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Green Notes Week of August 28, 2011

August 28, 2011Green Notesgreenone

EARTH CIRCLE . . . On the first day of every month, people around the world stop everything for five minutes, joining with thousands of others to visualize peace and focus on new levels of kindness, understanding, and compassion necessary for collectively facing the challenges of the 21st century. New Dimensions invites peacemakers everywhere to join at 4:00pm Greenwich Mean Time, 10:00am in Lincoln and Omaha, 9:00am in District 3 where Mountain Time begins, Thursday, September 1, 2011, with the intention of deep healing for the Planet and all its people. Click here for more information about Earth Circle.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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. This week there will be a special Keystone XL Presentation by Duane Hovorak, President of National Wildlife Federation and Smart Energy Group. The film will be about issues surrounding the proposed pipeline. Learn more about the status of the pipeline, the risks associated with the proposed route, the players, and how you can get involved at this informative session followed by Q&A. The event is always free and open to the public. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

MENTAL LIBERATION . . . Friday, September 2, and Saturday, September 3, 2011, The Malcolm X Foundation will present an exhibit featuring the spoken word with poet/activist/recording artist Amir Sulaiman, at the Malcolm X Center, 3448 Evans Street, Omaha. Khalid El-Hakim, the founder of Black History 101 Museum, an innovative cultural education project, will also be featured. The exhibit with Amir Sulaiman will be 6:00 to 8:00pm Saturday; and the exhibit with Khalid El-Hakim will be 10:00am to 8:00pm Friday, and 10:00am to 4:00pm Saturday. For more information, e-mail Sharif Liwaru, info [at] malcolmxfoundation [dot] org

COFFEE RIDE . . . Saturday, September 3, 2011, the Bellevue Bicycle Club, will meet at Culver’s off of 36th Street in Omaha, at 8:00am, to ride the Keystone Trail. For more information, submit an e-mail here.

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.

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 . . . Mainstream media, particularly network tv, was not covering the mass protest and arrests at the White House even before the earthquake and the hurricane. But arrests continue, and the second wave will go on for another week. Fifteen Nebraskans are with thousands of protesters at the Washington DC action against the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline through Nebraska’s fragile Sand Hills and the Ogalalla Aquifer.
Writing for the Guardian UK, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman published “A Line in the Sand for Obama,” August 24, 2011. It begins “The White House was rocked Tuesday, not only by the 5.9 Richter-scale earthquake, but by the protests mounting outside its gates. More than 2,100 people say they’ll risk arrest there during the next two weeks. They oppose the Keystone XL pipeline project, designed to carry heavy crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the US Gulf Coast.” Read Amy’s commentary here.
A report on Friday’s events by TruthOut’s Mike Ludwig, “Fifty-Four Protesters Arrested as Environmental Report on Tar Sands Pipeline Is Released,” starts “As environmental activists were handcuffed in front of the White House on Friday, the State Department released the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the massive Keystone XL pipeline that would pump crude oil from the Alberta tar sands in Canada across six western states to stations in Oklahoma and Texas. Climate change and environmental groups have staged protests against the proposed pipeline across the country in recent months, including a two-week sit-in currently underway in front of the White House.” Click here for the August 26th report.
In the EIS, 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 DOS said it was eliminating route alternatives from further consideration! Read Jane Kleeb’s response at the BOLD Nebraska website here. Watch a debate between Jane and an industry spokeswoman for TransCanada on Democracy Now! from DC here.
Department of State Public Hearing dates following the final EIS were announced last week. They offer the final opportunity to speak in opposition to the Canadian plan 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: Tuesday, September 27, 2011: Pershing Center, 226 Centennial Mall South, Lincoln, 12:00 pm – 3:30pm, 4:00pm – 8:00 pm; and Thursday, September 29, 2011: West Holt High School, 100 North Main Street, Atkinson, Nebraska, 4:30 pm – 10:00 pm. Quoting Kleeb, “Sometimes we forget that decisions are made by people. And I think landowners and scientists and grandmas who get out there and testify and explain why they’re opposed to the pipeline and why they’re opposed to the route will have an impact.” Sunday, August 28th, the Omaha World-Herald editorialized “Protect this Special Gift,” a strong statement for rerouting the pipeline. Local PeaceMaker and Green Party supporter Carol Smith hosted riders on the two buses and then began the trip East to pick up others along the way. Several cars were also in the caravan. Carol’s pre-trip Local View for the LJS, “I Will be Sitting in Front of the White House,” is here. It begins “Here in Nebraska, the controversy over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline has largely focused on the danger of an oil spill contaminating our groundwater resources. Nationally though, growing numbers of people are warning of the irreparable damage that tar sands oil will wreak on the climate if we burn the filthy fossil fuel that the pipeline would haul.” Please make time to read Carol’s entire op-ed here. It was picked up by Common Dreams here.
Carol wrote to the LincolnBioneers grouplist from DC on Sunday: “Most of our caravan arrived safely in Washington DC before the hurricane hit. One car stayed in PA and will rejoin us shortly. We got about 8” of rain in Silver Spring, but the sun is shining now. I am so overwhelmed by what I have seen and learned so far that I will try tell you about it after processing it awhile. Two days ago, we went to Kayford Mountain to view mountain top removal and visited with Larry Gibson, the man who drew a line on the mountain that the coal company hasn’t been able to cross yet. His blog can be found here. A member of our caravan is blogging about our experiences on the road here.” Thank You, Carol!
An early report from Democracy Now! made on Tusday listed 160 arrests. The number grew with each day as waves from around the country joined the White House sit-in. Bill McKibben was one of the first. The Democracy Now! interview with him is here. In his article for TomDispatch.com, “Jailed Over Big Oil’s Latest Attempt to Kill the Planet,” McKibben shares what he learned from the experience after two nights in jail. “…We may not be facing the same dangers Dr. King did, but we’re getting some small sense of the kind of courage he and the rest of the civil rights movement had to display in their day — the courage to put your body where your beliefs are. It feels good.”
“No to TransCanada,” by Elke Roby, in LJS letters to the editor August 24th, reveals new information most of us probably hadn’t noticed: “I was wondering how many folks are aware that if they go to the Nebraska State Fair, they would be accepting money from TransCanada. On the State Fair’s website, TransCanada is listed as one of the four big sponsors. Does TransCanada think it can buy our goodwill by sponsoring our fair? I, for one, am not willing to take TransCanada’s blood money.”
Other alternative news coverage of the first week’s White House sit-in comes from the Guardian UK, published in Reader Supported News August 21st, here and here.
From another Bill McKibben article published in the Daily Beast, “Global Warming’s Heavy Cost,” “Hurricane Irene’s dangerous power can be traced to global warming -— and Obama is at fault for his failed leadership on the environment.”
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 published August 19th 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.
“Dismayed by Heineman,” a Lincoln Journal Star letter to the editor by Vernon Forbes published August 18th 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.
This week it was announced by Ken Winston, Sierra Club Nebraska, that several groups have formed a coalition called Save Our Sand Hills for the purpose of calling for a special session to re-route the pipeline away from the Sand Hills. Stop by the Farmers Union booth at the State Fair to get involved. 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 their constituents.
A 350.org Stop The TarSands! petition to the president reads “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and instead focus on developing safe, clean energy.” Please sign, and add comments if you wish, here.
“Stop The Tar Sands Pipeline” is a Credo Action petition to the president that reads “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. President Obama, you have the final word. You do not have to negotiate with Congress or industry. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.” Click here to sign and add personal comments.
“Cornhuskers vs Dirty Oil” is a new four part YouTube video by Nebraska Greens featuring a great original song to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies; interviews with Senators Dubas, Fulton, Avery, and Coash; clips from the rally at the capitol, and great quotes from Raymond Joe Moller, a Douglas, NE resident with family property near Central City. Thanks to John Carlini, Shari Schwartz, and Anthony DiCostanzo for production. View Part 1 of 4 here.
As National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore wrote in a Journal Star Local View, please contact “Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” and 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. BOLD Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. UNBold Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems.
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, 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. 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.

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

Green Notes Week of August 21, 2011

August 21, 2011Green Notesgreenone

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 Norma Fleisher’s statewide summer tour of all Nebraska counties calling for an end to the death penalty is here.

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.

ALTERNATIVES TO THE MILITARY ANNUAL PEACEMAKER OF THE YEAR POTLUCK . . . The annual potluck supper for Alternatives to the Military will be 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. For more information, and to rsvp, phone Marge Schlitt, 402.474.0682.

PFLAG CELEBRATION . . . The 30th Anniversary of Lincoln’s Chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays will be celebrated Sunday, August 28, 2011, 3:30pm, at Auld Pavilion in Anelope Park, 1650 Memorial Drive. Longtime member Jean Eileen Durgin-Clinchard will present a history of the group, and recognition of honorees. There will be music and refreshments. PFLAG meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month, 7:00pm, at the Unitarian Church, 6300 A Street. For more information, phone 402.434.9880.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

BUDRUS . . . Monday, August 22, 2011, 7:00pm, there will be a free preview of BUDRUS, a film that looks at the unintended consequences of the wall between Israel and Palestine, at First United Methodist Church, room 112, 7020 Cass Street, Omaha (use entrance on the east end of the north side). A discussion will follow the 58 minute film.

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 “Blood in the Mobile,” a 2010 documentary addressing the issue of illegal mining and lack of corporate social responsibility from the mobile phone industry. View the official 2:48 minute trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

DUNDEE COMMUNITY DAY . . . Saturday, August 27, 2011, Dundee Community Day will start at 8:00am with a pancake breakfast. Click here [pdf] for a schedule of the Day’s events at 50th & Underwood in Omaha’s Dundee neighborhood.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Jane Kleeb, Executive Director of BOLD Nebraska, is currently in Washington DC with environmentalists from around the country who will hold sit-ins and other acts of civil disobedience outside the White House every day for the next two weeks. The protest action is intended to pressure the Obama administration to deliver on years of clean energy promises and decide against approval of TransCanada’s tar sands pipeline project. Friday, August 19, 2011, Jane was on Democracy Now! debating an American Petroleum Instutute issues manager on the question “Should the US approve TransCanada’s massive Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline?” Watch the broadcast from DC here.
“Massive Protest at White House Against Alberta Tar Sands Pipeline,” by Suzanne Goldenberg, Guardian UK, was published in Reader Supported News, August 21st: “A protest at the White House against a pipeline from the Alberta tar sands is emerging as the biggest green civil disobedience campaign in a generation, organizers said.” Read here. Another August 21st update on the mass action from Reader Supported News reports “65 Arrested Outside White House in Keystone Pipeline Protests. The article begins “US President Barack Obama wasn’t around to see it, but 65 protesters were arrested Saturday as they participated in a peaceful protest outside the White House aimed at pressuring him to block TransCanada’s controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Bill McKibben, a leading American environmentalist and one of the organizers of the two-week protest, was among those arrested. Others included gay rights activist Dan Choi; Jane Hamsher, the founder of the popular liberal blog Firedoglake; and Gus Speth, a onetime environmental expert under former president Jimmy Carter.”
Daily Climate coverage of the DC action, “Climate Justice Movement Keys off Civil Rights Crusade,” by Geoff Dembicki, was also published August 19th. Quoting 350.org’s Bill McKibben, at time of writing, “More than 1,500 people have signed up to be arrested so far, including Hollywood actors Danny Glover and Mark Ruffalo.” At the time of McKibben’s next update, the number was 2,000. “This is getting exciting,” reports “As momentum builds, we’re hearing from the famous and powerful: the wonderful Bernie Sanders just offered up a blogpost pointing out how many more jobs we’d create if we concentrated on clean energy; and the dynamic actor Mark Ruffalo chipped in a heartfelt video imploring people to head to Washington for the protest.”
August 16th, The Washington Post published McKibben’s article “A watershed moment for Obama on climate change.” Also printed in the Lincoln Journal Star, it calls the DC action “the biggest display of civil disobedience in the environmental movement in decades, and one of the largest nonviolent direct actions since the World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle back before September 11, 2001. …The issue is simple: We want the president to block construction of Keystone XL, a pipeline that would carry oil from the tar sands of northern Alberta down to the Gulf of Mexico. We have, not surprisingly, concerns about potential spills and environmental degradation from construction of the pipeline. But those tar sands are also the second-largest pool of carbon in the atmosphere, behind only the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. If we tap into them in a big way, NASA climatologist James Hansen explained in a paper issued this summer, the emissions would mean it’s “essentially game over” for the climate. That’s why the executive directors of many environmental groups and 20 of the country’s leading climate scientists wrote letters asking people to head to Washington for the demonstrations. In scientific terms, it’s as close to a no-brainer as you can get.” Continued 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 published August 19th 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.
“Protest Makes Canada-To-US Pipeline Project Newest Front in Climate Clash,” by Elana Schor, is in the August 19th New York Times. “…Enlisted participants in the White House anti-pipeline event are “not typically who people think of as activists — it’s farmers, doctors, lawyers, church and faith leaders, not the cliche college student out there protesting in the streets,” said Matt Leonard, coordinator of the demonstration and a veteran environmental protester, in an interview. “It’s a cross section of average American citizens who realize that they have an obligation to address climate change for their sons and their daughters.” The complete article is here.
From “Environmentalists Put Obama to Test on Climate Over Pipeline Plan,” by Renee Schoof, McClatchy, published in TruthOut, “Two weeks of protests will raise the question of what the United States should do about climate change, putting the topic back into the spotlight. They’ll pressure President Barack Obama, who must decide whether the pipeline is in the national interest and whether it will be built. For some participants, the key issues are local matters of land and water conservation. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline from the oil sands of Alberta would run from Canada through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.” Read here.
The August 21st Lincoln Journal Star published a Local View by Richard Schmeling, “Consider rail as safe alternative to Keystone XL.” Schmeling begins “The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline that would be used to transport crude oil extracted from oil shale in Alberta, Canada, to Louisiana for refining is a genuine threat to the Ogallala Aquifer and should not be approved. The danger of pipeline rupture or spill from some other casualty is real, dangerous and may be deadly. It still has not been determined if the extraction process uses benzine (a known cause of cancer), which remains in the crude following the extraction of the oil. A spill in Michigan of crude from oil shale resulted in significant releases of benzine into the water and soil.” He introduces the reader to “a very real alternative to pipeline transportation of the crude. It is via Tanktrain.” Schmeling encourages giving “Tanktrain a hard look as an alternative to the pipeline. Let’s let Hillary Rodham Clinton and her bunch know an alternative exists. We just might not need to have any new pipelines built across Nebraska in view of our fine existing rail network.” An August 21st letter to the editor at LJS, “Pipeline consequences ignored,” by Jim Anderson, addresses the very misleading argument of necessity in an August 10th Guest View.
Common Dreams published Joe Uehlein’s August 10th article “Joining the Labor Movement and the Sustainabilty Movement: Together We Can Stop the Tar Sands Climate Catastrophy,” explaining why he’s marching with McKibben to protest the XL pipeline: “I’ve decided to walk the walk.”
An August 19th press release announced that the Transport Worker Union and the Amalgamated Transit Union oppose approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and call for an end to increased use of tar sands oil. The unions’ joint statement calls on the State Department NOT to approve construction of the XL pipeline saying that approval of this project now would be reckless given the EPA’s own assessment of the environmental risks. The statement calls for “major “New Deal” type public investments in infrastructure modernization and repair, energy conservation and climate protection as a means of putting people to work and laying the foundations of a green and sustainable economic future for the United States.”
This past week an unrefined gasoline pipeline leak between Decatur, Nebraska, and Onawa, Iowa became the latest “in a string of pipeline accidents in a year, many of which–like the leaks on Enbridge’s two crude lines last summer and the 1,000 barrels of crude oil spilled from Exxon Mobil’s Silvertip pipeline in July–have raised serious environmental concerns.” A Reuter’s report is here. A Nebraska City News Press article, “Pipeline Leak in Missouri River Flood Plain in Monona County, Iowa,” begins “A pipeline carrying natural gasoline developed a leak over the weekend, with the potential to lose about 140,000 gallons of gasoline in the Missouri River floodplain southwest of Onawa.”
The Daily Climate also published “A quest to clean up Canada’s oil Sands Carbon,” a National Geographic article reporting “The first large-scale effort to capture carbon dioxide emissions in the Canadian oil sands surmounted a crucial hurdle this summer with the signing of government agreements to underwrite nearly two-thirds of the $1.35 billion project’s cost.” The entire article is here.
Another article about the Friday August 5th “I Stand With Randy” protest against the XL pipeline at the governor’s mansion in Lincoln was published August 15th at HARVEST. “Pipeline controversy continues as decision deadline gets closer” was written by Fred Knapp. Photos from the event are here. Although the governor was not present, protesters described the action as “awesome,” “amazing,” “wonderful” and “inspiring.”
From “Overheard: Asia’s View of Alberta, Tar Sands and Pipelines,” by Michael Byers, August 15th, “…If the Canadians were smart, they’d build the capacity to refine all their bitumen at source, so as to ship a much more valuable product to Asia and elsewhere. But there are only a handful of upgraders in Alberta — and their capacity is actually going down. …But the people at the State Department aren’t stupid,” I protest. “Surely they can see right through this?” “Don’t count on it,” he laughs derisively. “They’re focused on the Middle East. They don’t understand the Asian energy market. They really don’t.” He leans over and whispers: “And even if they did realize that Gateway is an empty threat, they’d still approve Keystone XL, eventually. No matter what the EPA says, the State Department isn’t about to depart from its practice of approving pipelines from Canada. It’ll just spin out the decision as long as it can, hoping the project dies for other reasons.”” Read here. Read more on the Enbridge pipe-dream in “Rumours of pipeline’s demise grow as speculation surrounds Enbridge.”
“Dismayed by Heineman,” a Lincoln Journal Star letter to the editor by Vernon Forbes published August 18th 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.
Other recent letters: “Economic interest,” by Merle Myers, begins “The interesting part of the debate over the Keystone XL pipeline is that those who defend the pipeline across the aquifer always have an economic interest. …Never do they acknowledge or even address the mere act of moving the pipeline path away from the aquifer, which would resolve the problem! Why? Additional cost to TransCanada, that’s why. Our senators need to address this problem and force TransCanada to rethink its shortsighted strategy. If they don’t they won’t have to worry about term limits since their term will end come the next election.” In “Not the Sandhills,” Larry Caldwell writes “I have lived in, worked in and taken a conservation course in the Sandhills of Nebraska. It simply is NOT the place for a pipeline. I would ask anyone that doubts this to spend some time traveling through, living in or studying the Sandhills.”
In “Oil insider misleads,” Dianne S. Ferguson writes “The latest pro-Keystone XL pipeline guest view by petroleum industry insider Michael Economides plays fast and loose with fact, ignoring contamination issues at the heart of the debate over Keystone XL.” An August 11th letter by Charles Holderby also commented on the Guest View “Keystone pipeline necessary.”
SolveClimate News published Lisa Song’s “Keystone XL Primer: How the Pipeline’s Route Could Impact the Ogallala Aquifer,” on August 11th, reporting “In the debate over TransCanada’s controversial Cananda-to-Texas oil pipe, the Ogallala aquifer and the Nebraska sandhills have emerged as flashpoints.” Page 1 of 5 is here.
A Tarsands Action–Stop The Pipeline White House Sit-In Website is here, and a 350.org Stop The TarSands! petition to the president reads “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and instead focus on developing safe, clean energy.” Please sign, and add comments if you wish, here.
“Stop The Tar Sands Pipeline” is a Credo Action petition to the president that reads “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. President Obama, you have the final word. You do not have to negotiate with Congress or industry. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.” Click here to sign and add personal comments.
“Cornhuskers vs Dirty Oil” is a new four part YouTube video by Nebraska Greens featuring a great original song to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies; interviews with Senators Dubas, Fulton, Avery, and Coash; clips from the rally at the capitol, and great quotes from Raymond Joe Moller, a Douglas, NE resident with family property near Central City. Thanks to John Carlini, Shari Schwartz, and Anthony DiCostanzo for production. View Part 1 of 4 here.
As National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore wrote in a Journal Star Local View, please contact “Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” and 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.
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, 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. 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 THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of August 14, 2011

August 14, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR THIS WEEK’S TRANSCANADA 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. 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.

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.

CELEBRATE AND ENGAGE . . . The Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights organization, will be in Nebraska August 20 and 21, 2011, as part of a nationwide effort to visit places where GLBT legal rights are limited. In Nebraska, gay people face obstacles in adoption, marriage and the workplace. In Lincoln, the tour bus will be parked outside the UN-L Nebraska Union, 15th & R Streets, the evening of Saturday, August 20th; and outside Memorial Stadium Sunday, August 21st. Click here for a Lincoln Journal Star article about the trip.

SAVE THE DATE . . . The annual potluck supper for 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.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

TOWN HALL MEETING WITH LEE TERRY . . . There will be a Town Hall Meeting with CD 2 House Representative Lee Terry on Tuesday, August 18, 2011, at noon, in Brown Park, 5708 South 15th Street, Omaha. Ask him how he can support putting a tar sands pipeline through the Ogallala Aquifer when the first pipeline built by Transcanada has leaked 12 times in 12 months.

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 “The Human Family Tree,” a National Geographic television series which invites viewers to “retrace the deepest branches of the human species to reveal interconnected stories hidden in our genes.” For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

CELEBRATE AND ENGAGE . . . The Human Rights Campaign will be in Omaha on Saturday, August 20, 2011, as part of a nationwide effort to visit places where GLBT legal rights are limited. In Nebraska, gay people face obstacles in adoption, marriage and the workplace. Omaha’s “On the Road to Equality Open House” will be a the ConAgra Campus, 10th & Harney Street, 9:00am to 2:00pm. Explore the Equality exhibit and share what equality means to you at HRC’s photo and video booths. Click here for a Lincoln Journal Star article about the tour.

CITY SPROUTS GALA . . . The ninth annual City Sprouts Gala, “Cultivating Urban Food Systems,” will be Sunday, August 21, 2011, 2:00 to 4:00pm, at Lauritzen Gardens, 100 Bancroft Street, Omaha. There will be brief speeches, live music, organic food, and a silent auction. This is City Sprouts’ only annual fundraising event to benefit programs in gardening education, increasing the neighborhood food supply, community building, and jobs creation for at-risk youth. For questions and ticket information, contact Norita Matt, Morita [dot] Matt [at] ci [dot] omaha [dot] ne [dot] us or phone 402.214.0534.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

JOHANNS TOWN HALL MEETINGS . . . Click here for dates and locations of Johanns’ Town Hall meetings in CD 3 August 15 through August 19, 2011.

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Photos from the “I Stand With Randy” protest against the Keystone XL pipeline at the governor’s mansion Friday night, August 5th, are here. Saturday morning koln tv news coverage is here. Although Lincoln Journal Star got the number of protesters wrong, the Art Hovey article did a good job of reporting the event. Protesters described the event as “awesome,” “amazing,” “wonderful” and “inspiring,” although the governor was not present.
Several new letters to the editor of Lincoln Journal Star were published this week. “Economic interest,” by Merle Myers, begins “The interesting part of the debate over the Keystone XL pipeline is that those who defend the pipeline across the aquifer always have an economic interest. …Never do they acknowledge or even address the mere act of moving the pipeline path away from the aquifer, which would resolve the problem! Why? Additional cost to TransCanada, that’s why. Our senators need to address this problem and force TransCanada to rethink its shortsighted strategy. If they don’t they won’t have to worry about term limits since their term will end come the next election.” In “Not the Sandhills,” Larry Caldwell writes “I have lived in, worked in and taken a conservation course in the Sandhills of Nebraska. It simply is NOT the place for a pipeline. I would ask anyone that doubts this to spend some time traveling through, living in or studying the Sandhills. I have referred many people to the June 2008 issue of Nebraskaland magazine, the article with pictures starts on page 10 explaining about Sandhills Blowouts. If the money spent on this issue would have been used to develop alternative fuels we would not have as much need for oil in the future. Can’t the engineers spend their time on that instead of ruining precious Sandhills pasture and hay ground?” Also published Sunday, August 14, 2011, a letter by Jim Elsener, suggests “They should change the name from the Keystone XL pipeline to the Rep. Lee Terry pipeline. This way we can celebrate his name every time the pipeline oil contaminates our water.”
In “Oil insider misleads,” Dianne S. Ferguson writes “The latest pro-Keystone XL pipeline guest view by petroleum industry insider Michael Economides (“Keystone pipeline necessary for energy security”, Aug. 10) plays fast and loose with fact, ignoring contamination issues at the heart of the debate over Keystone XL.” An August 11th letter by Charles Holderby also commented on the Guest View “Keystone pipeline necessary.” “Of course Michael J. Economides thinks the pipeline should be built. He’s from Houston. He’s not worried about our aquifer. He should be. That water feeds many, many people in this nation. The issue is not to build it but where. If they moved the pipeline a bit east, it would miss the Sandhills. They already did that with the previous pipeline. History shows us pipelines will leak.”
Also on Thursday, August 11th, SolveClimate News published Lisa Song’s “Keystone XL Primer: How the Pipeline’s Route Could Impact the Ogallala Aquifer,” reporting “In the debate over TransCanada’s controversial Cananda-to-Texas oil pipe, the Ogallala aquifer and the Nebraska sandhills have emerged as flashpoints.” Page 1 of 5 is here. “Oil Spills Inspire Bipartisan Surprise on Federal Pipeline Safety Reforms,” by Elizabeth McGowan, was published in SolveClimate News, on August 12th. “Three bills moving through Congress would significantly strengthen federal oversight for pipelines like the proposed Keystone XL. A series of headline-grabbing ruptures along the nation’s 2.5 million-mile network of oil and gas pipelines is prompting a rare attempt at bipartisanship. Democrats and Republicans seem equally intent on significantly beefing up the pipeline safety standards that might have prevented some of these spills. The timing of the legislation they’re considering is especially vital because the State Department is in the midst of deciding whether a Canadian company should be allowed to expand its U.S. presence by building a $7 billion pipeline through the Ogallala Aquifer and other fragile landscapes in the nation’s heartland.” Page 1 of 4 is here.
Bill McKibben’s latest article, “New Pipeline to Challenge Obama’s Promises,” says the president now has the opportunity to make good on his environmental promises, but questions if he will. McKibben will join as many as a thousand people, including Nebraskans, who will risk arrest in daily protests of the XL pipeline at the White House over the last two weeks in August. This will be the largest outbreak of civil disobedience in recent environmental history. There is still transportation money available for Nebraskans who want to go to DC. E-mail jane [at] boldnebraska [dot] org or call 402.705.3622 for more information. There is also money to cover the cost of getting arrested. The fine will be similar to a j-walking ticket, with no jail time. A Tarsands Action Stop The Pipeline White House Sit-In Website is here. A 350.org Stop The TarSands! petition to the president reads “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and instead focus on developing safe, clean energy.” Please sign, and add comments if you wish, here.
Keystone XL is “the fuse to the biggest carbon bomb ever.” Now the US Chamber of Commerce has announced the “Partnership to Fuel America,” which they claim will promote energy policy to keep America “clean.” The first major initiative of this partnerhship is a campaign to promote the Keystone XL pipeline–one of the dirtiest projects on the entire planet. Here’s the 3-part plan to fight back from 350.org:
1) Petition President Obama to reject the permit for the pipeline. Already, nearly 30,000 people have signed on–but we’ll need many more to make a big impact for our high-profile petition delivery in DC. The petition says “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and focusing on developing safe, clean energy.” Please click here and sign on.
2) Spread the word about a civil disobedience campaign being planned in DC this August. If you’re ready to escalate your committment to this movement–or know someone who is–please click here.
3) Join hard-hitting activism in all the states that the Keystone pipeline passes through. 350.org will be dominating public comment hearings to oppose the pipeline, recruiting local chambers of commerce to take a stand to stop the tar sands, and on September 24th there wil be big rallies for the Moving Planet day of action.
“Stop The Tar Sands Pipeline” is a Credo Action petition to the president that reads “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. President Obama, you have the final word. You do not have to negotiate with Congress or industry. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.” Click here to sign and add personal comments.
“Cornhuskers vs Dirty Oil” is a new four part YouTube video by Nebraska Greens featuring a great original song to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies; interviews with Senators Dubas, Fulton, Avery, and Coash; clips from the rally at the capitol, and great quotes from Raymond Joe Moller, a Douglas, NE resident with family property near Central City. Thanks to John Carlini, Shari Schwartz, and Anthony DiCostanzo for production. View Part 1 of 4 here.
As National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore wrote in a Journal Star Local View, please contact “Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” and 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. 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, 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. 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.

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!

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

Green Notes Week of August 7, 2011

August 7, 2011Green Notesgreenone

MIDWEST RISING: Convergence 2011 . . . Friday, August 12 through Monday, August 15, 2011, 300 environmental justice and climate activists and 300 grassroots low income community members are converging in St. Louis, Missouri, for four days that could change the organizing equation in the Midwest. Climate justice and social justice activists will unite to fight back against corporate power, engage in creative direct action, and envision a more sustainable world. Click here for more information at the official website.

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

TOWN HALL MEETINGS . . . Monday, August 8, 2011, Senator Johanns will hold Town Halls in Lincoln at 11:30am and 3:00pm. Click here [pdf] for locations. CD 1 Representative Fortenberry’s 5:15pm Lincoln Town Hall will be at Southeast Community College, Room U102. If you go, please thank Fortenberry for splitting with his Republican counterparts and voting against HR 1938, Lee Terry’s bad bill setting a deadline “for determining if the $7 billion Keystone XL project is in the national interest.” If you can’t be at the Town Hall, his local phone number is 402.438.1598. Thank Fortenberry for his vote against rushing a final decision on FaceBook 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. 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.

CITY BUDGET . . . A $144 Million budget reflecting the mayor’s proposed property tax increase has been presented to the City Council. A public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for Monday, August 8, 2011, 2:30 to 10:30pm (with 1/2 hour dinner break). The council has one more chance to make changes on Wednesday, August 10th, at 5:30pm. Deena Winter blogs on “What you need to know about the Mayor’s budget proposal,” here and at Winterized.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

TOWN HALL IN PAPILLION . . . Senator Johanns will hold a Monday, August 8, 2011, Open Coffee at the Shadow Lake Hy-Vee, 11650 South 73rd Street, from 7:30am to 8:30am.

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 “Inside Tyson’s Hell: Why I Got Out of the Chicken Slaughtering Business,” a detailed account of what goes on inside a chicken slaughter plant by a former Tyson worker turned animal activist. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

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.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

JOHANNS TOWN HALL MEETINGS . . . Click here for dates and locations of Johanns’ Town Hall meetings in CD 3 August 15 through August 19, 2011.

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Between 1,150 and 1,200 XL pipeline opponents circled the governor’s mansion Friday night with flashlights shining light on Dave Heinemann–letting him know he is being watched and will be held accountable for his lack of action to protect Nebraska’s land, water and human resources threatened with eminent domain by TransCanadia. An incorrect, misleading number of protesters was published in the Lincoln Journal Star article Saturday morning. Speaking Friday night, Randy Thompson, the Merrick County property owner standing up to TransCanada, was joined by two farmers from North Dakota who told about the May 28th rupture of Keystone I that sent a six-story high gusher of oil into the air on their land–the 12th spill from the Keystone I which is not even a year old.” The protest was described as “awesome,” “amazing,” “wonderful” and “inspiring,” although the governor was not present.
BOLD Nebraska hosted a Thursday Pipeline Briefing for elected officials on what jurisdiction they have over pipelines, but many of the questions were addressed to the North Dakota farmers about the May oil geyser. LJS coverage is here.
State Senator Ken Haar called for a Special Session of the Nebraska legislature last week. His Midlands Voices editorial in the Omaha World Herald begins “Nebraska is home to twin jewels — the Sand Hills and the Ogallala Aquifer. The Sand Hills is a region of mixed-grass prairie on grass-stabilized sand dunes in north-central Nebraska. The Ogallala Aquifer is the largest aquifer in the United States, containing as much water as Lake Erie and having a saturated depth of more than 1,000 feet in many parts of the Sand Hills. Gov. Dave Heineman has called the Ogallala Aquifer “the lifeblood of agriculture.” TransCanada Corp. plans to run its proposed Keystone XL pipeline through a part of the Sand Hills where the Ogallala Aquifer is both deepest and closest to the surface — and therefore most vulnerable to contamination.
“Over the past year there has been a great deal of confusion about who has the authority to route the pipeline. While the U.S. State Department has the authority to approve or deny a permit for the pipeline, State has no power to dictate the pipeline’s route. It is now well established that routing of pipelines is reserved to the states.
“Unlike Montana and South Dakota, which have siting criteria for oil pipelines, Nebraska has no siting laws on its books. Therefore, in the absence of any state law, TransCanada is free to lay its pipeline through the Sand Hills once it has its permit from the State Department.
“This action could have grave consequences for our state. Consider recent developments, which spotlight this issue:
1. There have been at least 12 leaks reported in TransCanada’s first year of operation of the new Keystone 1 pipeline that runs through eastern Nebraska, including a 21,000-gallon leak — a geyser of oil shooting 60 feet into the air in South Dakota.
2. On July 20, TransCanada experienced a massive explosion on a brand-new natural gas pipeline in Wyoming. This is the same pipeline that had problems with trenches caving in, which TransCanada blamed on its haste to finish the project.
3. Less than a month ago, ExxonMobil had a leak of at least 42,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River from a ruptured pipeline exposed by floodwaters.
4. University of Nebraska-Lincoln hydrologists John Gates and Wayne Woldt sent a letter to the State Department stating there are no studies that evaluate the potential hydrological impact of a spill in Sand Hill soil types. They cited the need for studies to determine how to best protect the Ogallala Aquifer and prepare for remediation in the event of a spill.
5. John Stansbury, associate professor and associate chair of environmental/water resources engineering at UNL, performed an analysis of the worst-case scenarios projected by TransCanada. He concluded that the number of leaks and the amount that would be leaked are far greater than estimated by TransCanada and that the water supplies of Lincoln and Omaha could be at risk.”
Haar’s compelling op-ed continues here. Heineman was quick to follow the call for a special session with a statement that he opposes the idea.
Bill McKibben’s latest article, “New Pipeline to Challenge Obama’s Promises,” says the president now has the opportunity to make good on his environmental promises, but questions if he will. McKibben will join as many as a thousand people, including Nebraskans, who will risk arrest in daily protests of the XL pipeline at the White House over the last two weeks in August. This will be the largest outbreak of civil disobedience in recent environmental history. There is still money available for plane transportation for Nebraskans who want to go to DC. E-mail jane [at]boldnebraska [dot] org or call 402.705.3622 for more information. There is also money to cover the cost of getting arrested. The fine will be similar to a j-walking ticket, with no jail time. A Tarsands Action Stop The Pipeline White House Sit-In Website is here.
August 4th, BBC New Africa covered a new UN report that the Nigeria Ogoniland oil clean-up ‘could take 30 years’ and cost $1 Billion. The report indicates that in at least 10 Ogoni communities where drinking water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons, public health is seriously threatened. Key findings of the UN report are here.
Ogoniland lies in the Niger Delta, and residents from several Ogoni communities spent Sunday afternoon Standing With Randy at Antelope Park, singing, dancing and sharing their stories of survival.
Keystone XL is “the fuse to the biggest carbon bomb ever.” Now the US Chamber of Commerce has announced the “Partnership to Fuel America,” which they claim will promote energy policy to keep America “clean.” The first major initiative of this partnerhship is a campaign to promote the Keystone XL pipeline–one of the dirtiest projects on the entire planet. Here’s the 3-part plan to fight back from 350.org.
1) Petition President Obama to reject the permit for the pipeline. Already, nearly 30,000 people have signed on–but we’ll need many more to make a big impact for our high-profile petition delivery in DC. The petition says “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and focusing on developing safe, clean energy.” Please click here, www.350.org/take-a-stand and sign on.
2) Spread the word about a civil disobedience campaign being planned in DC this August. If you’re ready to escalate your committment to this movement–or know someone who is–please click here.
3) Join hard-hitting activism in all the states that the Keystone pipeline passes through. 350.org will be dominating public comment hearings to oppose the pipeline, recruiting local chambers of commerce to take a stand to stop the tar sands, and on September 24th there wil be big rallies for the Moving Planet day of action.
“Cornhuskers vs Dirty Oil” is a new four part YouTube video by Nebraska Greens featuring a great original song to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies; interviews with Senators Dubas, Fulton, Avery, and Coash; clips from the rally at the capitol, and great quotes from Raymond Joe Moller, a Douglas, NE resident with family property near Central City. Thanks to John Carlini, Shari Schwartz, and Anthony DiCostanzo for production. View Part 1 of 4 here.
As internationally acclaimed National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore wrote in a Journal Star Local View, please “Write and call Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” and 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.
Stop The Tar Sands Pipeline is a new Credo Action petition to the president that reads “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. President Obama, you have the final word. You do not have to negotiate with Congress or industry. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.” Click here to sign and add personal comments.
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.)
Thanks to EveryOne who circled the governor’s mansion Friday night, and All who participated in the many “I Stand With Randy” events statewide. 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, 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. 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.

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!

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

Green Notes Week of July 31, 2011

July 31, 2011Green Notesgreenone

EARTH CIRCLE . . . On the first day of every month, people around the world stop everything for five minutes, joining with thousands of others to visualize peace and focus on new levels of kindness, understanding, and compassion necessary for collectively facing the challenges of the 21st century. New Dimensions invites peacemakers everywhere to join at 4:00pm Greenwich Mean Time, 10:00am in Lincoln and Omaha, 9:00am in District 3 where Mountain Time begins, Monday, August 1, 2011, with the intention of deep healing for the Planet and all its people. Click here for more information about Earth Circle.

“I STAND WITH RANDY” Keystone XL pipeline opposition events, as of July 31st, are listed in the following Green Notes. Plan now to be part of the rising energy opposing the environmentally devastating tar sands project by attending as many events as possible next weekend. And it’s not too late to create your own happening. Get ideas for other events, join the I Stand With Randy network of artists, musicians, and pipeline opposition friends, and sign up to host your own event at links provided here.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

July 29 through August 8, 2011: Save the Sand Hills Art Exhibit. Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 South Street, Lincoln. Host: Adam Hintz

Friday, August 5, 2011, 8:00am to 5:00pm, Wildflowers for Heineman. Drop-in at the governor’s office, State Capitol Building, Lincoln, with wildflowers (echinacea, black-eyed susans, sunflowers, etc.) throughout the day. Attach a note: “Please do not add oil” or “Cannot be grown in oil.” (Thrift stores are a good place to find inexpensive vases.) Visit your state senator’s office too. Host: Christy Hargesheimer.

Friday, August 5, 20ll, 9:00 to 10:00am: I Stand With Randy Read-In. A Novel Idea, 118 North 14th Street, Lincoln. Bring a book. Read together, have coffee, and listen to Billy Holiday at Lincoln’s unique downtown book store.

Friday, August 5, 2011, 11:00am to 9:00pm, Standing With Randy to Celebrate Nebraska’s Sand Hills and Water Resources. Michael Forsberg Gallery, 100 North 8th Street, Suite 150, Lincoln. On display: Conservation photographer Michael Forsberg’s Sand Hills photos. Host: Sarah Brey.

Friday, August 5, 2011, 6:00 to 9:00pm: Stand With Randy Book Drive at Parrish Studios, 1416 O Street, 2nd floor, Lincoln. All donations/proceeds to the “For Change” book drive wil go to support BOLD Nebraska initiatives against the pipeline. First Friday gallery reception, 6:00 to 9:00pm; “For Change” library August 6 & 7, 10:00am to 1:00pm.

Friday, August 5, 2011, 6:00 to 8:00pm, Grandmothers and Grandchildren Stand With Randy, 3037 Sewell, Lincoln. Host Nancy Packard will provide snacks during conversation about clean water and the Sand Hills. Make art and bake cookies with grandmothers and grandchildren against the pipeline.

Friday, August 5, 2011, 7:00 to 9:00pm, Painters Stand With Randy. The Burkholder Project, 719 P Street, Lincoln. First Friday Local Art Display with original Anne Burkholder Sand Hills prints for sale. All proceeds will go to stop the XL pipeline. Host: Grace Gandu.

Friday, August 5, 2011, 8:30pm, Bicyclists Stand With Randy. Meet at the Near South Community Bike Kitchen, 1720 South 15th Street, Lincoln, for a group ride to the governor’s mansion pipeline protest at 9:00pm. Host: Adam Hintz.

Friday, August 5, 2011, 9:00 to 10:00pm, Shine a Light on Heineman. The governor’s mansion, 1425 H Street, Lincoln. Bring a flashlight and shine a light to show him we are watching to keep him accountable on the pipeline. Host: Jane Kleeb.

Saturday, August 6, 2011, 2:00pm, Poets Stand With Randy. Some of Nebraska’s finest poets will read water haiku and poems in honor of the Sand Hills and the Aquifer at 816 P Street, Lincoln. Hosts: Jim and Mary Pipher.

Saturday, August 6, 2011, 4:00pm, Water Play. Learn what you can do to help protect the Sand Hills and Aquifer, play in the water, have snacks and beverages with host Mary Jane Bruce in her back yard at 7521 Nemaha Street, Lincoln.

Saturday, August 6, 2011, 7:00pm, “Dirty Oil” Screening at Meadowlark, 1624 South Street, Lincoln. Host Adam Hintz will show the documentary “Dirty Oil,” a film about tar sands production.

Sunday, August 7, 2011, 2:00pm, Enemy of the People. The Center for People in Need, 3901 North 27th Street, Lincoln. Lincoln actress Pippa White will present scenes from Iben’s play about a physician who, in attempting to rid his town of contaminated water, instead is labeled an enemy of the people.

Sunday, August 7, 2011, 2:00pm to 5:00pm, Rural Writers Stand With Randy. Local writers and poets will read at 801 East Benjamin Avenue, Norfolk, Nebraska. Host: Neil Harrison.

Sunday, August 7, 2011, 4:00 to 5:30pm, Nonviolent Direct Action Workshop. Indigo Bridge Books, 701 P Street, Suite 102, Lincoln. Learn how to become more effective as an activist by picking up useful models of strategy and brainstorming with fellow Nebraskans. EveryOne interested in c-h-a-n-g-e is invited to Stand With Randy at this workshop. Host: Alexa Ross.

Sunday, August 7, 2011, 4:00 to 8:00pm, Africans Stand With Randy. Join Sudanese singers and two dance groups for African music at Antelope Park, 29th & A Street, Lincoln. Host: Mohamed Jalloh.

Sunday, August 7, 2011, 4:00 to 10:00pm, “Songs for the Sand Hills.” Duggan’s Pub, 440 South llth Street, (11th & K Street) Lincoln. Join Kickin’ Back, The Hundred Miles, The Jerry Pranksters at 6:00pm, The Tijuana Gigolos at 7:00pm, Lloyd McCarter and the Honky Tonk Revival, and Shaun Sparks and the Wounded Animals for a FREE Stand With Randy concert. Host: Marty Steinhausen.

Sunday, August 7, 2011, 6:00 to 9:00pm, Lincoln Musicians Stand With Randy. The Zoo Bar, 136 North 14th Street, Lincoln. Join local musicians Manny Coon, Dr. John Walker, and The Amalgamators for live music, poetry, and a possible appearance of Randy himself. Host: Ben Gotschall.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

JAMES HANSON AT CREIGHTON . . . James Hanson, one of the foremost climate change scientists, is speaking at Creighton University Wednesday, August 3, 2011, 10:15 to 11:30am, at the Harper Center, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha. Hanson will speak about “The Case for Young People and Nature,” and receive a prize from the AAPT–the national society of physics educators. The event is open to the public.

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 “Commune,” a documentary about Big Bear Ranch, an 80 acre, late 1960’s California commune, featuring archival footage, photographs, documents, news articles, and interviews. A Village Voice review is here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

Friday, August 5, 2011, 6:30 to 8:30pm, Literally Stand With Randy at the Nolan Tredway exhibit in the New BLK Gallery, 1213 Jones Street, Omaha. Nolan is a Nebraska artist against the pipeline. View a print of his work on FaceBook here. Support Nolan, and between 6:30 and 8:30, have your photo taken Standing With Randy at the New BLK.

Friday, August 5, 2011, 11:00am to 1:00pm, Write, Right ON and Stand With Randy. Annie’s Cafe, 351 North 78th Street, Omaha. Read, tell stories, and write letters to Lee Terry with host Shelly Clark.

Saturday, August 6, 2011, 2:00 to 6:00pm, Bands Against the Tar Sands. PS Collective, 6056 Maple Street, (adjoining The Pizza Shoppe) in Benson. Various local Bands Standing With Randy will join host Jane Wilson. All proceeds from a suggested $5 donation will go toward stopping the XL pipeline.

Saturday, August 6, 2011, 7:00 to 10:00pm, Piping Up For Randy. Nebraska Voices will Stand With Randy at a poetry and essay reading, Piping Up Against the Pipeline, at McFoster’s, 302 South 38th Street, Omaha. Writers and poets are invited to share their work. Host: Erin Arellano.

Sunday, August 7, 2011, 11:00am to 1:00pm, The Brunch Bunch Stands With Randy. Celebrate Nebraska’s land and water resources with neighbors, friends and relatives at the Clark-Geiser backyard deck, 2616 North 125th Avenue, Omaha. Host: Shelly Geiser.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . It’s not too late to add an event and Stand With Randy August 5th through August 7th statewide. Use the themes of Water, the Sand Hills, and stopping the XL pipeline to create an artistic expression in dance, song, theater, cooking, poetry, music, sculpture, origami, flower arrangement, film, photography–whatever your art form of choice might be. AnyOne can organize an event anywhere. Your event can be small–just a few friends talking about the fragile Sand Hills and the Aquifer over dinner. Please join the network of actions statewide, and guarantee that your event is posted online by filling out the form here.
A new article about Randy Thompson, the I Stand With Randy campaign, and XL pipeline opposition featuring quotes from Jane Kleeb, Ben Gotschall, and Arts Festival Weekend mastermind Mary Pipher, “Nebraska Artists Standing With Randy,” was published in HearNebraska July 28th. Writer Bryce Wergin describes Randy as “a broad-shouldered, grey-haired picture of the modern cowboy who makes his living managing his family’s farm and trading cattle from Merrick County. He has spent his entire life as a farmer, rancher and cattle trader in several different parts of Nebraska. He’s spent the last three years refusing offers on his land from oil corporation TransCanada, which wants to route its new pipeline through it. In the process, he’s become an iconic figure behind a movement against the pipeline.”
The House vote was 279 to 147 in favor of CD 2 Representative Lee Terry’s bill (H.R. 1938) to expedite the process for considering the Keystone XL pipeline. It requires the President to make a decision within 30 days of issuance of a Final Environmental Impact Study–no later than November 1, 2011. CD 1 Representative Jeff Fortenberry split with his Republican counterparts and voted against this bad bill setting a deadline “for determining if the $7 billion project is in the national interest.” Read the Lincoln Journal Star coverage here. Please thank Fortenberry for his vote against rushing a final decision on his FaceBook page here. His local phone number is 402.438.1598. See photos of Tuesday’s protest at Terry’s Omaha office on FaceBook here.
Scroll down here for two letters to the editor in the July 31st omaha World Herald. “What’s the rush?” And “Is it Worth Risking Water for Oil?” Thanks to the writers. Also published by Daily Climate from Living on Earth July 31st, “Pressure Builds on Pipeline Decision,” quotes Bill McKibben among others in an interview by Mitra Taj. Terry’s bill to rush the decision is questioned there as well.
A new 350.org petition to President Obama says “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and focusing on developing safe, clean energy.” Click here for to sign and comment.
As internationally acclaimed National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore wrote in a Journal Star Local View, please “Write and call Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” and 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.
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. 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.“

We are no longer the alternative; we are the imperative. –Rosa Clemente

STOP THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of July 24, 2011

July 24, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Plan to “Stand With Randy” the weekend of August 5th thought August 7, 2011. Green Notes for all three Congressional Districts have information about Nebraska’s statewide Festival in opposition to TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline.

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. Monday July 25, 2011, 3:00pm, the council votes on changes. A public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for Thursday, August 8, 2011, 2:30 to 10:30pm (with 1/2 hour dinner break). And the council gets one more chance to make changes on Wednesday, August 10th, at 5:30pm. Deena Winter blogs on “What you need to know about the Mayor’s budget proposal,” here at Winterized.

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 Monday, 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.

PUBLIC HEARING ON BUDGET CUTS FOR STARTRAN . . . Lincoln’s StarTran Advisory Board will hold a public hearing Tuesday, July 26, 2011, 4:00pm, at Aging Partners, 1005 O Street, to address proposed Saturday service hour cuts contained in the mayor’s 2011-12 budget. Written comments may be sent to StarTran, 710 J Street, Lincoln, 68508, or e-mail startraninfo [at] lincoln [dot] ne [dot] gov.

LOOKING AT THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE . . . Tuesday, July 26, 2011, 7:00pm, Susan Seacrest, founder of the Groundwater Foundation, and Ken Winston, attorney for the Sierra Club Nebraska, will present “A New Look” at the Keystone XL pipeline project at First-Plymouth Church, Calvert Parlor, 2000 D Street, Lincoln. They will discuss the proposed route, the Ogallala Aquifer, and needs assessment.

OPEN HOUSE ON ANTELOPE CREEK PROJECT . . . Wednesday, July 27, 2011, 5:30 to 7:00pm, the City will host an open house on proposed water quality “improvements” for Antelope Creek near 70th & Pioneers at Hyde Memorial Observatory in Holmes Park. Construction in the area is expected to begin this summer. For more information, contact Don Day, 402.458.5644.

GROUNDWATER RULES . . . The Lower Platte South Natural Resources District is holding a series of public hearings about proposed changes to its groundwater rules. This week’s hearing is July 27, 2011, at the Elmwood Village Hall, 113 West E Street, Elmwood, Nebraska. 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.

SAVE THE DATE . . . Friday, August 5, 2011, one of Lincoln’s “I Stand With Randy” events will circle the governor’s mansion, 1425 H Street, at 9:00pm. Bring a flashlight and help shine a light to show we are watching and will keep him accountable on the pipeline. “Bicyclists Stand With Randy” will meet at 8:30pm, 1624 South Street, and ride from the Near South Community Bike Kitchen to the Governor’s Mansion together. Friday morning, 9:00 to 10:00am, there will be a Read-In for solidarity with Randy at A Novel Idea, Lincoln’s unique downtown bookstore at 118 North 14th Street. That night, First Friday visual arts events at the Burkholder Project and the Tugboat Gallery will also “Stand With Randy” against the XL pipeline. Saturday, August 6th, 2:00pm, “Poets Standing With Randy” will will read water haiku and poems in honor of the Sand Hills and the Aquifer at 816 P Street hosted by Jim and Mary Pipher. sunday, August 7th, 2:00pm, local actress Pippa White will present scenes from her production of Enemy of the People at the Center for People in Need, 3901 North 27th Street, as part of the weekend to Stand with Randy. Iben’s famous play is about a physician who, in attempting to rid his town of contaminated water, instead is labeled An Enemy of the People. Also on Sunday, Sierra Nebraska will sponsor a “Songs for the Sand Hills” concert at Duggan’s Pub, 440 South llth Street, Lincoln, 4:00 to 10:00pm, headlined by the Tijuana Gigolos. A growing list of “I Stand With Randy” events is here. Get ideas for other events, and sign up to host your own at links provided here.

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.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

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 “A Jihad for Love,” a documentary dealing with the reality of severe religion based oppression of homosexuals. View the trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

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, and 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.

SAVE THE DATES . . . Throughout the weekend of August 5, 2011, Sierra Nebraska will provide messages in opposition to the pipeline as part of the Hullabaloo festival in Western Douglas County. There will be a table with information about the pipeline, and presentations about tar sands. Saturday, August 6th, 2:00 to 6:00pm, Bands Against the Tar Sands will “Stand with Randy” at the PS Collective, 6056 Maple Street (adjoining The Pizza Shoppe in Benson), for an event featuring music by various local bands, such as the Prairie Gators’ fabulous Cajun Louisiana French rhythms, and smaller acts by other artists between sets–think poetry, drama, dance, etc. Hosted by Jane Wilson, the suggested donation for pipeline opposition is $5.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . “State Department firms up timetable for Keystone XL Pipeline decision,” by Art Hovey, was published in the Lincoln Journal Star Saturday, July 23, 2011. It begins “The State Department is pointing to November as the time frame for a final decision on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. In a Friday conference call, department spokesman Daniel Clune also said a final environmental impact statement is likely to be issued next month on the $7 billion petroleum project. And Clune announced that State Department officials would come to Lincoln and to the Nebraska Sand Hills in September to give residents two more chances to weigh in on the controversial project. Similar meetings are planned for state capitals in the five other states the pipeline would cross on its way from the oil sands of Alberta to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Information on specific dates and locations will be circulated next month.”
The Sierra Club welcomed the State Department announcement with the following statement: “The spill of more than 42,000 gallons of oil into the formerly pristine Yellowstone River from a broken Exxon pipeline this month is the latest tragic example of the shortcomings of our pipeline safety regulations. Luckily both Houses of Congress have proposed legislation that would require much-needed updates to these regulations, as well as require a study of the safety of tar sands oil pipelines. This legislation should be passed, and the tar sands oil pipeline safety study conducted, before the Keystone XL pipeline is permitted. In the end, though, our nation should instead be investing in a clean energy economy, not more fossil fuels. We don’t need another dirty oil pipeline – just ask the residents along the Yellowstone River. We don’t need to further our addiction to oil – just ask the residents along the Gulf Coast. We don’t need more polluting oil refineries – just ask the residents in Port Arthur, Texas.” Opposition leader, BOLD Nebraska Executive Director Jane Kleeb blogged on the importance of these public hearings July 22nd.
Monday, July 18th, there was a new oil spill in northwestern Montana. From Helena, Matt Volz reported that the spill “involving hundreds of gallons of crude” was discovered in Montana “350 miles from where cleanup crews are mopping up a larger one on the Yellowstone River.” The new spill “went unreported for a month before a neighboring landowner complained to the Blackfeet Indian Tribe.” The FX Drilling Company oil field is in a remote corner of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
More than three weeks after the Yellowstone River spill, “federal officials remain unsure how many pipelines carrying hazardous fuels cross the nation’s rivers and streams, nor can they say how deeply those pipelines are buried.” “Keystone XL would cross water 1,904 times, 160 in Nebraska.”
Wednesday, July 20th, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against ExxonMobil barring it from transporting heavy oilfield equipment through western Montana, granting a request from Missoula County and three conservation groups. Reported in the Missoulian, the groups, which oppose oil sands development, say the state transportation department did inadequate environmental analysis before approving the move.
Also on Wednesday, the New York Times publiched the Editorial “Wrong Pipeline, Wrong Assessment.” The op-ed begins and ends as follows: “For the second time in a year, the State Department has issued an environmental impact statement about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry diluted bitumen — an acidic crude oil — from the tar sands of northern Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast. And for the second time in a year, the Environmental Protection Agency has excoriated the State Department for the inadequacy of its assessment. …On the merits — economic and environmental — and in terms of future energy policy, this is the wrong pipeline for the wrong oil.”
Wednesday night, a TransCanada natural gas pipeline exploded, shaking nearby homes and echoing at least 30 miles away, in Wyoming. The blast ripped open a 60-foot section of the Bison Pipeline and shot several pieces of 30-inch-diameter pipe around bluffs about 20 miles west of Gilette.. around the bluffs on land about 20 miles west of Gillette. Click here for a Billings Gazette report on the explosion published Thursday.
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.
“Should Alberta’s cross-border oil pipeline be extended to Texas?” The CBC News article and poll are still online. At 1,342 votes Saturday, July 23rd, the “No” percentage was 67.81. “No” continues to be the resounding answer. Please click here and scroll down to Vote if you haven’t already!
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 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. Think about what kind of event you’d like to plan. Your event can be small–just a few friends talking over dinner. A new Stand With Randy website maps and lists all the events planned so far. Please join the network of actions statewide, and guarantee that your event is posted online by filling out the form here. Joel Sartore, internationally acclaimed National Geographic contributing photographer, challenges all Nebraskans to “Write and call Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” and 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 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.“

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

Green Notes Week of July 17, 2011

July 17, 2011Green Notesgreenone

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.“

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

Green Notes Week of July 10, 2011

July 10, 2011Green Notesgreenone

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

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

BOLD NEBRASKA ON KZUM CALL-IN . . . Tuesday, July 12, 2011, Keystone XL pipeline opposition leaders from BOLD Nebraska will be on KZUM radio, 89.3fm, for the hour from 11:00pm to midnight. Call in with questions, or just listen to learn more about what you can do to help STOP THE PIPELINE. Listen to the live stream here.

THINK GREEN IT’S THURSDAY . . . TGIT is a new happy hour for planning a sustainable future at the EcoStores 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.

WACHISKA SUMMER PICNIC . . . The Annual Wachiska Audubon potluck picnic is Thursday, July 14, 2011, 6:00pm, at Maxwell Arboretum/Keim Hall on UN-L East Campus. Click here for more details.

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. Paul Olson, and Lela Shanks, two well known, well deserved people will receive the Peacemaker of the Year Award this year. Save the Date!

WATCHDOGS OF LINCOLN GOVERNMENT . . . Lincoln Watchdogs have been a presence at Joint Public Agency meetings since the toxic arena project began construction in the historic Haymarket. Minutes of the June JPA meeting are here. [pdf] The next meeting is Friday, July 15, 2011, 3:30pm, at the County City Building, 555 South 10th Street, in City Council Chambers on first floor. (Call the City Finance office, 402.441.7411, to make sure the time has not been changed.) The next Watchdogs group meeting will be Saturday, July 16th, 10:00am, at Gere Library, 2400 South 56th Street, Lincoln.

STAR CITY PRIDE FESTIVAL . . . This year’s Fifth Annual Star City Pride Street Festival is Saturday, July 16, 2011, at The Panic Bar, 200 South 18th Street (18th & N), Lincoln, 2:00pm to 2:00am. There will be live music, food vendors, DJ’s, belly dancers, a beer garden for ages 21 and older, and a kid’s zone. The Nebraska AIDS Project will provide free AIDS testing. The event is free to public.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

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 “Rashomon,” a 1950 Japanese crime drama depicting the rape of a woman and the apparent murder of her husband through the widely differing accounts of four witnesses. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

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 Terry’s 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.

HIKE FONTENELLE FOREST . . . The Omaha Hiking Club will host a hike on the higher elevation trails of Fontenelle Forest Nature Center Saturday, July 16, 2011. The 4-5 mile hike will start at 8:30am. Fontenelle Forest Nature Center showcases 1400 acres of forest, wetlands and marshlands, penetrated by 17 miles of walking and hiking trails and a mile-long, barrier-free boardwalk where you will see many forms of wildlife. For more information, e-mail omahahikingclub [at] cox [dot] net.

OWL RIDE IN OMAHA . . . The Second Annual Owl Ride, Omaha’s organized urban cycling adventure, will happen Saturday, July 16, 2011, 11:00pm, with the start and finish at Lewis and Clark Landing, 515 North Riverfront Drive. Click here for event information, and here to register. Contact Kurt Goetzinger, 402.714.0290 with questions, or e-mail goetzinger2 [at] cox [dot] net.

FORAGING WALK FOR EDIBLES . . . Sunday, July 17, 2011, 10:00am to noon, Nebraska Adventure Group will host a Foraging Walk for Edible Plants. Contact Brandon Miller neadventuregroup [at] gmail [dot] com for more information.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . “Should Alberta’s cross-border oil pipeline be extended to Texas?” This CBC News article and poll posted July 9, 2011 reports “Alberta’s energy minister says he’s going to push Ottawa to promote TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. government.” Please Vote! Let a resounding “No” be reflected.
Comments are invited in “Petroleum Companies and Politicians,” a July 8th Statepaper.com Analysis. “Have you noticed enormously arrogant multinational companies behave like enormously arrogant politicians? What with that oil spill in Montana, and the scuffle over the Keystone XL pipeline proposed for Nebraska, we’d like to get your thoughts on oil companies, politicians and the entire process.” Read Analysis and post feedback here.
A Sunday, July 10, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star letter to the editor by James F. Shoup begins “Thousands of gallons of Exxon-Mobil crude flushing down the Yellowstone River, poisoning who knows how much land and how many animals, should make one think twice (or more times) about running a pipeline across our prized land. There are 25 miles of ruined land (at last count) and 42,000 gallons of oil. If accidents such as this don’t put a stop to the proposed pipeline here, then all those who want it should be forced to help clean up the mess after the catastrophe. …If the tragedy that just occurred in Montana with the oil pipeline happens here in Nebraska, are we really ready to accept the consequences?”
Tv news of the July 2nd Exxon spill at the Yellowstone River in Montana prompted evacuations. “Oil Spill in Montana’s Yellowstone River, Lessons for Nebraska,” by Jane Kleeb, BOLD Nebraska Executive Director, July 3rd begins “A tragic oil spill is happening right now in Montana. An Exxon Mobile oil pipeline ruptured in the Yellowstone River resulting in gallons of oil and chemicals on families’ farms and homes. Wildlife is being rescued and oil booms were laid trying to soak up as much oil as possible. It is still unclear how much oil was spilt, however we do know at least 150 miles of the Yellowstone River and families’ homes and farms have been spoiled by oil. …Frustrated by the spill and want to take local action? Consider joining us on August 5th to circle Gov. Heineman’s mansion for an I Stand with Randy event.” Start thinking about how you’d like to Stand With Randy August 5th, and plan to join the circle at the governor’s mansion in Lincoln at 9:00pm. Read Jane’s blog about the spill here. An NPR story is here. An AP article published by Reader Supported News, “Exxon Spills Again, Scenic Yellowstone River Tarnished,” is here. And a
Democracy Now! video segment is here.
The Lincoln Journal Star editorialized “Regrettable proof of oil pipeline risk” on July 8th. “If there were any Nebraskans who were still unconcerned about the possibility that the Sandhills could face long-term damage from an oil spill from the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, they ought to be worried now. The rupture of a 12-inch Exxon pipeline Friday night under the Yellowstone River in Montana sent about 1,000 barrels, or 42,000 gallons, of crude oil downstream. …If a spill were to occur under similar conditions in the Nebraska Sandhills, environmental damage would be magnified by the porous nature of the sandy soil, and the difficulty of reestablishing vegetation. Damage from the oil and cleanup work might extend miles from the pipeline itself. …In more than a dozen editorials, the Journal Star editorial board has hammered away at the plan to jam the Keystone XL pipeline through the beautiful and fragile Sandhills. The latest pipeline spill provides regrettable proof that our fears are not unfounded. …Meanwhile, Nebraskans are waiting for an announcement on when and where the federal government will hold its last public hearing in the state on the proposed pipeline. We hope that federal officials are getting the message. The Keystone XL pipeline should be rerouted to avoid the Sandhills.” The complete Editorial is here. LJS also published “Exxon Mobil called broken pipeline safe,” by Detroit Free Press, July 7th. It says “Regulators were told oil line was buried deep enough before 1,000 barrels spilled.”
The US House of Representatives is expected to vote on Rep. Lee Terry’s bill, H.R. 1938, this week. The bill is expected to be “dead on arrival” at the Senate, but a House vote for the bill will give TransCanada momentum. This is a bad bill that says Secretary Clinton must make a decision about the XL pipeline by November 1, 2011, even if the final Environmental Impact Statement is not completed. Read a BOLD Nebraska blog about the “Oil Disaster Promotion Act” here. A National Wildlife Federation commentary is here.
New Nebraska Green Party grouplist contributor John Atkeison was published in the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha-World Herald this past week. His solution to the tar sands question is leave it in the ground! “Their record of twelve leaks in 12 months for TransCanada’s Keystone I pipeline is not reassuring. …There is an even more important reason to leave it in the ground. It is now more imperative than ever to keep the carbon in this goo out of the air where there is already an overabundance of unnatural greenhouse gases. Greenhouse pollution is increasing rapidly even in this recession and the effects on climate are charging into view faster than most people would have thought possible just a few years ago.” If you’d like to start receiving Nebraska Green Party grouplist e-mails about current news and actions, click here, put “subscribe listserv” in the subject line, and send us your e-ddress.
From “Heineman Remains Silent on Pipeline,” by Ben Gotschall, “…a Congressional Research Service (CRS) memo requested by Nebraska Republican Congressman Lee Terry has shown that, although the State Dept. wields the power of approving or denying a permit for the pipeline to cross the US/Canadian border, it is ultimately up to the states (i.e. Nebraska) to determine siting of the pipeline route. This means that Gov. Heineman has the legal authority and duty to get the pipeline out of the Sand Hills. …Sadly, Gov. Heineman still chooses to sit back and remain silent in the same invertebrate fashion he has displayed in the past. While it would be easy to write off his lack of initiative as typical partisan accommodation of big oil companies, the pipeline is a nonpartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans are concerned about the route of the pipeline, and members of the Nebraska legislature have shown that other state leaders can and will take action to protect our citizens. The highest-ranking elected official in our state has chosen to opt out and avoid responsibility. This is not leadership. This is outright neglect of duty, and we need to let Governor Heineman know that his inaction is not what Nebraska citizens expect from a leader with such an important role and with so much at stake–our land, water, economic activity and the cultural heritage that makes our state strong.”
Quoting “Piping in some common sense,” a LJS Local View by Lincoln’s National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore, “…For the sake of my family, myself and my state, I challenge the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline. …I don’t wish to offend anyone, but the conclusion I come away with every time is this: I cannot believe this is something we’re considering for even a minute. …If you care, let your voice be heard. Write and call Gov. Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns. 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.
New this week is a petition to Secretary of State Clinton: “Stop the Pipeline. Save Our Songbirds!” “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.
Farmers and ranchers along the pipeline route signed an open letter to Montana’s Governor calling on him to protect the state’s rivers. Their list of requirements for needed protection is included with their entire letter here.
“The Keystone XL Pipeline Story in the United States,” is a new 40-minute documentary being produced in association with the National Wildlife Federation to explore environmental, social and political impacts of the $13 billion XL pipeline construction. From the website, “This film will uncover the realities behind building this 1,980-mile pipeline through the heartland of America. It will discuss the ramifications of the growing US reliance on Canadian oil, as well as the sacrifices on people, wildlife and the environment as a result of the transport and refinement of this very polluting tar sands oil.” To learn more about the project and become a supporting financial contributor, click here.
SAVE THE DATES: Nebraska XL opposition groups are planning a STATEWIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS to coincide with the Washington DC Action August 5th through August 7th. In towns across the state, in venues from churches to bars, during the first weekend of August 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. Think about what kind of event you’d like to plan, and fill out a form to participate in the statewide action here.
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? Sign all the petitions linked above. 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 Substitute Hemp for Oil.“

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

Green Notes Week of July 3, 2011

July 3, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Keystone XL pipeline news is in CD 3 Green Notes below. Note the July 4th pipeline opposition rally in Omaha at noon, 90th & Maple Streets. 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. 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. 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. COUNT BUTTERFLIES AT PIONEERS PARK NATURE CENTER . . . The 35th Annual Butterfly Count will be Saturday, July 9, 2011, 9:00am to 12:30pm, at the Pioneers Park Nature Center on the southwest edge of Lincoln. Ted Burk, a biology professor at Creighton University, will present an hourlong introductory slide show, and participants then will count at the Center, or Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center near Denton. 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. Paul Olson, and Lela Shanks, two well known, well deserved people will receive the Peacemaker of the Year Award this year. Save the Date! 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. A Thursday 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. 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 JOIN XL OPPOSITION AGAINST H.R. 1938 . . . Rep. Lee Terry will be at Monday’s GOP Pancake Feed, July 4th, 8:00am to noon, at Elmwood Park Pavilion. BOLD Nebraska blogged about Terry’s bill, the “Oil Disaster Promotion Act,” here, and here. (See XL Update in CD 3 Green Notes below.) Stand outside the Pavilion with a sign such as “don’t rush the pipeline,” or hold a BOLD Nebraska STOP THE PIPELINE sign while Republicans gather throughout the morning. PIPELINE OPPOSITION RALLY . . . Celebrate “Independence Day” with XL pipeline opposition activists on Monday, July 4, 2011, noon, at 90th & Maple Streets in Omaha. (Park in the bank parking lot, southwest corner of the intersection.) PROTECTING OUR LAND & WATER IS PATRIOTIC. STOP THE KEYSTONE XL. FOURTH OF JULY HIKE . . . Monday, July 4, 2011, the Omaha Hiking Club will host an 8:30am, five mile hike at Chalco Hills Recreation Area, about 12 miles west of downtown Omaha. E-mail omahahikingclub [at] cox [dot] net for more information. 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 “RIP: A Remix Manifesto,” a documentary about “the changing concept of copyright.” View a 2:31 minute trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004. PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for details. Plan events ouside Lee Terry’s Omaha office, 11717 Burt Street, Suite 106. 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. 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 . . . Saturday morning, July 2, 2011, there was breaking news from a Billings, Montana tv station that an Exxon oil pipeline under the Yellowstone River ruptured sending an undetermined amount of oil down river. The oil leak in a 12 inch line near the boat ramp at Riverside Park near Laurel prompted evacuations. Video and a photo gallery are here. Quoting an AP article, A 600-foot-long black smear of oil coated the riverfront property of Jim Swanson just downstream from where the pipe broke. Swanson said globules of oil bubbled to the surface of the river. NBC Sunday night news said wildlife is already slicked in oil from the estimated 42,000 gallon spill. “Oil Spill in Montana’s Yellowstone River, Lessons for Nebraska,” by Jane Kleeb, BOLD Nebraska Executive Director, July 3rd begins “A tragic oil spill is happening right now in Montana. An Exxon Mobile oil pipeline ruptured in the Yellowstone River resulting in gallons of oil and chemicals on families’ farms and homes. Wildlife is being rescued and oil booms were laid trying to soak up as much oil as possible. It is still unclear how much oil was spilt, however we do know at least 150 miles of the Yellowstone River and families’ homes and farms have been spoiled by oil. …Frustrated by the spill and want to take local action? Consider joining us on Aug. 5th to circle Gov. Heineman’s mansion for an I Stand with Randy event.” A Top 10 Pipeline Opposition Update went out to the SignOn.org e-mail list last week. From the e-mail by Jane Kleeb, here is part of the list: *The State Department listened to you and is scheduling a meeting in Nebraska to hear from landowners and citizens. The meeting will take place in Lincoln around August 15th. (Watch Green Notes for updates.) *Randy Thompson is a landowner who is standing up to TransCanada. He is refusing to sign their “contract” to seize his land. We started an “I Stand with Randy” campaign to show our support of not only Randy, but all landowners and citizens who are standing up to TransCanada and their risky tarsands pipeline. You can buy a t-shirt to show your support, you can also pick up a yard sign at the Bold office (new signs available in 2 weeks). *Plan an “I Stand with Randy” event. August 5-7th, all across Nebraska, we are asking folks to hold an event to show their support of Randy but also to educate others what’s at stake if we let this pipeline come through our land and water. We will even circle Gov. Heineman’s mansion on Aug. 5th at 9pm, so join us and bring a flashlight! *If you are ready to take your activism to an even higher level, national celebrities and leaders want you to join them in front of the White House in August and September to tell President Obama he needs to stand with Randy and stand with the promise he made to a clean energy economy by denying the TransCanada permit to build this risky pipeline. *York County is doing a great job of not only holding public meetings on the pipeline, but their paper is also doing an excellent job covering the meetings. We applaud the York County Commissioners and encourage you to read the articles. *Rep. Terry introduced an awful and reckless bill that would rush a decision on the pipeline by Nov. 1st even if Sec. Clinton and states along the pipeline route need more time to finish studies on safety and pipeline routes. If you see him around town, tell him how disappointed you are in his reckless bill. *TransCanada continues to lie to small towns and landowners about the “benefits” of the pipeline. A great site to look at for info is Dirty Oil Sands. Remember, the oil is NOT guaranteed for the United States and only 12% of the jobs will go to Nebraskans (which means about 120 jobs for about 3 months compared to over 7,000 ethanol long-term jobs in our state). * TransCanada and their allies like to say their pipeline is no big deal since thousands of pipelines already cross the Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer. This is simply not true. While Nebraska has many water and natural gas pipelines, we are not an oil state. The oil pipelines we do have are small and carry traditional crude oil. TransCanada’s pipeline is a large-scale project that carries the dirtiest form of oil, tarsands, that contains chemicals like Benzene. Their pipeline also pumps this oil at very high temperatures and high pressure. Their oil is 16 times more corrosive also than traditional oil which means more spills–and this is proven on TransCanada’s first Keystone pipeline that had 12 spills in 12 months already (when they told us they would only have 1 spill every 7 years). Thank you for standing with us and standing with Randy as we hold TransCanada and elected officials in their pocket accountable. The entire list is blogged here. Start thinking about how you’d like to Stand With Randy August 5th, and plan to join the circle at the governor’s mansion in Lincoln at 9:00pm. “Keystone XL Pipeline Bill Passes House Committee,” by by Tony Iallonardo for the National Wildlife Federation begins “Higher Oil Prices for Consumers Sought by Industry. After passing through subcommittee last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation, H.R. 1938, today that forces the Obama administration to make a decision on the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline by November. The committee has passed numerous pro-polluter bills that are unlikely to get traction on the other side of Capitol Hill. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), whose state is among those on the proposed pipeline’s path, has predicted it will not move in the Senate.” From an official NWF statement, “If we let oil companies build this pipeline, they will manipulate oil supplies to increase gas prices at the pump in 15 states throughout the Midwest. Changing the rules robs Americans of a full and fair debate and puts Big Oil ahead of consumers and ahead of pipeline safety.” BOLD Nebraska blogged about Terry’s bill, the “Oil Disaster Promotion Act,” here, and here. According to BOLD Nebraska, H.R. 1938 is “dead on arrival” in the Senate, but it is important because it gives momentum to TransCanada. It is a bad bill that says Secretary Clinton must make a decision about the XL pipeline by November 1, 2011, even if the final Environmental Impact Statement is not completed. The House vote is expected the week of July 11th. Quoting another early news article about Terry’s bill, from The Guardian, “…Congress took a first step on Wednesday to fast-track a controversial Alberta tar sands pipeline, ordering Barack Obama to reach a decision on the project by 1 November. The bill, voted through a panel of the house energy and power subcommittee, would compel Obama to over-rule demands for a further review of the project from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and disregard local opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline from landowners along its 1,700-mile route. Republicans in Congress are planning further action to push ahead on the pipeline next week, environmentalists said. Tony Iallonardo is quoted saying “The fossil fuel industry now has the ability to write and pass legislation that defies common sense.” From “Heineman Remains Silent on Pipeline,” by Ben Gotschall, “…a Congressional Research Service (CRS) memo requested by Nebraska Republican Congressman Lee Terry has shown that, although the State Dept. wields the power of approving or denying a permit for the pipeline to cross the US/Canadian border, it is ultimately up to the states (i.e. Nebraska) to determine siting of the pipeline route. This means that Gov. Heineman has the legal authority and duty to get the pipeline out of the Sand Hills. …Sadly, Gov. Heineman still chooses to sit back and remain silent in the same invertebrate fashion he has displayed in the past. While it would be easy to write off his lack of initiative as typical partisan accommodation of big oil companies, the pipeline is a nonpartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans are concerned about the route of the pipeline, and members of the Nebraska legislature have shown that other state leaders can and will take action to protect our citizens. The highest-ranking elected official in our state has chosen to opt out and avoid responsibility. This is not leadership. This is outright neglect of duty, and we need to let Governor Heineman know that his inaction is not what ebraska citizens expect from a leader with such an important role and with so much at stake–our land, water, economic activity and the cultural heritage that makes our state strong.” A SolveClimateNews article “Nebraska Water Scientists Warn of Oil Pipeline’s Risk, Call for More Study,” reports “A single study by the U.S. Geological Survey in Minnesota is the sole source for what scientists know about crude oil behavior in aquifers.” View a satellite image of Nebraska’s Sand Hills at page 1 of 4. The Art Hovey Lincoln Journal Star coverage “Keystone XL spokesman, UNL water experts on different tracks,” was published June 21st. E-mail or call Gov. Heineman at 402.471.2244, and tell him to get serious about his duty to protect our land and water by rerouting the pipeline now. The new Audubon Magazine features an article by Ted Williams. Quoting “Tarred and Feathered,” “…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. …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.” The article quotes Nebraska Sierra’s Ken Winston and Mitch Paine, Nebraska Audubon’s Marian Langan, Nebraska landowners Randy Thompson, Cindy Myers, and others. A June 18th canada.com article by Sheldon Alberts features Jane Kleeb, Randy Thompson, and other Nebraska landowners. “Thompson’s perception of TransCanada has been sealed over three stressful years. He says the company has shown contempt for both landowners and Nebraska’s resources by refusing to alter Keystone XL’s route. “We can find another source of energy, but we have no alternative to our source of water. We are just a bunch of damn fools if we put our aquifer at risk,” he says. “We’re not just going to roll over and play dead for these guys.” Click here to view a 5:32 minute video of Randy, and learn about the “I Stand With Randy” campaign here. The Keystone Pipeline: Triple Trouble, by Bruce Johansen writing for Nebraskans For Peace, June 17th begins “The proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would carry about 830,000 barrels a day at full capacity, has been catching a lot of grief locally because it could spill oil that might ruin our underground water supply. That much is true. But the environmental cost of the pipeline does not stop there. The oil that will be transported is refined from tar sands, mainly from Alberta, which combine all the worst attributes of fossil fuels: spill potential, the carbon footprint of coal, and the environmental damage of coal strip mining. Tar sands are, briefly stated, a triple environmental atrocity—enough to send a thinking person to a bicycle. …In other words, tar sands’ huge demand for water and energy, as well as its damage to the boreal forests of Canada, is beside the point—-which is profit. One wonders how much damage will have to be done before people realize that our appetite for fossil fuels is condemning coming generations to a hot, miserable, barren future.” Quoting “Piping in some common sense,” a LJS Local View by Lincoln’s National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore, “…For the sake of my family, myself and my state, I challenge the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline. …I don’t wish to offend anyone, but the conclusion I come away with every time is this: I cannot believe this is something we’re considering for even a minute. …If you care, let your voice be heard. Write and call Gov. Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns. 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 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. A 6:31 minute YouTube video “Stop the Megaloads Now!” films this country’s scenic natural environments and contrasts the images of beauty with the “biggest, dirtiest, most ecologically destructive extraction operation on Earth” that has turned Alberta, Canada into a “raped and stinking tar pit.” Please watch to see how Exxon will treat Idaho and Montana’s scenic highways when destruction equipment starts rolling for tar sands extraction there. The 2011 Earth First Round River Rendezvous, July 5th through the 12th, will focus on tar sands and the proposed XL pipeline. “Fight the Power!” An AlterNet article June 30th, “Why Unions Should Reconsider Support for Tar Sands Oil Pipeline” says “Presidents of several unions have come out in support of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. But the damage the pipeline will do far outweighs its benefits.” “The Keystone XL Pipeline Story in the United States” is a new 40-minute documentary being produced in association with the National Wildlife Federation to explore environmental, social and political impacts of the $13 billion XL pipeline construction. From the website, “This film will uncover the realities behind building this 1,980-mile pipeline through the heartland of America. It will discuss the ramifications of the growing US reliance on Canadian oil, as well as the sacrifices on people, wildlife and the environment as a result of the transport and refinement of this very polluting tar sands oil.” Pending funding, principal photography is scheduled to begin on June 20, 2011. To learn more about this project and become a supporting financial contributor, click here. SAVE THE DATES: Nebraska XL opposition groups have started planning a STATEWIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS to coincide with the Washington DC Action August 5th through August 7th. In towns across the state, in venues from churches to bars, during the first weekend of August 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. Nebraska writer Mary Pipher is coordinating poetry events. Phone Mary at 402.484.5548 for details about what poets are planning. 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? Sign all the petitions linked above. 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 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. 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

Green Notes Week of June 26, 2011

June 26, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Keystone XL pipeline news is in CD 3 Green Notes below. An Oklahoma poll question this week asks “Do you think that the Keystone XL pipeline should be built?” Scroll to the bottom of the page to see if the question is still posted, and view a tv news clip featuring concerned Oklahoma landowners. (“Yes” outnumbers “No” by 5% as of Sunday, June 26, 2011.)

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

EXIT AFGHANISTAN ACTION . . . Save Money! Save Lives! EXIT Afghanistan! Mark Vasina, President of Nebraskans for Peace, quotes Representative Barbara Lee in a June 23, 2011 action alert: “Enough is enough,” she states. “It is past time that we bring this war to an end.” Wednesday, June 29, 2011, 5:30pm, there will be a Lincoln EXIT Afghanistan Action against the administration’s war policy at the Federal Building, 15th & O Streets. Take this opportunity to join other Nebraskans in calling for elected officials and the president to bring all the troops home now! Regular weekly Wednesday Peace Vigils will continue from 5:00 to 6:00pm on July 6th.

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.

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. A Thursday 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. 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

HIKE STANDING BEAR LAKE . . . Tuesday, June 28, 2011, the Omaha Hiking Club will hike one of Omaha’s early trail systems, Standing Bear Lake. Meet in the parking lot at the 144th Street entrance to begin the hike promptly at 9:30am. For more information, e-mail omahahikingclub [at] cox [dot] net.

GUARDIANS OF THE GOOD LIFE . . . The next Guardians meeting will be Wednesday, June 29, 2011, 6:30pm, at First Unitarian Church, 31st & Harney, in Omaha. The agenda will include news and upcoming events happening around opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, primarily the Statewide Arts Festival on August 5th to celebrate the Ogallala Aquifer and Nebraska’s Sand Hills. All visual artists, photographers, musicians, poets, sculptors, actors, filmmakers, dancers and creative activists are welcome to brainstorm organizing Omaha’s Festival Event. For more information, e-mail Jane Wilson, japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net.

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 “Enlighten Up,” a documentary that takes a “whimsical, skeptical, and ultimately thoughtful look at the mysteries of yoga.” View a 2:15 minute trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

NEBRASKA CANNABIS COALITION MEETING . . . A new Nebraska Proposition 19 Cannabis Initiative seeks to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the November 2012 general election ballot, according to an Omaha World-Herald article. The amendment would regulate and tax all commercial uses of marijuana and remove all laws governing private, noncommercial use of the plant. The first public campaign organizing meeting will be Saturday, July 2, 2011, 2:00 to 6:00pm, in Omaha at McFosters, 38th and Harney.

HIKE SCHRAMM PARK . . . Saturday, July 2, 9:00am, Omaha Hiking Club will hike Schramm Park State Recreation Area near the Platte River, home of the Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium. The hike will be an easy 2-3 mile hike on some fairly flat dirt packed trails on the north side of the Platte. Meet in the parking lot of the Aquarium at the west end of the park. For more information, e-mail omahahikingclub [at] cox [dot] net.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . This past week, CommonDreams published a Call to Action signed by eleven leading American and Canadian environmental activists. Quoting “Environmental Leaders Call for Civil Disobedience to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline,” by Naomi Klein, Wendell Berry, Maude Barlow, Bill McKibben and Others, “The tar sands have wrecked huge parts of Alberta, disrupting ways of life in indigenous communities—First Nations communities in Canada, and tribes along the pipeline route in the U.S. have demanded the destruction cease. The pipeline crosses crucial areas like the Oglalla Aquifer where a spill would be disastrous—and though the pipeline companies insist they are using ‘state of the art’ technologies that should leak only once every 7 years, the precursor pipeline and its pumping stations have leaked a dozen times in the past year. These local impacts alone would be cause enough to block such a plan. But the Keystone Pipeline would also be a fifteen hundred mile fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the continent, a way to make it easier and faster to trigger the final overheating of our planet, the one place to which we are all indigenous. …Given all that, you’d suspect that there’s no way the Obama administration would ever permit this pipeline. But in the last few months the president has signed pieces of paper opening much of Alaska to oil drilling, and permitting coal-mining on federal land in Wyoming that will produce as much CO2 as 300 power plants operating at full bore. And Secretary of State Clinton has already said she’s ‘inclined’ to recommend the pipeline go forward.
Winning this battle won’t save the climate. But losing it will mean the chances of runaway climate change go way up—that we’ll endure an endless future of the floods and droughts we’ve seen this year. And we’re fighting for the political future too—for the premise that we should make decisions based on science and reason, not political connection. You have to start somewhere, and this is where we choose to begin.” The letter is signed by eleven leading American and Canadian environmental activists. Read more, and sign up to join the Action in Washington DC, here.
POLITICO covered the call to action here. The letter is also here, followed by interviews with McKibben and Berry.
SAVE THE DATES: Nebraska XL pipeline opposition groups have started planning a STATEWIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS to coincide with the Washington DC Action August 5th through August 7th. In towns across the state, in venues from churches to bars, during the first weekend of August 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. Nebraska writer Mary Pipher is coordinating poetry events. Phone Mary at 402.484.5548 for details about what poets are planning.
“Keystone XL Pipeline Bill Passes House Committee,” by Tony Iallonardo for the National Wildlife Federation begins “Higher Oil Prices for Consumers Sought by Industry. After passing through subcommittee last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation, H.R. 1938, today that forces the Obama administration to make a decision on the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline by November. The committee has passed numerous pro-polluter bills that are unlikely to get traction on the other side of Capitol Hill. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), whose state is among those on the proposed pipeline’s path, has predicted it will not move in the Senate.” From an official NWF statement, “If we let oil companies build this pipeline, they will manipulate oil supplies to increase gas prices at the pump in 15 states throughout the Midwest. Changing the rules robs Americans of a full and fair debate and puts Big Oil ahead of consumers and ahead of pipeline safety.”
Quoting another early news article, from The Guardian, “…Congress took a first step on Wednesday to fast-track a controversial Alberta tar sands pipeline, ordering Barack Obama to reach a decision on the project by 1 November. The bill, voted through a panel of the house energy and power subcommittee, would compel Obama to over-rule demands for a further review of the project from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and disregard local opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline from landowners along its 1,700-mile route. Republicans in Congress are planning further action to push ahead on the pipeline next week, environmentalists said. Tony Iallonardo is quoted saying “The fossil fuel industry now has the ability to write and pass legislation that defies common sense. With tar sands pipelines bursting frequently in the US, the last thing that should be moving is legislation that would enable future oil disasters in the midwest.”
An AP article by Rob Gillies, “China eyes Canada oil, US’s energy nest egg,” June 25, 2011, begins “In the northern reaches of Alberta lies a vast reserve of oil that the U.S. views as a pillar of its future energy needs. China, with a growing appetite for oil that may one day surpass that of the U.S., is ready to spend the dollars for a big piece of it.”
From “Heineman Remains Silent on Pipeline,” by Ben Gotschall, “…a Congressional Research Service (CRS) memo requested by Nebraska Republican Congressman Lee Terry has shown that, although the State Dept. wields the power of approving or denying a permit for the pipeline to cross the US/Canadian border, it is ultimately up to the states (i.e. Nebraska) to determine siting of the pipeline route. This means that Gov. Heineman has the legal authority and duty to get the pipeline out of the Sand Hills. …Sadly, Gov. Heineman still chooses to sit back and remain silent in the same invertebrate fashion he has displayed in the past. While it would be easy to write off his lack of initiative as typical partisan accommodation of big oil companies, the pipeline is a nonpartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans are concerned about the route of the pipeline, and members of the Nebraska legislature have shown that other state leaders can and will take action to protect our citizens.
The highest-ranking elected official in our state has chosen to opt out and avoid responsibility. This is not leadership. This is outright neglect of duty, and we need to let Governor Heineman know that his inaction is not what Nebraska citizens expect from a leader with such an important role and with so much at stake–our land, water, economic activity and the cultural heritage that makes our state strong. E-mail or call Gov. Heineman at 402.471.2244, and tell him to get serious about his duty to protect our land and water by rerouting the pipeline now.”
A SolveClimateNews article “Nebraska Water Scientists Warn of Oil Pipeline’s Risk, Call for More Study,” reports “A single study by the U.S. Geological Survey in Minnesota is the sole source for what scientists know about crude oil behavior in aquifers.” View a satellite image of Nebraska’s Sand Hills at page 1 of 4. The Art Hovey Lincoln Journal Star coverage “Keystone XL spokesman, UNL water experts on different tracks,” was published June 21st.
An interesting interview with Daniel Clune, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State — the official at the US State Department responsible for managing the review process of TransCanada’s application to build the pipeline, was published June 20th.
We know TransCanada is meeting with County boards across Nebraska along the proposed route. “Commissioners to hear from pipeline company” by Melanie Wilkinson for the York News Times, reports TransCanada representatives will meet with York County Commissioners on Tuesday, June 28th, at 2:00pm, for an “update” on the XL project. A number of local York County landowners would be impacted if the project is approved.
Residents of one Canadian town are engaged in a David and Goliath-style battle over the dirtiest oil project ever known. A 20 minute documentary on Alberta tar sands, “To the Last Drop,” is here.
The new Audubon Magazine features an article by Ted Williams. Quoting “Tarred and Feathered,” …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. …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.” The article quotes Nebraska Sierra’s Ken Winston and Mitch Paine, Nebraska Audubon‘s Marian Langan, Nebraska landowners Randy Thompson, Cindy Myers, and others.
A June 18th canada.com article by Sheldon Alberts features BOLD Nebraska’s Jane Kleeb, Randy Thompson, and other Nebraska landowners. “Thompson’s perception of TransCanada has been sealed over three stressful years. He says the company has shown contempt for both landowners and Nebraska’s resources by refusing to alter Keystone XL’s route. “We can find another source of energy, but we have no alternative to our source of water. We are just a bunch of damn fools if we put our aquifer at risk,” he says. “We’re not just going to roll over and play dead for these guys.” Click here to view a 5:32 minute video of Randy, and learn about the “I Stand With Randy” campaign here.
The Keystone Pipeline: Triple Trouble, by Bruce Johansen writing for Nebraskans For Peace, June 17th begins “The proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would carry about 830,000 barrels a day at full capacity, has been catching a lot of grief locally because it could spill oil that might ruin our underground water supply. That much is true. But the environmental cost of the pipeline does not stop there. The oil that will be transported is refined from tar sands, mainly from Alberta, which combine all the worst attributes of fossil fuels: spill potential, the carbon footprint of coal, and the environmental damage of coal strip mining. Tar sands are, briefly stated, a triple environmental atrocity—enough to send a thinking person to a bicycle. …In other words, tar sands’ huge demand for water and energy, as well as its damage to the boreal forests of Canada, is beside the point—-which is profit. One wonders how much damage will have to be done before people realize that our appetite for fossil fuels is condemning coming generations to a hot, miserable, barren future.”
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.
Quoting “Piping in some common sense,” a LJS Local View by Lincoln’s National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore, “…For the sake of my family, myself and my state, I challenge the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline. …I don’t wish to offend anyone, but the conclusion I come away with every time is this: I cannot believe this is something we’re considering for even a minute. …If you care, let your voice be heard. Write and call Gov. Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns. 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.
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.
A new 6:31 minute YouTube video “Stop the Megaloads Now!” films this country’s scenic natural environments and contrasts the images of beauty with the “biggest, dirtiest, most ecologically destructive extraction operation on Earth” that has turned Alberta, Canada into a “raped and stinking tar pit.” Please watch to see how Exxon will treat Idaho and Montana’s scenic highways when destruction equipment starts rolling for tar sands extraction there. The 2011 Earth First Round River Rendezvous, July 5th through the 12th, will focus on tar sands and the proposed XL pipeline. “Fight the Power!”
The Keystone XL Pipeline Story in the United States, is a new 40-minute documentary being produced in association with the National Wildlife Federation to explore environmental, social and political impacts of the $13 billion XL pipeline construction. From the website, “This film will uncover the realities behind building this 1,980-mile pipeline through the heartland of America. It will discuss the ramifications of the growing US reliance on Canadian oil, as well as the sacrifices on people, wildlife and the environment as a result of the transport and refinement of this very polluting tar sands oil.” Pending funding, principal photography is scheduled to begin on June 20, 2011. To learn more about this project and become a supporting financial contributor, click here.
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? Sign all the petitions linked above. 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 Petition and view 6:20 minute Colbert Report interview with Tom Ridge.

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