracy cannot exist under the latter. For more information, click here.  The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

HIKE LAURITZEN GARDENS . . . The Omaha Hiking Club will host a hike of Kennefick Park and Lauritzen Botanical Gardens Saturday, July 23, 2011, 8:30am. Meet in the parking lot at the base of the Kennefick Park staircase. The hike will follow the Woodland Trail, and cover the gardens–4 to 5 miles total. For more information, e-mail omahahikingclub [at] cox [dot] net.

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE, OPPOSE H.R. 1938 . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for details. BOLD Nebraska blogged about CD 2 US Representative Lee Terry’s bill, the “Oil Disaster Promotion Act,” here, (See XL Update in CD 3 Green Notes below.) E-mail, Tweet or write on Terry’s Facebook wall letting him know his pipeline bill was reckless and he needs to pull it now. Call him at 402.397.9944. Plan events ouside his Omaha office, 11717 Burt Street, Suite 106. Stand outside, alone, with a friend or group of friends, holding a sign such as “don’t rush the pipeline.” Or hold a BOLD Nebraska STOP THE PIPELINE sign for a presence at his office. 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 . . . “Should Alberta’s cross-border oil pipeline be extended to Texas?” The CBC News article and poll are still online. Let a resounding “No” be reflected. Please scroll down and Vote!
UN-L professor of water resources engineering John Stansbury released his independent analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline project Monday with a “Worst-case scenario” report on a spill in Nebraska’s Platte River. A Lincoln Journal Star article covers the “disastrous” results on the Sand Hills, our Ogallala Aquifer, and serious health risks to people using that groundwater for drinking water and irrigation. From BOLD Nebraska, “The study offers a first-of-its-kind independent analysis of the potential frequency and magnitude of oil spills from the tar sands oil project, as well as the consequences of worst-case spills into the Yellowstone, Missouri and Platte Rivers and atop the Ogallala Aquifer. The findings raise serious questions about the reliability of data that pipeline company TransCanada has provided to U.S. regulators.” The Guardian reported on the analysis, as did the Huffington Post.
SAVE THE DATE: Friday,  August 5, 2011, plan now to join a circle around the governor’s mansion at 9:00pm for one of Lincon’s “I Stand With Randy” events against the pipeline.  XL pipeline opposition groups are planning a STATEWIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS to coincide with the Washington DC Action August 5 through August 7, 2011.  In towns across the state, in venues from churches to bars, artists will use the themes of Water, the Sand Hills, and stopping the XL pipeline to create a statewide Festival. Arts include dance, theater, cooking, poetry, music, sculpture, origami, flower arrangement, film, photography and more. AnyOne can organize an event anywhere.
Pippa White will present her production of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People at the Center for People in Need as part of the weekend to Stand with Randy. Think about what kind of event you’d like to plan. Your event can be small–just a few friends talking over dinner. Please join the network of actions statewide, and guarantee that your event is posted online by filling out the form here.
Friday, July 15th, The Hill reported “Seven Senate Democrats called on the State Department to conduct additional review of a proposed pipeline that would carry oil from Canada to Texas. The lawmakers, in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, raised concerns about TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, pointing to recent leaks at the company’s existing Keystone pipeline and a recent oil spill at an Exxon Mobil Corp. pipeline in Montana. “We write to express our continuing concerns regarding TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline,” the Senate Democrats say in the letter. “One need look no further than the ongoing impacts on the Yellowstone River in Montana from a leak in ExxonMobil’ s Silvertip pipeline to recognize that such risks are very real.” Read the full letter signed by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Robert Menenedez (D-N.J.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) here.
Thursday, July 14th, the LA Times editorialized “…TransCanada has a poor record when it comes to spills. Its first pipeline, Keystone I, has already sprung more than a dozen leaks in its first year of operation. The State Department is promising to make a decision on Keystone XL before the end of the year, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee is pushing for approval by Nov. 1, but there is no rush. The environmental risks should be thoroughly studied and mitigation measures must be put in place.” Read “The Risks of the Keystone XL Pipeline,” here.
Internationally acclaimed National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore challenged all Nebraskans to “Write and call Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” to let them know that “trading our environmental heritage in order to cater to greed and increase the wealth of a select few will not be tolerated. Nebraska is better than this.”
Contact information for Nebraska’s Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln), FaceBook; Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); Senator Ben Nelson, 720 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.6551; Senator Mike Johanns, 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.4224. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems.
A new petition to Secretary of State Clinton: “Stop the Pipeline. Save Our Songbirds!” says “The numbers are staggering: tar sands mining in Canada’s Boreal forest could claim the lives of 160 million migratory birds — including millions of backyard songbirds we love seeing and hearing every summer.” A petition from the National Wildlife Federation, “Save SandHill Cranes from Dirty Oil,” is addressed to the president, the signer’s senators, representative, and the State Department. Other 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.”
A new Sierra Action Alert to call President Obama at 202.456.1111 outlines talking points for asking him to reject the dirty and dangerous XL tar sands pipeline. And readers can sign a letter asking Dole and Chiquita not to use toxic tar sands oil for transporting their bananas here.
“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. Please take all these actions, if you haven’t already.
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.)
What more can you do?  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. Click here to learn about planning your own “I Stand With Randy” event August 5th through the 7th.  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. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project.  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 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 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