Moving Planet Worldwide Rally to Demand Solutions to the Climate Crisis, Saturday, September 24, 2011.  Let’s Move the Planet in a New Direction!

SCROLL DOWN FOR THIS WEEK’S TRANSCANADA KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Make special note of State Department public hearings in Lincoln on Tuesday, September 27th, and on Thursday, September 29th, in Atkinson, Nebraska. Details are in CD 3 Notes below.

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.  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.

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION . . . Wednesday,September 21, 2011, 7:30 to 8:30pm, the First-Plymouth Church Peace and Justice Team will host a Community Conversation on Civil Discourse with former State Senator Lowen Kruse, and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse from the UN-L Political Science Department, at the church, 2000 D Street. Is Civil Discourse Dead in America? will be the topic question. All are welcome.

NO MORE, NOT HERE . . . Thursday, September 22, 2011, 6:30pm, there will be an Anti-Violence Rally, “No More, Not Here,” at Cooper Park, 8th & D Streets, Lincoln. Sponsored by community members working to find alternatives to violence, the event is free and open to the public. For more information, phone John Leonard Harris at 402.309.9411, or e-mail mr.encouragement [at] gmail [dot] com

THE PIPE . . . Opening Friday, September 23, 2011, at The Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, 313 North 13th Street, Lincoln, The PIPE follows a small community in Ireland torn apart by a proposed Shell pipeline. A synopsis is here.  Watch the trailer here.  The Friends of The Ross are sponsoring a Movie Talk on Sunday, September 25 at 4:30pm in conjunction with the showing. See Note below for details.

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.

POETS FOR PEACE . . . Saturday, September 24, 2011, in conjunction with 100 Thousand Poets for Change, there will be a reading by eleven local poets from 6:00 to 8:00pm, at Crescent Moon Coffee, Eighth and P Streets, in Lincoln. Similar events will take place in 230 cities and 54 countries as part of a global initiative to celebrate/demonstrate poetry and address issues of peace and sustainability.

VEG FEST IV . . . The sixth annual Veg Fest celebrating farmers and communities will be Saturday, September 24, 2011, 2:00 to 5:30pm, in Bethany Park, 66th and Vine, Lincoln. Presented by the KZUM 89.3FM, “How’s it Growing?” Community Radio Show, and Community CROPS, the free, family festival will feature farmers’ market vendors, live music, information booths on a range of environmental & healthy topics, cooking demonstrations and fun kids’ activities. Ride your bike and enjoy a beautiful afternoon in the park. Look for Open Harvest near the kids pavilion.

DINING AL FRESCO . . . Tastes in the Tallgrass, a local food and music event at Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center near Denton, Nebraska, will be Sunday, September 25, 2011, beginning at 4:30pm with appetizers and prairie walks before the 5:30 buffet and raffle. A long table will wind over the autumn prairie for this eco-friendly bring-your-own plate event. Click here for more information.

MOVIE TALK . . . Sunday, September 25, 2011, The Friends of The Ross are sponsoring a Movie Talk at the Visitors Center/Film Theater, 313 North 13th Street, Lincoln, 4:30pm after the 3:00 screening of The PIPE. The PIPE follows an Ireland community torn apart by a proposed Shell oil pipeline. Watch the trailer here.  Movie Talk will feature BOLD Nebraska organizers Jane Kleeb, Ken Winston, Ben Gotschall, Duane Hovorka, Diane Amdor, and John Bolenbaugh. A slideshow of the Sand Hills by Nebraska photographer Michael Forsberg will be shown before the film. Movie Talk is free, and open to the public. For more information, e-mail Danny Ladely, dladely1 [at] unl [dot] edu

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 21, 2011, the film will be “911 Eyewitness Hoboken,” a documentary that exposes inconsistencies between the U.S. Government version of events on September 11, 2001 and the irrefutable evidence of eyewitnesses. The weekly event is always free and open to the public. A discussion will follow the film. For more information, click here.  The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

LOCAL FOODS . . . The Thursday, September 22nd, 7:00pm Omaha Sierra Club meeting will feature “Local Foods: Bridging Urban Sustainability and Rural Renewal,” with No More Empty Pots leaders Susan Whitfield and Nancy Williams, at the First United Methodist Church, 69th & Cass Streets. (Enter north door education wing.) ‘Food deserts’ are places in the industrialized world where healthy, affordable food is hard to obtain, and they exist in Nebraska–in both urban and rural areas. No More Empty Pots connects individuals and groups to help local businesses improve self-sufficiency, and food security. Sierra programs are free and open to the public. There is more information here.

TRUTH & RECONCILIATION CONVERSATION . . . Nebraskans for Justice will present a Truth & Reconciliation Conversation about Ed & Mondo, Nebraska’s longtime political prisoners, on Saturday, September 24, 2011, 10:00am to 3:00pm, at the Malcolm X Birth Site, 3448 Evans Street, Omaha. Following opening remarks by Tariq Al-Amin, Former State Senator Ernie Chambers will join Vicki Clark at the 10:15 Panel, Session One (In the Beginning). Session Two (Police & Panthers) will follow at 11:00am until the Noon Lunch. Session Three (Problem & Solution) will include discussion by Mary Dickinson and Tariq and the film “COINTELPRO 101.” Session Four (Status of Cases) will summarize the current legal situation with Ed’s and Mondo’s separate attorneys, and Mary Dickinson. A Wrap-Up Session, Discussion and Announcements will conclude the day’s Bearing Witness event.

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 . . . Department of State Public Hearings will offer the final opportunity to speak for preservation of Our land and water.  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.

Organized XL pipeline opposition actions continued during the week after 1,252 people were arrested at the 14 day White House sit-in. Last Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 50 protesters, including members of the Harvard Environmental Action Committee, showed up to confront Obama campaign manager Jim Messina when he appeared on campus for a conversation with students. “We decided we wanted to make some noise to show Obama that people are angry about this issue,” Sachi M. Oshima told The Harvard Crimson. Statepaper.com coverage of the Harvard action is here.  In Columbus, Ohio, Obama’s motorcade was also met with Keystone XL protesters. A photo is here.
The September 18, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star published three editorial opinions on the pipeline: a Column by Michael E. Kraft, McClatchy, “Keystone XL no substitute for new energy sources;” and two pro-pipeline views.  Kraft writes “Even the Energy Department says we don’t need the new pipeline because sufficient capacity already exists to double imports from Canada.”
At the first two Nebraska football games, TransCanada ran XL pipeline ads on the huge video screens at Memorial Stadium. The “brazen attempt to win favor on a highly controversial issue” was met with resounding boos. After further consideration, and complaints from fans, the university severed the contract with TransCanada. The Omaha World-Herald report is here, and Lincoln Journal Star coverage is here.  To send a thank you to Athletic Director Tom Osborne, BOLD Nebraska suggests doing so here.

TransCanada has threatened Nebraska landowner Randy Thompson with the use of eminent domain to build the still unapproved XL pipeline. Last week Randy delivered a letter to Nebraska Attorney General Bruning calling on Bruning to investigate deceptive tactics used by TransCanada to obtain land rights for the pipeline. Read Randy’s letter here.
Wednesday, September 14th, InsideClimate News published an Elizabeth McGowan article, “Nebraskans Determined to Reroute Keystone XL Around Aquifer as Decision Time Nears.” McGowan notes “A growing determination by Nebraskans to protect their precious aquifer could give environmentalists a small victory in their fight against the Keystone XL pipeline, which would pump heavy crude oil from Canada through America’s heartland. …The fact that the State Department has ignored similar pipeline rerouting requests from other politicians and the Environmental Protection Agency isn’t stopping Nebraskans from forging ahead.” Read page 1 of 4 here.
From the current issue of Audubon Magazine, quoting “Tarred and Feathered,” by Ted Williams: “…In the United States the pipeline will chew up important wildlife habitat with roads and powerlines to pumping stations and with the excavation itself. But a much bigger threat is leaking DilBit, which could pollute the aquifer for great distances, rendering water unfit for use by wildlife and humans. The state of Nebraska can require that Keystone XL be moved east or west, safely away from its Sandhills. Maintaining the current route simply so TransCanada can save money is, as the Times reported, unnecessary and risky.  The world is fast running out of places like the Sandhills. They seem to roll on forever—20,000 square miles of dunes, some that migrate in the wind, others 330 feet high, and all composed of tiny pieces of the Rocky Mountains ground off and dumped by Pleistocene glaciers as recently as 10,000 years ago, when people were watching it happen.  Because the unstable, porous soil makes crop growing difficult, something like 85 percent of the Sandhills has never come under the plow. As a result they support by far the most intact native ecosystems on the Great Plains, including short-grass, mixed-grass, and tallgrass prairies. Found here are at least 720 plant species, many of which, like the federally endangered blowout penstemon, are tolerant of—in fact, dependent upon—wind and shifting sand. And 314 species of vertebrates are known to breed in this internationally recognized ecoregion. ” Read the article here.

More accounts of the caravan and XL pipeline protest at the White House were published this past week.  Quoting from “Civil disobedience goes green,” by Stephen Scharper, in the Toronto Star, September 11, 2011, “I normally respect the law . . . but I needed to get the message out. By getting arrested, that happened.” So commented Patricia Warwick, 68, who ventured down to the White House last month to protest the Keystone XL Pipeline project in the U.S., a vast arterial skein that will pump the oil harvest of the Alberta tarsands across six U.S. states to refineries in Texas. She wound up in an non-air-conditioned paddy wagon.” Read here.
From a September 12th Lincoln Journal Star letter to the editor, “Time to act on environment,” by Alexandra Keriakedes, “Joining a band of dedicated environmentalist road warriors to protest the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington, D.C., showed us how thankful we can be that there is such an inspiring initiative in action. Traveling from as far as Portland, Ore.; Sacramento, Calif.; Salt Lake City; Denver; Boulder, Colo.; Lincoln and Columbia, Mo., we shared expenses, cars and sleeping bags (several were, as I am, without employment). The White House sidewalk was our Mecca. … We journeyed to show President Barack Obama we support those campaign promises he has let evaporate. His decisive show of impassioned leadership could yet save the world, and perhaps even his campaign hopes.” Read here.
Activist author Ted Glick, writing after the White House sit-in opposing the Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska’s fragile Sand Hills and the Ogallala Aquifer, for his Future Hope Column September 5th, challences us to “…”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!” Click on the Tar Sands Action website for final press releases, photos and videos.
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. “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.
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.”
LJS letters in support of a special session of the Nebraska legislature have been published from Pam Herbert Barger, and Mary Jane Bruce.  A September 4th letter from Jim Knopik of Belgrade also asks the governor to “Call special session on Keystone.”
“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.
“Dinosaur Trove in South Dakota Becomes Bone of Contention in Keystone XL Fight” says the “Pipeline will pass through a famous dinosaur burial ground.” By Lisa Song, the InsideClimate News, September 15th article reports that “More than 100 miles of the proposed oil pipeline will slice through one of the most valuable fossil beds in the world and, depending on whom you ask, construction will either doom or aid the recovery of important fossils.” Page 1 of 2 is here.
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 article here.
Pipeline Inspection Agency Chronically Undermanned,” by Dan Frosch and Janet Roberts, was sourced by Reader Supported News from the New York Times, September 10th: “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 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.
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.
“Keystone XL Pipeline Infograph: Built to Spill,” was posted at Huffington Post by Emma Pullman of DeSmogBlog and Heather Libby of TckTckTck.  Their statement, with the infographic, provides 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.“

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