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Green Notes Week of April 10, 2011

April 10, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in District 3 Green Notes. Note the Pipeline Education and Action Forum in Stuart, Nebraska on Sunday, April 17, 2011.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

GREEN WHEELS COMMUTER CHALLENGE . . . Registration deadline is Monday, April 11, 2011, for the Lincoln Earth Day Green Wheels Commuter Challenge. Any group can form 4-person teams, and participation is free. The Challenge: reduce your carbon footprint by riding a bicycle, taking public transportation, carpooling, or walking the week of April 11 through 18, 2011. Team members will record the number of miles utilizing alternative modes of transportation. After the week’s results are submitted and counted, totals will be posted on the website and announced at Earth Day. There will be prizes for the biggest carbon reducing team. Challenge your co-workers, and then sign up 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.

FOCUS ON AFRICAN AMERICAN HEALTH . . . A free program, “Protect Your Health Heritage,” will address the changing outlook for African Americans in today’s society on Monday, April 11, 2011, 5:30-8:00pm, at the Center For People In Need, 3901 North 27th Street, Lincoln. Reservations are requested. Phone 402.219.7000 to rsvp. For more information, contact Christine Bleich, 402.423.4893 ext. 4106, or e-mail christine [dot] bleich [at] cancer [dot] org.

ERNIE CHAMBERS TO HEADLINE LINCOLN RALLY . . . Nebraska political legend Ernie Chambers will lead a rally at the Lincoln Federal Building, 100 Centennial Mall North (15th & ‘O’ Streets), in front of the West Entrance, Tuesday, April 12, 2011, starting at 5:30pm, calling on Congress to slash America’s bloated military budget instead of essential domestic programs. Be part of a Global Day of Action on Military Spending–an international mobilization to cut world military spending. Ernie Chambers will be joined by his former legislative colleague, Rev. Lowen Kruse, UN-L Associate Professor of Accountancy Linda Ruchala, and Nebraskans For Peace President Emeritus Paul Olson. Learn more at the NFP website here.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 3:30 to 4:30pm, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. The series runs through April 27th. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after they have been presented here.

LINCOLN PEACE VIGILS . . . Lincoln peace vigils continue at the Federal Building, 15th and O streets, every Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. Contact Mark at 402.499.6672 or e-mail mark [at] weddleton [dot] com for more information.

THINK GREEN IT’S THURSDAY . . . TGIT is a new happy hour for planning a sustainable future at the Eco Stores Conference Room, 530 West P Street, Lincoln. This is an informational, educational, and social weekly event, with locally grown food and beverages. (Beverage donations will be accepted.) Learn about the latest green products, businesses, policies and practices every Thursday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. For the spring schedule of TGIT speakers, click here. For more information, e-mail Mitch Paine at mitch [dot] paine [at] ecostoresne.org.

WACHISKA ANNUAL AT SPRING CREEK PRAIRIE . . . The 2011 Wachiska Audubon Annual Awards Banquet/Potluck will be at Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center, south of Denton, on Thursday, April 14, 2011, 6:15pm. Open to the public, everyone is asked to bring one or two dishes to share, along with your own table service. Beverages will be provided. No reservations or costs are involved. Click here for directions to SCPAC. Phone 402.797.2301 for more information.

NATURE’S MARKET . . . There will be a “Nature’s Market” at Pioneers Park Nature Center, 3201 South Coddington Avenue at the west end of Pioneers Park, on Saturday, April 16, 2011, 9:00am to 2:00pm. The free family event will feature art, music, food and activities, including a silent auction. Thirty-three birdhouses designed by local artists, currently on display throughout Lincoln, will be auctioned by local radio personality Tom Bassett at 9:30am.

MAYORAL CANDIDATE FORUM . . . Saturday, April 16, 2011, 1:30pm, Friends of Wilderness Park, Wachiska Audubon, and the Nebraska Chapter of Sierra Club will co-sponsor a Forum for mayoral candidates at Gere Library, South 56th and Normal Blvd., in Lincoln. The Forum is open to the public. Anyone planning to attend is encouraged to submit candidate questions ahead of time to friendsofwildernessparkne [at] yahoo [dot] com. Questions may also be submitted the evening of the Forum.

NEAC ANNUAL MEETING AND BANQUET . . . This year’s Nebraska Environmental Action Coalition Annual Meeting is Saturday, April 30, 2011, 10:00am to 4:00pm, in Lincoln at the Unitarian Church, 6300 A Street. Morning speakers include Ted Thieman and Laura Krebsbach from NEAC. The 1:15pm Keynote is by Lynn Henning, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, winner of the 2010 Goldman Prize for North America. The movie Food, Inc. will be shown at 3:00pm. Please make reservations for the noon local food lunch–vegetarian pasta salad or roast beef–by calling 402.276.7321, or e-mail chrisneac [at] gmail [dot] com before Monday April 18th. The meeting is free and open to the public, with a small charge for the lunch.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

FATHER JACK GOES TO COURT . . . Father Jack McCaslin, an 82 year old Omaha peace activist, will go to court again on Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 2:00pm, at the 2nd floor Federal Court of Judge Thomas Thalken, 18th and Douglas Street. A National Catholic Reporter article “Behind peace witness, a prophetic, transforming priest: Fr. Jack McCaslin – friends,
reflect on priest’s ministry, impact,” by Joshua McElwee, was published March 25, 2011. Father Jack crossed the line at STRATCOM last August 9th. An 8 minute Youtube clip of statements by the four peace activists arrested at the line crossing is here. To show support and solidarity with Father Jack, please be at the Court House on Tuesday. Remember to bring a photo ID (for access to the building). Leave cameras and cell phones at home. Court will likely last 45 minutes. For updates or any questions, e-mail The Omaha Catholic Worker, cwomaha [at] gmail [dot] com, or phone 402.502.5887.

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 “The New Jim Crow – A Videotaped Talk by Michelle Alexander.” An LA Progressive article “More Black Men Now in US Prison System than Were Enslaved,” and 9:10 minute interview with Alexander here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

GREEN NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP . . . Become the Sustainability Leader in your Neighborhood. The Green Omaha Coalition’s Green Neighborhood Council is presenting a “Green Neighborhood Leader Workshop” on April 14, 2011, 5:30 to 7:00pm, at The Neighborhood Center, 115 South 49th Avenue. The organization hopes to find individuals throughout the community to become “Green Neighborhood Leaders.” The workshop is free, and light refreshments will be provided. For more information, and to RSVP, e-mail kdeffenbacher [at] cox [dot] net.

“SEARCHING FOR ANGELA SHELTON” . . . Thursday, April 14 2011, 7:00pm, in an effort to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault, Voices of Hope will host a screening of “Searching for Angela Shelton, a documentary following filmmaker Angela Shelton as she interviewed 40 other Angela Sheltons in the United States, more than half of whom had been sexually abused. The film, followed by a brief discussion, will be at the UN-L East Campus Union Cottonwood Room. Admission is free of charge. Voices of Hope provides services to survivors of sexual assault, including a 24-hour crisis line at 402.475.7273.

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for details of this week’s protest. 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 DATE: An Omaha Pipeline Forum is scheduled for Tuesday, May 3, 2011, 7:00 to 8:30pm, at First Unitarian Church, 31st & Harney.

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. The garden needs sponsors to help with the costs of building (hardware, lumber, etc.). 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

HOLT COUNTY STOP THE PIPELINE FORUM . . . A Stop the Pipeline Education and Action Forum will be presented in CD 3 on Sunday, April 17, 2011, 2:00 to 3:30pm, at the Stuart Auditorium, 204 Parnell Street, Stuart, Nebraska. Nebraska Green Party is a co-sponsor with Audubon Nebraska, BOLD Nebraska, Nebraska Wildlife Federation, Nebraska Farmers Union, Nebraska Sierra Club, Guardians of the Good Life, Nebraskans for Peace and the Nebraska chapter of 350.org. T-shirts, bumper stickers and yard signs will be available for purchase. Action Guides will be distributed at no cost. Click here for the FaceBook Link.

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . This past week, Nebraska Green Party joined 34 other national and state groups, 12 from Nebraska, in signing a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton requesting an extention of the proposed time period for comments on the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Keystone XL pipeline. The letter [pdf] was mailed on Monday, April 4, 2011. “Koch Industries, Keystone XL Pipeline … a BP on the Prairie?” published at TruthOut April 7th reported “Tar sands are plentiful in the US and Canada, but environmentally treacherous to mine and transport – yet, this is the ‘green energy’ the Obama administration has leaned toward – with heavy prodding from its most threatening political enemy, Koch Industries – disputed founders of the Tea Party movement.”
The Lincoln Journal Star’s April 10, 2011 editorial, “Make Sand Hills off limits,” describes how easy it would be for Nebraska legislators to end the threat to our Sand Hills by making crude oil pipelines off limits there. “The Legislature should simply pass a law declaring the Sand Hills off limits to any future crude oil pipeline. The in-state ramifications will be few. The giant oil pipeline company simply would have to reroute the pipeline farther east in Nebraska to a location where the land and Ogallala Aquifer are not as vulnerable.”
On April 6, 2011, the Omaha World-Herald editorialized “Let’s settle the question.” It begins “Someone in Nebraska state government needs to clear up an important matter about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Maybe that someone is the Attorney General’s Office. Maybe it’s the professional staff of the Legislature’s Natural Resources committee. At any rate, Nebraskans deserve to have a key question answered clearly and thoroughly, citing the relevant law, whether state or federal. Namely: Does the State of Nebraska have any legal authority to regulate the pipeline, or doesn’t it?” Our coalition response will be linked in Green Notes after it is published by OW-H.
The New York Times joined citizens, experts and opinion leaders in opposition to the pipeline in an April 2nd editorial “No to a New Tar Sands Pipeline,” concluding “Last July, an older bitumen pipeline in Michigan spilled 800,000 gallons of the stuff into the Kalamazoo River. A new TransCanada pipeline that began carrying diluted bitumen last year has already had nine spills. …From all of the evidence, Keystone XL is not only environmentally risky, it is unnecessary.” Read the entire editorial here.
A Congressional Study and Memo from the Congressional Research Service dated September 20, 2010, determined that primary authority over location of interstate pipelines belongs to individual states. BOLD Nebraska and Stop the Pipeline coalition members held a roundtable with press on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, to discuss the recently unearthed memo. Coverage of the discovery was in the Omaha World-Herald, and on NTV. Other articles covering the memo are at KVNO News, at Lincoln Journal Star, and at statepaper.com. A BOLD Nebraska blog post including background information, a transcript of the roundtable, and action alert is here. The Congressional Memo is here.
To help with the campaign to save Nebraska’s fragile Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer from potential environmental devastation at the hands of Canada’s tar sands pipeline promoters, please write your state senator asking for personal involvement in opposition. The legislature’s Natural Resources Committee has stalled all three pipeline related bills that were introduced this session. Find your state senator’s contact information is at the map linked here.
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. Contact information for 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); 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); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
The Secretary of State has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can ask her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Tell them that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters.
Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda.
What else can you do? Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. “Langemeier’s comments ridiculous,” a letter by Barbara Bailey, was published in Lincoln Journal Star March 20, 2011. From the letter, “It was with great disappointment and anger that I read Sen. Chris Langemeier’s comments (“Pipeline regulations languish,” March 15) concerning the pipeline bills before the Natural Resources Committee. Sen. Langemeier and the six members of the Committee voting against advancing these basic safety regulations for our citizens and natural resources are not providing responsible legislating.” Another excellent letter by Jan Enstrom, “Lack of Civil Stewardship,” was published March 21, 2011.
Nebraska Greens John Carlini and Shari Schwartz have produced a 30-minute public access tv show “Cornhuskers vs. Dirty Oil.” It airs on cable channel 13, Sundays at 8:00pm, and Wednesdays at 9:30pm. BOLD Nebraska’s Jane Kleeb, and Nebraska Sierra’s Ken Winston participated in phone interviews about pipeline concerns aired April 9th on KZUM, 89.3FM Lincoln’s Community Radio Station. “Science Odyssey: TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline: Boon or Threat?” also questioned a TransCanada spokesperson.
Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. We have a brief window. The State Department has called for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Study with a new 45 day comment period. The State Department’s news release is here. “We welcome the news from the US State Department on a Supplemental Environmental Impact Study,” declared Duane Hovorka for coalition member Nebraska Wildlife Federation. “However, we want to be clear, our state elected officials must now lead by providing an alternative route for the risky TransCanada pipeline.”
The National Farmers Union has passed policy language opposing “any infrastructure or resource development that jeopardizes the health, safety and quality of the Ogallala Aquifer and other freshwater resources.” The new policy also addresses Eminent Domain, and pipeline development specifically. The Nebraska Farmers Union, a Stop the Pipeline coalition member, was successful in calling for this new policy language.
From previous Green Notes: A 2:10 minute video explaining the tar sands extraction process is included with “Oil pipeline from Canada stirring anger in US Great Plains,” by McClatchy, published in the Kansas City Star. “Extracting oil from tar sands and liquefying it enough so it will move through a pipeline is an energy-intensive process that adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Getting it out of the ground involves clear-cutting forests, leaving a wasteland that oil companies say they will restore. Some scientists say that rivers also become polluted. “From start to finish, this a dirty project,” said Stephanie Cole, a spokeswoman for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club. “Forests in Canada are being destroyed, and increased reliance on fossil fuels will accelerate global warming.”
“Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks,” was published jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club. The Executive Summary begins “Tar sands crude oil pipeline companies may be putting America’s public safety at risk. Increasingly, pipelines transporting tar sands crude oil into the United States are carrying diluted bitumen or “DilBit”—a highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate—raising risks of spills and damage to communities along their paths. The impacts of tar sands production are well known. Tar sands extraction in Canada destroys Boreal forests and wetlands, causes high levels of greenhouse gas pollution, and leaves behind immense lakes of toxic waste. Less well understood, however, is the increased risk and potential harm that can be caused by transporting the raw form of tar sands oil (bitumen) through pipelines to refineries in the United States.” Download the 16 page report here. [pdf]
Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. A website refuting TransCanada’s myths with an interactive graphic is here. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here. For comprehensive references in media since May 30, 2010, click here and scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Green Notes coverage.
Be a community educator and organizer. Let’s change the world together.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.”

PETITION THE EPA . . . Tell the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately prohibit the use of clothianidin and conduct a full scientific review to determine its impact on honey bee populations. Learn more about clothianidin and sign the petition here.

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

Green Notes Week of April 3, 2011

April 3, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in District 3 Green Notes.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

WOMEN’S WELLNESS . . . Registration deadline is Monday, April 4, 2011, for Saturday’s April 9th wellness program for women at Pioneers Park Nature Center, 3201 South Coddington Avenue, Lincoln. For more information, phone 402.441.7895.

WE ARE ONE RALLY . . . A “We Are One Rally” sponsored by the Nebraska State AFL-CIO, will be Monday, April 4, 2011, 5:30 to 7:30pm, on the north steps of the State Capitol Building in Lincoln. The purpose is to show solidarity with working families nationwide. For more information, contact the host, Justin Petty, here.

STOP THE PIPELINE MEETING . . . Monday, April 4, 2011, leaders of Stop the Pipeline coalition groups will meet in Lincoln at 5:30pm. To get involved with planning for local actions and events, e-mail Marian at scp [at] audubon [dot] org for more details.

VOTE . . . Primary Election Day is Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Help strengthen Nebraska Green Party for a future Green Party candidate with a click on the PayPal link here.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 3:30 to 4:30pm, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. The series runs through April 27th. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after they have been presented here.

HEALTH CARE FORUM . . . The Nebraska Center for Rural Affairs will host a Community Forum on Health Care, Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 6:30 to 8:30pm, at the Public Library, 100 North 16th Street, Beatrice, Nebraska.

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 informational, educational, and social weekly event, with locally grown food and beverages. (Beverage donations will be accepted.) Learn about the latest green products, businesses, policies and practices every Thursday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. For the spring schedule of TGIT speakers, click here. For more information, e-mail Mitch Paine at mitch [dot] paine [at] ecostoresne.org.

CLIMATE SCIENTIST AT UN-L . . . Michael Mann, one of the country’s leading climate scientists, will present public talks on climate change April 7 and 8, 2011 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Mann will speak on his 2008 book, “Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming,” co-authored with Lee Kump, Thursday, April 7, 2011, 7:30pm, in the East Campus Hardin Hall auditorium at 33rd and Holdrege. Friday, April 8th, he will present “Climate Change: What Can We Learn from Past Centuries?” at 3:30pm, in 117 Bessey Hall, UN-L City Campus. Both talks are free and open to the public.

THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED WORKSHOP . . . Saturday, April 9, 2011, 1:00 to 6:00pm, former Nebraska Green Party Co-Chair Doug Paterson, UN-O Department of Theatre, will facilitate an interactive workshop to explore our collective realities of oppression at Tugboat Gallery, North 14th Street, Lincoln. Grounded in a philosophy that “we are all theatre,” Theatre of the Oppressed moves beyond empowering community, to bring out the power that is already there. It includes physical interactions designed to challenge us to truly listen to what we hear, feel what we touch, and see what we are looking at. Expect learning. Expect fun! EveryOne is welcome. E-mail nebraskabrad [at] gmail [dot] com for more
information, and to register if you plan to attend.

CANDIDATE FORUM . . . Friends of Wilderness Park, the Nebraska Chapter of the Sierra Club, and Wachiska Audubon Society invite the public and candidates running for Lincoln City Council in the May 3 general election to a forum on Saturday, April 9, 1:30pm, at Gere Branch Library, 56th Street and Normal Boulevard. Friends of Wilderness Park and the other co-sponsors have hosted candidate forums for every mayoral, council, Lancaster County Board and Natural Resources District election since 2002.

FRIENDS OF WILDERNESS PARK TOUR OF FLOWERS . . . Sunday, April 10, 2011, Rob Klein, an expert on the plants of Wilderness Park, will host a tour of the rare flora of spring at the Park. Meet Friends of Wilderness Park at the Pioneers Blvd. Entrance east of B&B Greenhouses, at 1:00pm. The event is free and open to the public.

“SEARCHING FOR ANGELA SHELTON” . . . Sunday, April 10, 2011, 7:00pm, in an effort to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault, Voices of Hope will host a screening of “Searching for Angela Shelton,” a documentary following filmmaker Angela Shelton as she interviewed 40 other Angela Sheltons in the United States, more than half of whom had been sexually abused. The film, followed by a brief discussion, will be at the Lincoln Unitarian Church, 6300 A Street. A second showing will be Thursday, April 14th at UN-L. Admission is free. Voices of Hope provides services to survivors of sexual assault, including a 24-hour crisis line at 402.475.7273.

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 “It Was A Wonderful Life.” The feature-length documentary, narrated by Jodie Foster with music by Melissa Etheridge, deals with homeless women, once secure in their middle-class status, who through divorce, misfortune, or circumstances were reduced to living on the street. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

OMAHA TABLE TALK . . . “The History of Mexican Americans in South Omaha,” presented by Jose F. Garcia, Executive Director of Mexican American Historical Society of the Midlands, will be Thursday, April 7, 2011, 6:00pm to 7:30pm, at The Collaborating Center 115 South 49th Avenue. Omaha has a rich history of different ethnic and racial groups. Omaha Table Talk seeks to help people appreciate our cultural diversity. For more information contact A’Jamal Byndon by telephone, 402.561.7594, or at abyndon [at] unomaha [dot] edu.

PROMOTING THE GENERAL WELFARE Labor Studies CONFERENCE . . . The 12th Annual “Promoting the General Welfare” Labor Studies Conference will be Saturday, April 9, 2011, 8:00am to 5:00pm, at the University of Nebraska CPACS Bldg-Commons, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha. The keynote speaker is Liz Shuler, Secretary-Treasurer AFL-CIO. The three workshops will address: how taxation works or doesn’t work today; why all three legs of the retirement stool are much shorter than 30 years ago; and how union and non-union people in industrial nations with high union density are more satisfied/happy with their lives than in nations with lower union densities. An online registration form is here.

LAURITZEN GARDENS TOUR . . . The Omaha Hiking Club will meet at the base of the Kennefick Park staircase leading to the train engines from the parking lot at Lauritzen Botanical Gardens, 9:00am, Saturday April 9, 2011. The hiking tour will cover between four to five miles at the Gardens, mostly paved or blacktopped, except on the woodland trail. For more information, e-mail mvgoutings [at] googlegroups [dot] com.

PROGRESSIVE OMAHA MEETING . . . All are welcome at the next Progressive Omaha meeting, Saturday, April 9, 2011, 6:00 to 9:00pm at 4924 Chicago, in Dundee. Ken Winston, Sierra Club Nebraska legislative lobbyist, will discuss the battle against TransCanada’s tar sands pipeline. Ken is front and center in the effort to Stop the Pipeline. He will provide an in-depth look at the issue, including an analysis of Nebraska legislation, what is currently happening at both the state and federal levels, and what citizens can do in response. Click here for Ken’s latest Sierra update.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . This past week, the New York Times joined the movement of citizens, experts and opinion leaders saying “no” to the risky TransCanada pipeline. “No to a New Tar Sands Pipeline,” publlished April 2, 2011, begins “Later this year, the State Department will decide whether to approve construction of a 1,700-mile oil pipeline from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast called Keystone XL. The underground 36-inch pipeline, built by TransCanada, would link the tar sands fields of northern Alberta to Texas refineries and begin operating in 2013. The department should say no.” It continues, “The environmental risks, for both countries, are enormous. The first step in the process is to strip-mine huge chunks of Alberta’s boreal forest. The oil, a tar-like substance called bitumen, is then extracted with steam or hot water, which in turn is produced by burning natural gas. The E.P.A. estimates that the greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands oil — even without counting the destruction of forests that sequester carbon — are 82 percent greater than those produced by conventional crude oil. The project poses a major threat to water supplies on both sides of the border. Turning two tons of tar sand into a barrel of oil requires four times as much water as producing a barrel of conventional oil. Operations in Alberta have already created 65 square miles of toxic holding ponds, which kill migrating birds and pollute downstream watersheds, a serious matter for native communities. In the United States, the biggest potential problem is pipeline leaks. The Keystone XL would carry bitumen — which is more corrosive than crude oil — thinned with other petroleum condensates and then pumped at high pressure and at a temperature of more than 150 degrees through the pipeline. Last July, an older bitumen pipeline in Michigan spilled 800,000 gallons of the stuff into the Kalamazoo River. A new TransCanada pipeline that began carrying diluted bitumen last year has already had nine spills….From all of the evidence, Keystone XL is not only environmentally risky, it is unnecessary.” Read the entire editorial here.
A Congressional Study and Memo from the Congressional Research Service dated September 20, 2010, concludes that primary authority over location of interstate pipelines belongs to individual states. BOLD Nebraska and Stop the Pipeline coalition members held a roundtable with press on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, to discuss the recently unearthed memo. Coverage of the discovery includes the following quotes:
“Opponents of a controversial pipeline that will cross Nebraska’s Sand Hills said Wednesday that a recently discovered federal memo proves state lawmakers should know — and should have known late last year — that they have the power to regulate such projects,” from the Omaha World-Herald.
“Buried under budget bills, paying for schools and roads, lawmakers have yet to debate one of Nebraska’s most controversial issues. That’s how to handle a proposed oil pipeline, if at all. Farmer Union President John Hansen said, “It’s created a huge amount of public unrest and anger and frustration on the part of landowners and this deserves to be
discussed on the floor of the legislature.” Hansen is joined in the push by groups like the Sierra Club and Bold Nebraska. They point to a congressional memo that says states can in fact regulate pipelines like this. “It says in plain English in the absence of federal authority, state laws establish primary siting authority for an oil pipeline,” Hansen read from the memo sent to Rep. Lee Terry,” from NTV.
Other articles covering the memo are here, at KVNO News, here, at Lincoln Journal Star, and here, at statepaper.com. A BOLD Nebraska blog post including background information, a transcript of the roundtable, and action alert is here. The Congressional Memo is here. [pdf]
An excellent letter to the editor was published in the Lincoln Journal Star on March 21, 2011. Please read Jan Enstrom’s “Lack of Civil Stewardship,” here.
EveryOne who wants to see Nebraska’s fragile Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer saved from potential environmental devastation at the hands of Canada’s tar sands pipeline promoters needs to write their own state senator asking for personal involvement in opposition. The legislature’s Natural Resources Committee has stalled all three pipeline related bills that were introduced this session. Find your state senator’s contact information is at the map linked here.
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. Contact information for 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); 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); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can ask her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Tell them that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters.
Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda.
What else can you do? Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. “Langemeier’s comments ridiculous,” a letter by Barbara Bailey, was published in Lincoln Journal Star March 20, 2011. From the letter, “It was with great disappointment and anger that I read Sen. Chris Langemeier’s comments (“Pipeline regulations languish,” March 15) concerning the pipeline bills before the Natural Resources Committee. Sen. Langemeier and the six members of the Committee voting against advancing these basic safety regulations for our citizens and natural resources are not providing responsible legislating.”
Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. We have a brief window. The State Department has called for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Study with a new 45 day comment period. The State Department’s news release is here. “We welcome the news from the US State Department on a Supplemental Environmental Impact Study,” declared Duane Hovorka for coalition member Nebraska Wildlife Federation. “However, we want to be clear, our state elected officials must now lead by providing an alternative route for the risky TransCanada pipeline.”
SAVE THE DATES: The next Pipeline Forums are scheduled for Sunday, April 17, 2011, 2:00pm to 3:30pm, in Holt County at the Stuart Auditorium, 204 Parnell Street, Stuart, Nebraska, and Tuesday, May 3, 2011, 7:00 to 8:30pm, at First Unitarian Church, 31st & Harney, in Omaha.
The National Farmers Union has passed policy language opposing “any infrastructure or resource development that jeopardizes the health, safety and quality of the Ogallala Aquifer and other freshwater resources.” The new policy also addresses Eminent Domain, and pipeline development specifically. The Nebraska Farmers Union, a Stop the Pipeline coalition member, was successful in calling for this new policy language.
From previous Green Notes: A 2:10 minute video explaining the tar sands extraction process is included with “Oil pipeline from Canada stirring anger in US Great Plains,” by McClatchy, published in the Kansas City Star. “Extracting oil from tar sands and liquefying it enough so it will move through a pipeline is an energy-intensive process that adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Getting it out of the ground involves clear-cutting forests, leaving a wasteland that oil companies say they will restore. Some scientists say that rivers also become polluted. “From start to finish, this a dirty project,” said Stephanie Cole, a spokeswoman for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club. “Forests in Canada are being destroyed, and increased reliance on fossil fuels will accelerate global warming.”
“Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks,” was published jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club. The Executive Summary begins “Tar sands crude oil pipeline companies may be putting America’s public safety at risk. Increasingly, pipelines transporting tar sands crude oil into the United States are carrying diluted bitumen or “DilBit”—a highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate—raising risks of spills and damage to communities along their paths. The impacts of tar sands production are well known. Tar sands extraction in Canada destroys Boreal forests and wetlands, causes high levels of greenhouse gas pollution, and leaves behind immense lakes of toxic waste. Less well understood, however, is the increased risk and potential harm that can be caused by transporting the raw form of tar sands oil (bitumen) through pipelines to refineries in the United States.” Download the 16 page report here. [pdf]
Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. A website refuting TransCanada’s myths with an interactive graphic is here. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here. For comprehensive references in media since May 30, 2010, click here and scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Green Notes coverage.
Be a community educator and organizer. Let’s change the world together.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.”

HIV AIDS BENEFIT CONCERT . . . Working for an AIDS-Free World, the third Annual HIV AIDS Benefit Concert will be Saturday, April 8, 2011, in Gollaher Chapel, Trinity United Methodist Church, 511 North Elm Street, Grand Island, Nebraska. Doors open at 6:15pm. Musicians performing include Scott Taylor, Paul Siebert, Peggy Lang, and Emily Dunbar. For more information, e-mail mvetter [at] charter [dot] net.

TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA NOT TO CAVE TO MONSANTO AND THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY . . . In the past weeks, the Obama administration has unbelievably chosen to approve three biotech crops, Roundup Ready genetically modified alfalfa, Roundup Ready genetically modified sugar beets and a new industrial biotech corn for ethanol production. These decisions are a devastating blow to our democracy and the basic rights of farmers to choose how they want to grow food on their land and the rights of consumers who increasingly choose organic and sustainably grown food for its positive health and environmental impacts. Please tell the President it’s time to stand up to Monsanto and reject GMO crops.

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.

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

Green Notes Week of March 27, 2011

March 27, 2011Green Notesgreenone

MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH celebrating women’s contributions to history, culture and society. The 2011 theme is “Our History Is Our Strength.”

EARTH CIRCLE . . . On the first day of each month, people around the world stop for five minutes to visualize peace and focus on new levels of kindness, understanding, and compassion necessary for collectively facing the challenges of the 21st century. Join peacemakers everywhere at 4:00pm Greenwich Mean Time, 10:00am in Lincoln and Omaha, 9:00am Mountain Time in CD 3, on Friday, April 1, 2011, with the intention of deep healing for the Planet and all its beings. Click here for more information about Earth Circle.

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in District 3 Green Notes.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

STOP THE PIPELINE MEETING . . . Monday, March 28, 2011, leaders of Stop the Pipeline coalition groups will meet in Lincoln at 5:30pm. To get involved with planning for local actions and events, e-mail Marian at scp [at] audubon [dot] org for more details.

CONVICTION . . . There will be a free screening of the film “Conviction,” starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell, Tuesday, March 29, 2011, at the Un-L City Campus Student Union, 1400 R Street, Lincoln, 5:00pm. (Room will be posted that day.) “ Conviction” chronicles the true story of Betty Anne Waters’ 18-year effort to put herself through college and law school to challenge the wrongful conviction of her older brother, Kenny. Kenny Waters was exonerated in 2001 with assistance from the national Innocence Project after spending over a third of his life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. View the trailer here. For more information, e-mail Jill Francke, jill [at] nadp [dot] net.

PUBLIC HEARING ON COMMERCIAL WIND FARMS . . . Lancaster County residents will get a chance to comment on proposed regulations for commercial wind farms, Tuesday, March 29, 2011, at a public hearing during the County Board’s meeting set to begin at 5:00pm on the first-floor of the County-City Building, 555 South 10th Street, Lincoln. The proposed regulations apply to wind turbines with a generating capacity of more than 100 kilowatts.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 3:30 to 4:30pm, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. The series runs through April 27th. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after they have been presented here.

SUSAN HERMAN AT LAW COLLEGE . . . National security issues and their interplay with court systems will be the subject of a lecture by new National ACLU Board President Susan Herman, on Thursday, March 31, 2011, noon, in the Hamann Auditorium, UN-L College of Law Ross McCollum Hall, East Campus Loop and Fair Street, in Lincoln. The talk, titled “How the Bush/Obama War on Terror Threatens Ordinary Americans, Constitutional Rights, and Democracy,” is free, and open to the public.

AAPER PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL-UN-L . . . The American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights Nebraska, will host a festival showcasing films that highlight the situation in Palestine and experiences of the Palestinian people, Friday, April 1 and Sunday, April 3, 2011, at UN-L and Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso in Lincoln. Friday’s films are at UN-L in the City Campus Union, 1400 R Street. “With God on Our Side,” a look at what Christian Zionism teaches, and the impact it has on people of the Middle East, will show in the Colonial Room at 10:00am; “Salt of This Sea,” a romantic drama about a working-class woman traveling home, will be screened at 6:00pm; and “Private,” about a Palestinian family trapped inside a house commandeered by Israeli soldiers, will show at 8:00pm, both in the City Campus Auditorium. (See Note below for Sunday’s film schedule.)

“JOURNEYS OF JUSTICE” . . . New ACLU National President Susan Herman will be keynote speaker at the 2011 ACLU Nebraska Annual Dinner on Friday, April 1, 2011, 6:00pm, at the Grand Manse Jasmine Room, 129 North 10th Street, in Lincoln. This year’s theme is “Journeys of Justice.” For more information, e-mail trichard [at] aclunebraska [dot] org or check the Facebook page here.

SUSTAINABLE AG AT INDIGO BOOKS . . . Indigo Bridge Books, 701 P Street, Lincoln, will host the photographer and one of her subjects from a new book titled “Farm Together Now: A Portrait of People, Places, and Ideas for a New Food Movement,” on Sunday, April 3, 2011, from 2:00 to 3:00pm. Native Lincoln photographer Anne Hamersky and Jim Knopik, founder of the Nebraska Food Cooperative, will discuss the work they are doing together now. The event is free and open to the public.

AAPER PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL-Meadowlark . . . The American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights Film Festival continues Sunday, April 3, 2011, with films at Meadowlark Coffee & Expresso, 1624 South Street in Lincoln. One family’s story reveals the larger tragedy of Gaza in “One Family in Gaza,” screened at 7:00pm; and “Something to Prove,” a documentary following 15 boys from Gaza as they visit the US for the first time, showing at 7:30pm. Spread the word about the Film Festival on Facebook here.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

PIPELINE OPPOSITION BRAINSTORMING . . . The next Guardians of the Good Life meeting will be Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 6:30pm, at 1st Unitarian Church, 31st & Harney, Omaha. A scheduled XL Pipeline Education/Action Forum in May and other awareness projects will be discussed. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for more information.

LEAD IN A COMMUNITY GARDEN . . . Last fall, two UN-O environmental engineering classes tested the Decatur Street gardening site for lead. Wednesday, March 30th, 2011, 6:30 to 8:00pm, leaders of the project will report on their results at City Sprouts, 4002 Seward Street, Omaha. Since many people in Omaha live in a Lead Superfund site, this is an important issue as the community looks to scale up the local food supply. The public is invited for no charge. For more information, phone Jeannie at 402.680.0118, or e-mail jeaninedickes [at] gmail [dot] com.

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 “Palestine Trilogy,” These three thematically related videos tell the tragic story of Palestine and dispel many myths. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

SOLAR TOUR OF MCC GREENHOUSE . . . Metropolitan Community College will commission a solar hot water system in the Horticulture Department’s Fort Omaha Campus [pdf] greenhouse on Friday, April 1, 2011. This is the first solar installation of its kind in the state, and the first in any community college across the country. The purpose of the solar system is to assist with heating the greenhouse during the winter and to provide heat for bedding plant growing tables. The Nebraska Solar Energy Society will hold a bi-monthly meeting at the Fort Omaha Campus and provide a speaker at the buffet following the commissioning tour of the solar system. The free solar tour begins at 6:00pm. A buffet dinner follows at 7:00pm. To rsvp, e-mail focuseg [at] cox [dot] net, or call Gary Boe at 402.321.2797.

VICTIMS AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY . . . Saturday, April 2, 2011, 12:30 to 2:30pm, Victims Against Police Brutality will gather at Washington Branch Library, 2868 Ames Avenue, just west of the turnpike, in Omaha. This is a relatively new group of victims, their families, and friends who want violence by police officers to stop. It happens in Nebraska, and they are working to end it. For more information, phone Mark Welsch, 402.453.0776.

BEANS AND RICE ANNUAL . . . Saturday, April 2, 2011, the Annual Rice and Beans Annual fundraiser to benefit Nebraskans for Peace will start at 6:00pm. State Senator Brenda Council will address event speaking on “Child Poverty: Caring for All of Omaha’s Children.” The potluck meal and program will be at Hanscom Park United Methodist Church, 4444 Frances Street, Omaha. Rice and drinks will be provided. For more information, and to let organizers know what type of dish you’ll bring, RSVP by phone at the NFP Omaha Office, 402.453.0776.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . A good letter to the editor was published in the Lincoln Journal Star on March 21, 2011, Please read Jan Enstrom’s letter “Lack of Civil Stewardship,” here.
EveryOne who wants to see Nebraska’s fragile Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer saved from potential nvironmental devastation at the hands of Canada’s tar sands pipeline promoters needs to write their own state senator asking for personal involvement in opposition. The legislature’s Natural Resources Committee has stalled all three pipeline related bills that were introduced this session. Find your state senator’s contact information is at the map linked here.
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. Contact information for 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); 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); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can ask her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Tell them that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters.
Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda.
What else can you do? Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. “Langemeier’s comments ridiculous,” a letter by Barbara Bailey, was published by Lincoln Journal Star March 20, 2011. From the letter, “It was with great disappointment and anger that I read Sen. Chris Langemeier’s comments (“Pipeline regulations languish,” March 15) concerning the pipeline bills before the Natural Resources Committee. Sen. Langemeier and the six members of the Committee voting against advancing these basic safety regulations for our citizens and natural resources are not providing responsible legislating.”
Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. We have a brief window. The State Department has called for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Study with a new 45 day comment period. The State Department’s news release is here. “We welcome the news from the US State Department on a Supplemental Environmental Impact Study,” declared Duane Hovorka for coalition member Nebraska Wildlife Federation. “However, we want to be clear, our state elected officials must now lead by providing an alternative route for the risky TransCanada pipeline.”
The public will have 45 days to express concerns on the Supplemental Draft EIS after the anticipated mid-April comment period begins. Following issuance of a Final EIS, the State Department will solicit public comment and host a public meeting in Washington, D.C., before it makes a determination under Executive Order 13337 on whether issuance of this permit is in the US national interest. The Department of State expects to make a decision on whether to grant or deny the permit before the end of 2011.
SAVE THE DATES: The next Pipeline Forums are scheduled for Sunday, April 17, 2011, 2:00pm to 3:30pm, in Holt County at the Stuart Auditorium, 204 Parnell Street, Stuart, Nebraska, and Tuesday, May 3, 2011, 6:00 to 7:30pm, at First Unitarian Church, 31st & Harney, in Omaha.
The National Farmers Union has passed policy language opposing “any infrastructure or resource development that jeopardizes the health, safety and quality of the Ogallala Aquifer and other freshwater resources.” The new policy also addresses Eminent Domain, and pipeline development specifically. The Nebraska Farmers Union, a Stop the Pipeline coalition member, was successful in calling for this new policy language.
From previous Green Notes: A 2:10 minute video explaining the tar sands extraction process is included with “Oil pipeline from Canada stirring anger in US Great Plains,” by McClatchy, published in the Kansas City Star. “Extracting oil from tar sands and liquefying it enough so it will move through a pipeline is an energy-intensive process that adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Getting it out of the ground involves clear-cutting forests, leaving a wasteland that oil companies say they will restore. Some scientists say that rivers also become polluted. “From start to finish, this a dirty project,” said Stephanie Cole, a spokeswoman for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club. “Forests in Canada are being destroyed, and increased reliance on fossil fuels will accelerate global warming.”
“Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks,” was published jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club. The Executive Summary begins “Tar sands crude oil pipeline companies may be putting America’s public safety at risk. Increasingly, pipelines transporting tar sands crude oil into the United States are carrying diluted bitumen or “DilBit”—a highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate—raising risks of spills and damage to communities along their paths. The impacts of tar sands production are well known. Tar sands extraction in Canada destroys Boreal forests and wetlands, causes high levels of greenhouse gas pollution, and leaves behind immense lakes of toxic waste. Less well understood, however, is the increased risk and potential harm that can be caused by transporting the raw form of tar sands oil (bitumen) through pipelines to refineries in the United States.” Download the 16 page report here. [pdf]
The Natural Resources Defense Council calls tar sands “the dirtiest, most destructive oil on the face of the Earth.” The Keystone XL pipeline would threaten Nebraska’s underground source of fresh water, the 175,000-square-mile High Plains Aquifer that provides water to 1.9 million people and irrigation for thousands of square miles of farmland throughout eight states. Nebraska’s geologically unique Sand Hills, where many bird species rest during migration, would also be threatened.
Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. A website refuting TransCanada’s myths with an interactive graphic is here. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here. For comprehensive references in media since May 30, 2010, click here and scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Green Notes coverage.
Be a community educator and organizer. Let’s change the world together.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.”

PEACE VIGIL . . . Central Nebraska Peace Workers, a Chapter of Nebraskans for Peace, will gather to Vigil for Peace on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 5:00 to 6:00pm, at State Street and Webb Road in Grand Island. Stop for a few minutes, or vigil for the hour. For more information, e-mail Charles Richardson, ceryf [at] windstream [dot] net.

TAKE ACTION: NO NEW LEASES IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN . . . Department of Interior Secretary Salazar is looking to the public for input on where and when to drill for oil in our oceans for the next 5 years. Please tell Secretary Salazar to heed the warnings of the President’s Oil Spill Commission to be cautious in the Arctic. Until we have a better understanding of the region and can fully clean up a large oil spill there if it occurs, Secretary Salazar should not offer additional oil and gas leases in the Arctic. Instead, the Secretary should use the next five years to undertake a comprehensive scientific study of the area to understand the basic ecology of the Arctic Ocean, how it is shifting due to climate change, and what effects oil and gas drilling would have on the region’s wildlife and people. Tell the Interior Department: The Arctic Ocean should not be considered for drilling!

TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA NOT TO CAVE TO MONSANTO AND THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY . . . In the past 3 weeks, the Obama administration has unbelievably chosen to approve three biotech crops, Roundup Ready genetically modified alfalfa, Roundup Ready genetically modified sugar beets and a new industrial biotech corn for ethanol production. These decisions are a devastating blow to our democracy and the basic rights of farmers to choose how they want to grow food on their land and the rights of consumers who increasingly choose organic and sustainably grown food for its positive health and environmental impacts. Please tell the President it’s time to stand up to Monsanto and reject GMO crops.
AGENCY SCIENTISTS OPPOSE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON . . . The following quotes are from Fish and Wildlife Service scientists themselves: “The environmental impact of escaped GE salmon is of great concern.” – Gregory Moyer, Regional Geneticist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; “…approval of the proposal is premature, given the unknowns and uncertainties regarding the possible ecological and environmental effects of these fish.” – Jeff Adams, Branch Chief, Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and “…I do think the chance of escapement is huge” – Deborah Burger, Manager, Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Ask the President to stop the GE salmon approval process.

BUY FRESH. BUY LOCAL . . . . Farmers, gardeners, and craftspeople meet through The Nebraska Food Cooperative, an on-line, year-round farmers’ market and local food distribution service offering the best in local freshness. For ordering and pickup schedules, refer to the calendar here. Click here for products and prices from North Star Neighbors, a Cooperative member that doesn’t therapeutically medicate or unduly confine animals. Click here for Tomato Tomäto, Omaha’s year-round indoor Farmer’s Market at 156th & West Center. Shop for fresh foods grown in or very near your own community at Open Harvest, Lincoln’s member-owned natural foods retail cooperative at 1618 South Street. Buying local grows family farming, grows the local economy, and is thousands of miles fresher.

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

Green Notes Week of March 20, 2011

March 20, 2011Green Notesgreenone

EARTH HOUR . . . On Saturday, March 26, 2011, turn off your lights at 8:30pm for Earth Hour, a worldwide collective display of commitment to protect the one thing that unites us all – the planet. This year, the Earth Hour theme is “Go beyond the Hour.”

MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH celebrating women’s contributions to history, culture and society. The 2011 theme is “Our History Is Our Strength.”

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in District 3 Green Notes.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

NO LIMITS YOUTH RALLY AGAINST BIG TOBACCO . . . The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has organized a No Limits Youth Rally for Wednesday, March 23, 2011. Students from across Nebraska will converge on the State Capitol building for a morning training session and lobbying, followed by lunch and a march through downtown Lincoln, ending with a 2:00pm rally at the capitol steps. The event is open to students grades seven through twelve. For more information, phone Amanda Mortensen, 866.394.8336.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 3:30 to 4:30pm, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. There is no lecture this week due to spring break. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after they have been presented here.

LITERACY COUNCIL BENEFIT . . . Friday, March 25, 2011, local author and historian Jim McKee will share tales of Lincoln’s past at this year’s Lincoln Literacy Council “Open Books Open Doors” fundraiser at Chez Hay, 214 North 14th Street, from 5:00 to 8:00pm. Autographed copies of books by well-known writers, art, local wine gift baskets, a health club membership, and other donated items will be featured in a Silent Auction during the event. Click here to buy tickets online, and for more information.

NCNW PANCAKE/WAFFLE BREAKFAST . . . The National Council of Negro Women Semi-Annual Pancake/Waffle Breakfast will be Saturday, March 26, 2011, 7:00am to noon, at the Malone Community Center, 2032 U Street, Lincoln. For more information, phone 402.470.3232.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

OMAHA GREEN DRINKS . . . Wednesday, March 23, 2011, Omaha Green Drinks will meet at Whole Foods Market, 10020 Regency Circle, 5:30pm to close. Green Drinks is a self-organizing social network now meeting regularly in 773 cities worldwide. For more information, contact Rick Yoder, ryoder [at] mail [dot] unomaha [dot] edu.

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 Pathology of Privilege: Racism, White Denial, and the Costs of Inequality – A Video Presentation by Tim Wise,” This is a feature essay on race and diversity issues. View a 9:31 minute clip here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

“LEMON TREE” AT MCFOSTERS . . . There will be a free showing of “Lemon Tree,” a powerful film about two women, one Jewish Israeli, one Muslim Palestinian, and their struggles with land, love, and each other, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe (upstairs room), 38th, Farnam and Harney Streets, Omaha, on Thursday, March 24, 2011, 6:00 to 8:00pm.

SIERRA CLUB PROGRAM . . . “Our Actions Have Consequences – Macondo, Athabasca, Mingo, and other Environmental Atrocities” will be presented by John F. Schalles, Ph.D. at this month’s Omaha Sierra Club meeting, Thursday, March 24, 7:00pm, at First United Methodist Church, 69th & Cass Streets. (Enter north door education wing.) Macondo is the damaged oil well that spewed 200 million gallons of crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig in 2010. Athabasca is the largest deposit of bitumen tar sands in Northern Alberta. Mingo is the West Virginia county ravaged from blowing the tops off mountains to extract coal. These sites, and the stories behind them, are warning signs of the depths of our societal appetite for natural resources and the consequences, raising the question of who’s in control, and providing clear evidence of the legacy of our time on Earth. This talk will survey the damage done and impacts in the past, present, and future. Among his research projects, Dr. Schalles took a group of Creighton students to the Gulf last spring to collect baseline data on habitat assessment and compare differences in the health and productivity of vegetation a year after the disaster. Learn more about Athabasca and tar sands. Sierra programs are free and open to the public.

BEER TASTING & ART AUCTION AT PS CCOLLECTIVE . . . Saturday, March 26, 2011, from 6:30 to 8:30pm, The Pizza Shoppe Collective, 6056 Maple Street, Omaha, is raising funds for The Concord Center, mediators specialized in alternative and innovative methods to manage personal or professional conflicts. Amy Ryan will present a 3-course meal of organic field salad, specialty pizzas paired with selected beers, and a chocolate torte for dessert. There will be an art auction, and Ron Nelson, of New Belgium Brewery, will be there with information about his craft. For more information, and to make reservations, phone Amy at 402.884.8680, Ext. 1.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

CENTRAL NEBRASKA PEACE WORKERS MEETING . . . CNPW, a chapter of Nebraskans for Peace, will meet Sunday, March 27, 2011, 3:00 to 5:00pm, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 5th & Cedar Street, Grand Island. (Northeast entrance, downstairs.) The focus is always on peace, including environmental preservation and social justice. For more information, e-mail Charles Richardson, ceryf [at] windstream [dot] net.

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Green Notes have provided weekly updates on the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline project since May 30, 2010. For comprehensive references in media since that time, click here and scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s coverage.
There was action on this issue almost every day last week. In response, the coalition of groups working with Nebraska Green Party, led by BOLD Nebraska, organized a news conference at the capitol rotunda urging our state senators and congressional delegation to take *leadership* seriously and lead to protect our land and water. Senators Johanns and Nelson have helped somewhat, and need to be thanked for what they have done. Congressman Fortenberry needs to be encouraged to get involved. And EveryOne who wants to see Nebraska’s fragile Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer saved from potential environmental devastation at the hands of Canada’s tar sands pipeline promoters needs to write their own state senator asking for personal involvement in opposition. The legislature’s Natural Resources Committee has stalled all three pipeline related bills that were introduced this session. Find your state senator’s contact information at the map linked here.
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. Contact information for 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); 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); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can ask her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Tell your senators that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters.
Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda.
What else can you do? Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper. “Langemeier’s comments ridiculous,” a letter by Barbara Bailey, was published in Lincoln Journal Star March 20, 2011. From the letter, “It was with great disappointment and anger that I read Sen. Chris Langemeier’s comments (“Pipeline regulations languish,” March 15) concerning the pipeline bills before the Natural Resources Committee. Sen. Langemeier and the six members of the Committee voting against advancing these basic safety regulations for our citizens and natural resources are not providing responsible legislating.”
Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. We have a brief window. The State Department has called for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Study with a new 45 day comment period. The State Department’s news release is here. “We welcome the news from the US State Department on a Supplemental Environmental Impact Study,” declared Duane Hovorka for coalition member Nebraska Wildlife Federation. “However, we want to be clear, our state elected officials must now lead by providing an alternative route for the risky TransCanada pipeline.”
The public will have 45 days to express concerns on the Supplemental Draft EIS after the anticipated mid-April comment period begins. Following issuance of a Final EIS, the State Department will solicit public comment and host a public meeting in Washington, D.C., before it makes a determination under Executive Order 13337 on whether issuance of this permit is in the US national interest. The Department of State expects to make a decision on whether to grant or deny the permit before the end of 2011.
Last week the National Farmers Union passed policy language opposing “any infrastructure or resource development that jeopardizes the health, safety and quality of the Ogallala Aquifer and other freshwater resources.” The new policy also addresses Eminent Domain, and pipeline development specifically. The Nebraska Farmers Union, a Stop the Pipeline coalition member, was successful in calling for this new policy language.
From previous Green Notes: A 2:10 minute video explaining the tar sands extraction process is included with “Oil pipeline from Canada stirring anger in US Great Plains,” by McClatchy, published in the Kansas City Star. “Extracting oil from tar sands and liquefying it enough so it will move through a pipeline is an energy-intensive process that adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Getting it out of the ground involves clear-cutting forests, leaving a wasteland that oil companies say they will restore. Some scientists say that rivers also become polluted. “From start to finish, this a dirty project,” said Stephanie Cole, a spokeswoman for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club. “Forests in Canada are being destroyed, and increased reliance on fossil fuels will accelerate global warming.”
“Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks,” was published jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club. The Executive Summary begins “Tar sands crude oil pipeline companies may be putting America’s public safety at risk. Increasingly, pipelines transporting tar sands crude oil into the United States are carrying diluted bitumen or “DilBit”—a highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate—raising risks of spills and damage to communities along their paths. The impacts of tar sands production are well known. Tar sands extraction in Canada destroys Boreal forests and wetlands, causes high levels of greenhouse gas pollution, and leaves behind immense lakes of toxic waste. Less well understood, however, is the increased risk and potential harm that can be caused by transporting the raw form of tar sands oil (bitumen) through pipelines to refineries in the United States.” Download the 16 page report here. [pdf]
The Natural Resources Defense Council calls tar sands “the dirtiest, most destructive oil on the face of the Earth.” The Keystone XL pipeline would threaten Nebraska’s underground source of fresh water, the 175,000-square-mile High Plains Aquifer that provides water to 1.9 million people and irrigation for thousands of square miles of farmland throughout eight states. Nebraska’s geologically unique Sand Hills, where many bird species rest during migration, would also be threatened.
Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. A website refuting TransCanada’s myths with an interactive graphic is here. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Let’s change the world together.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.”

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.

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

Green Notes Week of March 13, 2011

March 13, 2011Green Notesgreenone

MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH celebrating women’s contributions to history, culture and society. The 2011 theme is “Our History Is Our Strength.”

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in District 3 Green Notes.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION . . . In light of a recent Supreme Court ruling that funeral protests are protected free speech, there will be a Community Conversation related to the issue on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 5:30pm, at the Nebraska History Museum, 15th & P Streets in Lincoln. Nebraska Legislative Bill 284 would expand the buffer between funerals and picketers. The Bill’s sponsor, Senator Bob Krist of Omaha, will join Father Don Hanway and local attorney Alan Peterson in the discussion. For more information, call 402.471.3270.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 3:30 to 4:30pm, through April 27th, except March 23rd–Spring Break, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after the have been presented here.

LUNCH AND LEARN . . . This month’s League of Women Voters Lunch and Learn will feature Dr. Robert Rauner speaking on the goals, activites, and legislative efforts of Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln, Thursday, March 17, 2011, noon, at the Downtown Holiday Inn, 141 Ninth Street. Make reservations by Monday, March 14, 2011, by e-mailing lwv-ne [at] inebraska [dot] com, or calling 402.475.1411.

SLOW FOOD NEBRASKA BOOK LAUNCH . . . Friday, March 18, 2011, Slow Food Nebraska, the Nebraska Food Coop, Nebraska Sustainable Ag Society, and Buy Fresh Buy Local will host a celebration of the release of “The Call of the Land,” 2nd edition, by Lincoln writer Steven McFadden, at Embassy Suites, 1040 P Street, from 7:00 to 9:00pm. The book launnch will feature a Community Conversation about creating a just, sustainable food system. The free event will also offer samples of local foods. At 3:00pm on Saturday, March 19th, Steve will speak at the Nebraska Bioneers Creating Community Day at Nebraska Wesleyan. For more information, contact Elizabeth Wolf at 402.304.5757.

NEBRASKA BIONEERS MARCH 2011 CONFERENCE . . . Creating Community Day, is Saturday, March 19, 2011, 9:00am to 3:00pm, Emerson Hall in the Rogers Fine Arts Center, 50th & Huntington Avenue, at Nebraska Wesleyan, Lincoln. Join local Nebraska Bioneers for a day of envisioning what is possible. There will be local speakers, breakout sessions, and a showing of the film The Turning Point. Learn about ecovillages, permaculture, natural building projects, and more. For a full schedule of the day’s events, click here. Register to attend here. For more information, e-mail contact [at] nebraskabioneers [dot] org, or call Anne at 402.421.8464.

JANE GOODALL AT NWU . . . “Gombe and Beyond: The Next 50 Years,” is the title of Jane Goodall’s Saturday, March 19, 2011 7:30pm lecture at O’Donnell Auditorium, 50th & Huntington Avenue, on the Nebraska Wesleyan campus in Lincoln. Purchase tickets here. All proceeds will benefit the Jane Goodall Institute. For more information, e-mail Mitch Paine, paine [dot] mitch [at] gmail [dot] com.

WACHISKA TRIP TO VIEW CRANES . . . Sunday, March 20, 2011, Wachiska Audubon will sponsor a field trip to see the Sandhill cranes. To carpool and caravan, meet at 1:00pm on the south side of the State Capitol. The annual spectacle on Nebraska’s Platte River is the largest gathering of cranes in the world. To make your own required reservations for the blind, call the Rowe Sanctuary, 308.468.5282, by March 15th. Indicate that you are with the Wachiska group. For more information, call John Carlini at 402.475.7275.

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 “Bold Native,” a fictional film about animal liberation. View a 2:24 minute trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PRESENTATION AT UN-O . . . The Great Plains Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects is hosting an evening with Bruce Ferguson, professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Georgia, a recognized leader in stormwater design and research. The event is timely in light of Omaha’s $1.7 billion combined sewer project and the need to look at cost-effective sustainable approaches to stormwater management. Open to the public, the event will be Thursday, March 17, 2011, 7:00 to 9:00pm, in the first floor auditorium of Mammel Hall, on the Aksarben Campus of UN-O, 67th & Pine. There will be time for questions and discussion with Professor Ferguson, and light refreshments will be provided. Parking is available in UN-O lots 9 & 14 on Pine Street directly south of the Scott Conference Center. For more information, contact Andy Szatko, 402.306.5704, or aszatko9 [at] huskers [dot] unl [dot] edu.

GREEN BELLEVUE CLEAN-UP . . . The Green Bellevue Spring Clean-Up will begin at 9:00am on Sunday, March 20, 2011, in Washington Park, with Kick-Off by former state senator Don Preister. For more information, contact a member of the Green Bellevue Committee here.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . A delegation of Nebraska environmentalists, landowners, and activists joined like-minded grassroots organizers from around the country in Washington DC last week, “to warn of the risk posed to both erosion-prone Sand Hills soils and the Ogallala Aquifer in meetings with the State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency,” quoting “TransCanada, Keystone XL critics remain at odds,” published in the Lincoln Journal Star March 9, 2011. A BOLD Nebraska press release covering the action, including photos and video, is here.
From “Johanns on XL Pipeline: Construction “Needs to Be Delayed”, by Joe Jordan, March 7, 2011: “As the Canadian company looking to build the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline announces the backing of several dozen American veterans, Senator Mike Johanns (NE-R) tells Nebraska Watchdog he believes construction “will be delayed, it needs to be delayed.” Read and view 25 second video clip from NebraskaWatchDog.org here.
A February paper from the University of Nebraska Department of Agricultural Economics, “The Keystone XL Pipeline Project,” [pdf] concludes “Considering the potential benefits and costs alluded to above, we do not support the project. While there is room for disagreement on this policy issue, supporters have yet to make a clear case that benefits to Nebraska would offset the costs and risks.”
Postmedia News and the Calgary Herald published “Hillary Clinton ‘supportive’ of Alberta oil imports, wavers on Keystone XL pipeline,” by Sheldon Alberts and Jason Fekete, on March 2, 2011. They quote Clinton as “generally supportive” of increasing oil imports from Canada, but not specific about if she backs the pipeline from Alberta to Texas. On March 3rd, The Guardian’s “US Landowners Fighting Back Against Pipeline That Would Run From Alberta to the Gulf Coast” asks “What are the dangers of pumping gritty, thick crude at high temperature and pressure through a pipeline with walls less than half an inch thick across vital sources of groundwater?” The article says there will be a “grassroots rebellion” in Washington DC on March 9, 2011.
“Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks,” was published jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club. The Executive Summary begins “Tar sands crude oil pipeline companies may be putting America’s public safety at risk. Increasingly, pipelines transporting tar sands crude oil into the United States are carrying diluted bitumen or “DilBit”—a highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate—raising risks of spills and damage to communities along their paths. The impacts of tar sands production are well known. Tar sands extraction in Canada destroys Boreal forests and wetlands, causes high levels of greenhouse gas pollution, and leaves behind immense lakes of toxic waste. Less well understood, however, is the increased risk and potential harm that can be caused by transporting the raw form of tar sands oil (bitumen) through pipelines to refineries in the United States.” Download the 16 page report here.
A McClatchy article, “Kansas unhappy about Keystone tax exemptions,” reports on officials along the existing pipeline’s path feeling sold out by the state for ThansCanada profits. A map of the US shows current and proposed pipeline routes at the end of the article, also published in the Lincoln Journal Star. “Some see Keystone XL as path to higher gas prices in Midwest,” was published February 17, 2011: “As the debate on the economic and environmental effects of Keystone XL continues, there’s silence at the U.S. State Department on whether TransCanada has done enough on an environmental impact statement and whether the project is in the national interest. And the word coming out of a TransCanada meeting called to examine its fourth-quarter financial status reflects a slight shift in its expectations on a State Department outcome from midyear to late year. ” Read here.
A 2:10 minute video explaining the tar sands extraction process is included with “Oil pipeline from Canada stirring anger in US Great Plains,” by McClatchy, published in the Kansas City Star. “Extracting oil from tar sands and liquefying it enough so it will move through a pipeline is an energy-intensive process that adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Getting it out of the ground involves clear-cutting forests, leaving a wasteland that oil companies say they will restore. Some scientists say that rivers also become polluted. “From start to finish, this a dirty project,” said Stephanie Cole, a spokeswoman for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club. “Forests in Canada are being destroyed, and increased reliance on fossil fuels will accelerate global warming.”
Hearings on three pipeline related bills were held in the legislature’s Natural Resources Committee on February 9, 2011. “TransCanada, critics differ on need for state oversight of pipelines,” was published in LJS the following day. Links to pipeline bills, information on the hearing, and contact information for who to write/call in support of the bills is here.
“Nebraska gas prices among highest in nation,” published February 6th in the North Platte Bulletin, warns that if the XL pipeline is built, Midwest refineries will be bypassed and the result will be higher gas prices in the Midwest and big profits for Canadian oil producers. “Big Oil’s Pipeline Scheme to Increase Midwest Gas Prices,” at Wildlife Promise begins “It’s an old story: oil companies increase gas prices and their profits soar. But rarely do we get an inside view of how they manipulate markets to drive up prices, and even rarer still an opportunity to stop it from happening. This time, Big Oil has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar as they scheme to hike America’s oil bill by $4 billion every year. This time, we have the industry documents that prove it.” From the article, “…here’s the bottom line if the Keystone XL pipeline is built: Canadian oil producers get a huge profit windfall, and America gets higher gas prices as well as the pollution from refineries and any pipeline spills.” Meanwhile, last week Montana legislators heard from an unlikely duo about how the United States must pursue renewable power and move away from fossil fuels–a retired US Navy vice admiral and a Marine Corps colonel. “Montana lawmakers hear from military about dangers of relying on oil, coal” was published in the Missoulian and by BuzzFlash at TruthOut on February 5th.
Learn more from the National Wildlife Federation’s report on XL, “Staying Hooked on a Dirty Fuel: Why Canadian Tar Sands are a Bad Bet for the United States.” Click here to send a personalized message President Obama, or sign the online e-mail strongly urging him to stop the proposed pipeline.
Nebraska Green Party is one of the 86 organizations that signed a letter to the President asking him *not* to approved the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through our land and water as he was meeting with the Canadian Prime Minster, who is pushing *for* pipeline approval. The February 5, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star front page hard copy report is titled “Canada’s PM pushes for pipeline approval; coalition of 86 groups opposed to pipeline urge Obama to reject it,” reports “Environmental groups call the pipeline an ecological disaster waiting to happen and say the so-called tar sands produce “dirty” oil that requires huge amounts of energy to extract.” On February 11th, Scott Svoboda’s letter to the LJS editor, “Canadian PM’s words questionable,” reminds “there is no guarantee that any of the tar sands oil piped from Canada to the Gulf Coast will be dedicated to US consumers. Oil is a commodity and sold to the highest bidder, whether it’s China or an oil corporation.”
“TransCanada sues to access pipeline land,” reports “Court records show that TransCanada has filed more than a dozen lawsuits to condemn land along the route of its Keystone XL oil pipeline in western South Dakota, though it hasn’t received the federal permit it needs to go ahead with the project.” “Legal Challenge to Eminent Domain for TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline,” reports on the first legal challenge to the use of eminent domain to secure US right-of-way for the proposed pipeline. “Nebraska Farmers Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline,” features two Nebraska landowners in a national blog post.
An LA Times article by Kim Murphy, “Some Texans, too, resist Keystone XL Pipeline,” published in the LJS under the title “One Pipeline Too Many” begins “Texas has rarely met an oil business it didn’t like. Ever since Spindletop sent a gush of crude 150 feet into the air near here in 1901, Texans have been mostly willing to put up with the spills, smokestack belches and massive refinery vistas that go along with big, fat pots of “Texas tea.” But that was before a Canadian company, TransCanada Corp., came forward with a plan to build a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry heavy, high-pollutant oil from the tar sands under the boreal forests of northern Alberta, across the American heartland, through scenic ranchlands in the piney woods of east Texas and on to refineries near Houston and Port Arthur.”
“Great Plains oil pipeline plan sparks grass-roots activism, high-stakes lobbying,” was written by Washington Post staff writer Juliet Eilperin. It begins “A massive feat of engineering by any measure, the Keystone pipeline expansion project would transport crude oil close to 1,700 miles from “oil sands” in the icy reaches of Hardisty, Alberta, down through the Great Plains to the refineries of Port Arthur, Tex. In doing so, the giant pipe also promises to allay some fears about U.S. energy security: The oil will come from a trusted ally, and its cross-continental path avoids visions of another deep-sea drilling disaster. But the decision on whether to issue a permit to the project, opposed by environmental groups, rests with the State Department, which has little expertise in engineering or environmental matters. And reflecting the chaos of U.S. energy and environmental policy, the proposed pipeline is pitting Montana landowners against pipe fitters in Nebraska and creating unlikely allies of Nebraska ranchers and chieftains from Alberta’s indigenous communities.” The article continues here.
The Natural Resources Defense Council calls tar sands “the dirtiest, most destructive oil on the face of the Earth.” The Keystone XL pipeline would threaten Nebraska’s underground source of fresh water, the 175,000-square-mile High Plains Aquifer, that provides water to 1.9 million people and irrigation for thousands of square miles of farmland throughout eight states. Nebraska’s geologically unique Sand Hills, where many bird species rest during migration, would also be threatened. Read Ken Winston’s November 4, 2010 Tar Sands Pipeline Update for Nebraska Sierra here.
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. Our Congressional delegation and the governor need to receive letters, e-mails and phone calls from constituents demanding regulation on the existing pipeline, expressing concern about more TransCanada construction in our state. Contact information for Nebraska 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); 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); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
Stop the Keystone XL pipeline — call your senators. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can pressure her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Help put some needed pressure on Clinton by calling your senators today. Tell them that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters.
Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda. Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts.
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.

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

Green Notes Week of March 6, 2011

March 6, 2011Green Notesgreenone

MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH celebrating women’s contributions to history, culture and society. The 2011 theme is “Our History Is Our Strength.”

March 6 through March 12, 2011 is National Groundwater Awareness Week. Learn about the importance of groundwater at the National Groundwater Association website here. STOP THE XL PIPELINE.

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in District 3 Green Notes. Omaha’s protest action will be Saturday, March 12th, at 72nd & Dodge Streets.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

TRIMBLE AT HISTORY MUSEUM . . . In conjunction with the Nebraska History Museum’s “Civil Rights & Civil Liberties in Nebraska,” an exhibit that chronicles the state’s civil rights history, a series of public presentations by local leaders continues on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at the Museum, 15th and P streets, Lincoln. Charles Trimble will address Natives’ struggle to become full American citizens, at noon. The lecture is free, and open to the public.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, March 9, 2011, 3:30 to 4:30pm, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after the have been presented here.

THOMPSON FORUM AT LIED . . . Wednesday, March 9, 2011, 7:00pm, health and science writer Laurie Garrett will explore critical issues in global health care and disease prevention in her EN Thompson Forum on World Issues lecture, “Betrayal of Trust: Critical Issues in Global Healthcare” at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, 301 North 12th Street, in Lincoln. Tickets are free.

FILM ON IMMIGRATION . . . Thursday, March 10, 2011, 7:00pm, Indigo Bridge Books, 701 P Street, Lincoln, will show “In the Shadow of the Raid,” a documentary about the largest immigration raid in US history. View a 3:01 minute trailer here. The screening is free and open to the public, as part of a series on immigration.

FEEDING THE SOUL OF THE CITY . . . The 6th Annual Dinner and Fundraising Event benefiting Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach will be Sunday, March 13, 2011, at the Lied Center Main Stage, 301 North 12th Street, Lincoln. The event starts at 5:00 with social time and a silent auction, followed by dinner and the program featuring the Chiara String Quartet at 6:00pm. Devoted to serving homeless and near homeless men, women, and children, MTKO provides meals twice daily, every day. Outreach also includes education, and advocacy. For more information, and to make reservations for the benefit, phone 402.477.4116.

SUNDAY LECTURE SERIES . . . Sunday, March 13, 2011, 6:30pm, the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, 6300 A Street, will end this year’s Winter Lecture Series with a dinner featuring Russian food catered by Kathy Davis from the Beaver Bakery and Cafe at Beaver Crossing. Reservations must be made by noon, Wednesday, March 9th, by calling the church at 402.483.2213.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

DEBATE OVER LEGALIZATION . . . “UNMC professor to talk about marijuana debate,” on Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 7:00pm, at Slowdown, 729 North 14th Street, Omaha. Dr. Ally Dering-Anderson, a professor in UNMC’s College of Pharmacy, will discuss ethical arguments over the use of medical marijuana. The talk is part of a Science Cafe series. The free educational events are aimed at getting young adults interested in science.

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 “Silent Screams.” It explores the social costs of America’s war in Afghanistan. View a 1:02 minute trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

GREEN TEAM ROUNDTABLE . . . Complimentary lunch is included with the WasteCap Nebraska Omaha Green Team Roundtable. RSVP is required by noon on Friday, March 11, for the Wednesday, March 16, 2011 event, 11:30am to 1:00pm, hosted by Metech, an electronics recycler at 4330 South 102nd Street. Learn about the demanufacturing process for electronics, tour the facility, and have lunch with the Green Team. RSVP to communications [at] wastecapne [dot] org, or by calling 402.436.2383 by noon on Friday the 11th. For more information, e-mail chakenkamp [at] wastecapne [dot] org.

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. This week’s action will be at noon, Saturday, March 12th, 72nd & Dodge Streets. 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. For more information, e-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . A February paper from the University of Nebraska Department of Agricultural Economics, “The Keystone XL Pipeline Project,” [pdf] concludes “Considering the potential benefits and costs alluded to above, we do not support the project. While there is room for disagreement on this policy issue, supporters have yet to make a clear case that benefits to Nebraska would offset the costs and risks.”
Postmedia News and the Calgary Herald published “Hillary Clinton ‘supportive’ of Alberta oil imports, wavers on Keystone XL pipeline,” by Sheldon Alberts and Jason Fekete, on March 2, 2011. They quote Clinton as “generally supportive” of increasing oil imports from Canada, but not specific about if she backs the pipeline from Alberta to Texas. On March 3rd, The Guardian’s “US Landowners Fighting Back Against Pipeline That Would Run From Alberta to the Gulf Coast” asks “What are the dangers of pumping gritty, thick crude at high temperature and pressure through a pipeline with walls less than half an inch thick across vital sources of groundwater?” The article says there will be a “grassroots rebellion” in Washington DC on March 9, 2011. A delegation from Nebraska will be there.
“Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks,” was published jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club. The Executive Summary begins “Tar sands crude oil pipeline companies may be putting America’s public safety at risk. Increasingly, pipelines transporting tar sands crude oil into the United States are carrying diluted bitumen or “DilBit”—a highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate—raising risks of spills and damage to communities along their paths. The impacts of tar sands production are well known. Tar sands extraction in Canada destroys Boreal forests and wetlands, causes high levels of greenhouse gas pollution, and leaves behind immense lakes of toxic waste. Less well understood, however, is the increased risk and potential harm that can be caused by transporting the raw form of tar sands oil (bitumen) through pipelines to refineries in the United States.” Download the 16 page report here [pdf].
A McClatchy article, “Kansas unhappy about Keystone tax exemptions,” reports on officials along the existing pipeline’s path feeling sold out by the state for ThansCanada profits. A map of the US shows current and proposed pipeline routes at the end of the article, also published in the Lincoln Journal Star. “Some see Keystone XL as path to higher gas prices in Midwest,” was published February 17, 2011: “As the debate on the economic and environmental effects of Keystone XL continues, there’s silence at the U.S. State Department on whether TransCanada has done enough on an environmental impact statement and whether the project is in the national interest. And the word coming out of a TransCanada meeting called to examine its fourth-quarter financial status reflects a slight shift in its expectations on a State Department outcome from midyear to late year. ” Read here.
A 2:10 minute video explaining the tar sands extraction process is included with “Oil pipeline from Canada stirring anger in US Great Plains,” by McClatchy, published in the Kansas City Star. “Extracting oil from tar sands and liquefying it enough so it will move through a pipeline is an energy-intensive process that adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Getting it out of the ground involves clear-cutting forests, leaving a wasteland that oil companies say they will restore. Some scientists say that rivers also become polluted. “From start to finish, this a dirty project,” said Stephanie Cole, a spokeswoman for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club. “Forests in Canada are being destroyed, and increased reliance on fossil fuels will accelerate global warming.”
Hearings on three pipeline related bills were held in the legislature’s Natural Resources Committee on February 9, 2011. “TransCanada, critics differ on need for state oversight of pipelines,” was published in LJS the following day. Links to pipeline bills, information on the hearing, and contact information for who to write/call in support of the bills is here.
“Nebraska gas prices among highest in nation,” published February 6th in the North Platte Bulletin, warns that if the XL pipeline is built, Midwest refineries will be bypassed and the result will be higher gas prices in the Midwest and big profits for Canadian oil producers. “Big Oil’s Pipeline Scheme to Increase Midwest Gas Prices,” at Wildlife Promise begins “It’s an old story: oil companies increase gas prices and their profits soar. But rarely do we get an inside view of how they manipulate markets to drive up prices, and even rarer still an opportunity to stop it from happening. This time, Big Oil has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar as they scheme to hike America’s oil bill by $4 billion every year. This time, we have the industry documents that prove it.” From the article, “…here’s the bottom line if the Keystone XL pipeline is built: Canadian oil producers get a huge profit windfall, and America gets higher gas prices as well as the pollution from refineries and any pipeline spills.” Meanwhile, last week Montana legislators heard from an unlikely duo about how the United States must pursue renewable power and move away from fossil fuels–a retired US Navy vice admiral and a Marine Corps colonel. “Montana lawmakers hear from military about dangers of relying on oil, coal” was published in the Missoulian and by BuzzFlash at TruthOut on February 5th.
Learn more from the National Wildlife Federation’s report on XL, “Staying Hooked on a Dirty Fuel: Why Canadian Tar Sands are a Bad Bet for the United States.” Click here to send a personalized message President Obama, or sign the online e-mail strongly urging him to stop the proposed pipeline.
Nebraska Green Party is one of the 86 organizations that signed a letter to the President asking him *not* to approved the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through our land and water as he was meeting with the Canadian Prime Minster, who is pushing *for* pipeline approval. The February 5, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star front page hard copy report is titled “Canada’s PM pushes for pipeline approval; coalition of 86 groups opposed to pipeline urge Obama to reject it,” reports “Environmental groups call the pipeline an ecological disaster waiting to happen and say the so-called tar sands produce “dirty” oil that requires huge amounts of energy to extract.” On February 11th, Scott Svoboda’s letter to the LJS editor, “Canadian PM’s words questionable,” reminds “there is no guarantee that any of the tar sands oil piped from Canada to the Gulf Coast will be dedicated to US consumers. Oil is a commodity and sold to the highest bidder, whether it’s China or an oil corporation.”
“TransCanada sues to access pipeline land,” reports “Court records show that TransCanada has filed more than a dozen lawsuits to condemn land along the route of its Keystone XL oil pipeline in western South Dakota, though it hasn’t received the federal permit it needs to go ahead with the project.” “Legal Challenge to Eminent Domain for TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline,” reports on the first legal challenge to the use of eminent domain to secure US right-of-way for the proposed pipeline. “Nebraska Farmers Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline,” features two Nebraska landowners in a national blog post.
An LA Times article by Kim Murphy, “Some Texans, too, resist Keystone XL Pipeline,” published in the LJS under the title “One Pipeline Too Many” begins “Texas has rarely met an oil business it didn’t like. Ever since Spindletop sent a gush of crude 150 feet into the air near here in 1901, Texans have been mostly willing to put up with the spills, smokestack belches and massive refinery vistas that go along with big, fat pots of “Texas tea.” But that was before a Canadian company, TransCanada Corp., came forward with a plan to build a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry heavy, high-pollutant oil from the tar sands under the boreal forests of northern Alberta, across the American heartland, through scenic ranchlands in the piney woods of east Texas and on to refineries near Houston and Port Arthur.”
“Great Plains oil pipeline plan sparks grass-roots activism, high-stakes lobbying,” was written by Washington Post staff writer Juliet Eilperin. It begins “A massive feat of engineering by any measure, the Keystone pipeline expansion project would transport crude oil close to 1,700 miles from “oil sands” in the icy reaches of Hardisty, Alberta, down through the Great Plains to the refineries of Port Arthur, Tex. In doing so, the giant pipe also promises to allay some fears about U.S. energy security: The oil will come from a trusted ally, and its cross-continental path avoids visions of another deep-sea drilling disaster. But the decision on whether to issue a permit to the project, opposed by environmental groups, rests with the State Department, which has little expertise in engineering or environmental matters. And reflecting the chaos of U.S. energy and environmental policy, the proposed pipeline is pitting Montana landowners against pipe fitters in Nebraska and creating unlikely allies of Nebraska ranchers and chieftains from Alberta’s indigenous communities.” The article continues here.
The Natural Resources Defense Council calls tar sands “the dirtiest, most destructive oil on the face of the Earth.” The Keystone XL pipeline would threaten Nebraska’s underground source of fresh water, the 175,000-square-mile High Plains Aquifer, that provides water to 1.9 million people and irrigation for thousands of square miles of farmland throughout eight states. Nebraska’s geologically unique Sand Hills, where many bird species rest during migration, would also be threatened. Read Ken Winston’s November 4, 2010 Tar Sands Pipeline Update for Nebraska Sierra here.
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. Our Congressional delegation and the governor need to receive letters, e-mails and phone calls from constituents demanding regulation on the existing pipeline, expressing concern about more TransCanada construction in our state. Contact information for Nebraska 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); 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); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
Stop the Keystone XL pipeline — call your senators. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can pressure her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Help put some needed pressure on Clinton by calling your senators today. Tell them that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters.
Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda, tell Gov. Heineman to put forth laws that protect our resources and economic activity and tell President Obama to live up to his promise of clean energy and energy independence. Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts.
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.

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

Green Notes Week of February 27, 2011

February 27, 2011Green Notesgreenone

EARTH CIRCLE . . . On the first day of each month, people around the world stop for five minutes to visualize peace and focus on new levels of kindness, understanding, and compassion necessary for collectively facing the challenges of the 21st century. Join peacemakers everywhere at 4:00pm Greenwich Mean Time, 10:00am in Lincoln and Omaha, 9:00am Mountain Time in CD 3, on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, with the intention of deep healing for the Planet and all its beings. Click here.

10 DIGIT DIALING BEGAN SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2011. Questions & Answers are here.

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in District 3 Green Notes. Note the Omaha protest action Saturday, March 5, 2011, noon, at 72nd & Dodge. Special note: Sunday, March 6th STOP THE XL PIPELINE benefit at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar, 2:30 to 5:00pm.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

IMMIGRATION POLICY AT THE LEGISLATURE . . . Wednesday, March 2, 2011, people of faith will gather at the State Capitol Building, 1445 K Street, Lincoln, to lobby with senators for justice relative to state immigration policy. At 9:00am there will be a briefing on LB 48 [pdf], the Arizona-style immigration bill, in Room 1023. At 10:00am, those present will proceed to the gallery of the Legislature to be recognized by Senator Wallman, after which the group will visit senators’ offices to advocate in opposition to LB 48. Faith leaders will then speak at a Noon press conference in the Rotunda. For more information, or to register your presence in advance, contact Chuck Bentjen, 402.450.1003, or cbentjen2000 [at] yahoo [dot] com.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 3:30 TO 4:30pm, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after the have been presented here.

IMMIGRATION SYMPOSIUM . . . “Diverse Faces, Shared Histories: Immigrants on the Great Plains” is the topic of a one-day symposium at the Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q Street, Lincoln, on Friday, March 4, 2011, beginning at 9:00am. The symposium is designed to broaden perspectives about immigration from the perceptions of Native, Black and Hispanic scholars. Sergio Wals, assistant professor of political science and ethnic studies, will be among participants. At 5:00pm, there will be a reception, followed by readings by UNL faculty Joy Castro, Ricardo Garcia, Fran Kaye and Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes at 7:00pm in the Sheldon Museum of Art, 12th and R streets. For more information, including the day’s schedule, speakers, and sponsors, click here.

STOP THE XL PIPELINE BENEFIT . . . Sunday, March 6, 2011, 2:30 to 5:00pm, EveryOne is invited to join members of groups actively working to protect Nebraska land and water from further pipeline exploitation at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar, 136 North 14th Street, 2:30 to 5:00pm. There will be live music by The Lightning Bugs, John Walker and the Prairie Dogs, the Melody Wranglers, Chris Sayre & the Laddies, and The Toasted Ponies. Stop the XL Pipeline Action Kits, bumper stickers, buttons, and yard signs will be available to all.

FREE SHOWING OF ETHOS . . . We need to encourage a national debate about defense expenditures at a time when military related spending in this country totals $1 trillion anually, and cuts to the pentagon budget have been taken off the table. Lincoln Nebraskans for Peace, in collaboration with the UN-L NFP chapter, will sponsor a free showing and discussion of the film Ethos at the Ross Film Theater, 313 North 13th Street, Lincoln, 3:00pm, Sunday March 6, 2011. Woody Harrelson narrates, raising the question of what ordinary citizens can do to reform a society in the grips of the military-industrial complex and other global destructive forces. Governments seem paralyzed. The film will be followed by a discussion with people knowledgeable about the domestic and military budget. If you are unable to attend this event, click here to download the film.

SUNDAY LECTURE SERIES . . . The Unitarian Church of Lincoln, 6300 A Street, is hosting its annual free winter lecture series about Russia and Post-Soviet states. Each two-hour Sunday lecture begins at 7:00pm. The first hour features a guest lecturer, followed by refreshments with a half hour of questions and dialogue. Sunday, March 6, 2011, Mariya Omelicheva, Associate Director, Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, University of Kansas, will discuss the former Soviet republics in Asia and their relationships with Russia.

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 “Bam 6.6.” From the website: “The ruins of the 2,000-year-old Citadel may portray the outward face of the earthquake, but Bam 6.6 portrays the magnificent inner strengths of love, hope, kindness and human commonality.” View 4:19 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. This week’s action will be at noon, Saturday, March 5th, at 72nd & Dodge Streets. 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. For more information, e-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Nebraska Greens will join members of Audubon Nebraska, 350.org, Bold Nebraska, Guardians of the Good Life, Nebraska Farmers Union, Nebraska League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club Nebraska, Nebraska Wildlife Federation, and Nebraskans For Peace Sunday, March 6, 2011, 2:30 to 5:00pm, at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar, 136 North 14th Street, to benefit our Stop the XL Pipeline coalition. Live music will be performed by The Lightning Bugs, John Walker and the Prairie Dogs, Chris Sayre and the Laddies, The Melody Wranglers, and The Toasted Ponies. Stop the XL Pipeline Action Kits, bumper stickers, buttons, and yard signs will be available. There will be a small requested donation, but all financial contributions to the work of saving our land and water from the threat of XL exploitation will be helpful and much appreciated.
A February 20, 2011 CBC News article, “Northern Ontario pipeline explodes,” was followed by a February 24th AP article “NTSB chief concerned about rash of pipeline cases.” The Ontario explosion was “caused by a rupture in the line.” Last year’s September “accident” in San Bruno, California killed eight people. Other cases under investigation related to gas and oil pipeline explosions include last July’s Kalamazoo River oil spill, a Texas gas pipeline explosion last June in which two men were killed, a pipeline leak in Romeoville, Illinois in September, and a natural gas pipeline rupture near Palm City, Florida in May of 2009.
A new report last week, “Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks,” was published jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Countil, the National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club. The Executive Summary begins “Tar sands crude oil pipeline companies may be putting America’s public safety at risk. Increasingly, pipelines transporting tar sands crude oil into the United States are carrying diluted bitumen or “DilBit”—a highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate—raising risks of spills and damage to communities along their paths. The impacts of tar sands production are well known. Tar sands extraction in Canada destroys Boreal forests and wetlands, causes high levels of greenhouse gas pollution, and leaves behind immense lakes of toxic waste. Less well understood, however, is the increased risk and potential harm that can be caused by transporting the raw form of tar sands oil (bitumen) through pipelines to refineries in the United States.” Download the 16 page report here. [pdf]
A McClatchy article, “Kansas unhappy about Keystone tax exemptions,” reports on officials along the existing pipeline’s path feeling sold out by the state for ThansCanada profits. A map of the US shows current and proposed pipeline routes at the end of the article, also published in the Lincoln Journal Star. “Some see Keystone XL as path to higher gas prices in Midwest,” was published February 17, 2011: “As the debate on the economic and environmental effects of Keystone XL continues, there’s silence at the U.S. State Department on whether TransCanada has done enough on an environmental impact statement and whether the project is in the national interest. And the word coming out of a TransCanada meeting called to examine its fourth-quarter financial status reflects a slight shift in its expectations on a State Department outcome from midyear to late year. ” Read here.
A 2:10 minute video explaining the tar sands extraction process is included with “Oil pipeline from Canada stirring anger in US Great Plains,” by McClatchy, published in the Kansas City Star. “Extracting oil from tar sands and liquefying it enough so it will move through a pipeline is an energy-intensive process that adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Getting it out of the ground involves clear-cutting forests, leaving a wasteland that oil companies say they will restore. Some scientists say that rivers also become polluted. “From start to finish, this a dirty project,” said Stephanie Cole, a spokeswoman for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club. “Forests in Canada are being destroyed, and increased reliance on fossil fuels will accelerate global warming.”
Hearings on three pipeline related bills were held in the legislature’s Natural Resources Committee on February 9, 2011. “TransCanada, critics differ on need for state oversight of pipelines,” was published in LJS the following day. Links to pipeline bills, information on the hearing, and contact information for who to write/call in support of the bills is here.
“Nebraska gas prices among highest in nation,” published February 6th in the North Platte Bulletin, warns that if the XL pipeline is built, Midwest refineries will be bypassed and the result will be higher gas prices in the Midwest and big profits for Canadian oil producers. “Big Oil’s Pipeline Scheme to Increase Midwest Gas Prices,” at Wildlife Promise begins “It’s an old story: oil companies increase gas prices and their profits soar. But rarely do we get an inside view of how they manipulate markets to drive up prices, and even rarer still an opportunity to stop it from happening. This time, Big Oil has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar as they scheme to hike America’s oil bill by $4 billion every year. This time, we have the industry documents that prove it.” From the article, “…here’s the bottom line if the Keystone XL pipeline is built: Canadian oil producers get a huge profit windfall, and America gets higher gas prices as well as the pollution from refineries and any pipeline spills.” Meanwhile, last week Montana legislators heard from an unlikely duo about how the United States must pursue renewable power and move away from fossil fuels–a retired US Navy vice admiral and a Marine Corps colonel. “Montana lawmakers hear from military about dangers of relying on oil, coal” was published in the Missoulian and by BuzzFlash at TruthOut on February 5th.
Learn more from the National Wildlife Federation’s report on XL, “Staying Hooked on a Dirty Fuel: Why Canadian Tar Sands are a Bad Bet for the United States.” Click here to send a personalized message President Obama, or sign the online e-mail strongly urging him to stop the proposed pipeline.
Nebraska Green Party is one of the 86 organizations that signed a letter to the President asking him *not* to approved the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through our land and water as he was meeting with the Canadian Prime Minster, who is pushing *for* pipeline approval. The February 5, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star front page hard copy report is titled “Canada’s PM pushes for pipeline approval; coalition of 86 groups opposed to pipeline urge Obama to reject it,” reports “Environmental groups call the pipeline an ecological disaster waiting to happen and say the so-called tar sands produce “dirty” oil that requires huge amounts of energy to extract.” On February 11th, Scott Svoboda’s letter to the LJS editor, “Canadian PM’s words questionable,” reminds “there is no guarantee that any of the tar sands oil piped from Canada to the Gulf Coast will be dedicated to US consumers. Oil is a commodity and sold to the highest bidder, whether it’s China or an oil corporation.”
“TransCanada sues to access pipeline land,” reports “Court records show that TransCanada has filed more than a dozen lawsuits to condemn land along the route of its Keystone XL oil pipeline in western South Dakota, though it hasn’t received the federal permit it needs to go ahead with the project.” “Legal Challenge to Eminent Domain for TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline,” reports on the first legal challenge to the use of eminent domain to secure US right-of-way for the proposed pipeline. “Nebraska Farmers Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline,” features two Nebraska landowners in a national blog post.
An LA Times article by Kim Murphy, “Some Texans, too, resist Keystone XL Pipeline,” published in the LJS under the title “One Pipeline Too Many” begins “Texas has rarely met an oil business it didn’t like. Ever since Spindletop sent a gush of crude 150 feet into the air near here in 1901, Texans have been mostly willing to put up with the spills, smokestack belches and massive refinery vistas that go along with big, fat pots of “Texas tea.” But that was before a Canadian company, TransCanada Corp., came forward with a plan to build a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry heavy, high-pollutant oil from the tar sands under the boreal forests of northern Alberta, across the American heartland, through scenic ranchlands in the piney woods of east Texas and on to refineries near Houston and Port Arthur.”
“Great Plains oil pipeline plan sparks grass-roots activism, high-stakes lobbying,” was written by Washington Post staff writer Juliet Eilperin. It begins “A massive feat of engineering by any measure, the Keystone pipeline expansion project would transport crude oil close to 1,700 miles from “oil sands” in the icy reaches of Hardisty, Alberta, down through the Great Plains to the refineries of Port Arthur, Tex. In doing so, the giant pipe also promises to allay some fears about U.S. energy security: The oil will come from a trusted ally, and its cross-continental path avoids visions of another deep-sea drilling disaster. But the decision on whether to issue a permit to the project, opposed by environmental groups, rests with the State Department, which has little expertise in engineering or environmental matters. And reflecting the chaos of U.S. energy and environmental policy, the proposed pipeline is pitting Montana landowners against pipe fitters in Nebraska and creating unlikely allies of Nebraska ranchers and chieftains from Alberta’s indigenous communities.” The article continues here.
The Natural Resources Defense Council calls tar sands “the dirtiest, most destructive oil on the face of the Earth.” The Keystone XL pipeline would threaten Nebraska’s underground source of fresh water, the 175,000-square-mile High Plains Aquifer, that provides water to 1.9 million people and irrigation for thousands of square miles of farmland throughout eight states. Nebraska’s geologically unique Sand Hills, where many bird species rest during migration, would also be threatened. Read Ken Winston’s November 4, 2010 Tar Sands Pipeline Update for Nebraska Sierra here.
           Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. Our Congressional delegation and the governor need to receive letters, e-mails and phone calls from constituents demanding regulation on the existing pipeline, expressing concern about more TransCanada construction in our state. Contact information for Nebraska 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); 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); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
           Stop the Keystone XL pipeline — call your senators. Unbold Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can pressure her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Help put some needed pressure on Clinton by calling your senators today. Tell them that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters.
Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda, tell Gov. Heineman to put forth laws that protect our resources and economic activity and tell President Obama to live up to his promise of clean energy and energy independence. Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts.
           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.

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

Green Notes Week of February 20, 2011

February 20, 2011Green Notesgreenone

10 DIGIT DIALING BEGINS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2011. Questions & Answers are here.

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Senator Mike Johanns will hold a series of open forums in Nebraska February 21 through 24, 2011, to hear constituents’ thoughts on the future of ag policy. The scheduled events are listed below by Congressional District. Take this opportunity to ask the Senator to oppose the proposed XL pipeline for health, groundwater and land stafety reasons. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in District 3 Green Notes.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

PUBLIC MEETING WITH JOHANNS . . . Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 11:30am, Senator Mike Johanns will meet with Lincoln constituents at Embassy Suites, 1040 P Street. Ask him to oppose the XL pipeline!

SECRETS BENEATH THE ICE . . . Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 7:00pm, there will be a free screening of “Secrets Beneath the Ice,” a NET documentary about ANDRILL, a research project led by UN-L, at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, 313 North 13th Street, Lincoln. The film premiered nationally on the PBS series NOVA. After the hour-long film, UN-L scientists who work on the project will answer questions from the audience.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 3:30 TO 4:30pm, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after the have been presented here.

LINCOLN GREEN DRINKS . . . Lincoln Green Drinks, an environmentally focused social network, will meet Wednesday, February 23, 2011, starting at 5:30pm, at Lazlo’s Brewery and Grill in the Haymarket at 210 North 7th Street. Green Drinks are now active in 756 cities worldwide. Walk, carpool, bus or bike if possible. For more information, e-mail Rick Yoder, ryoder [at] mail [dot] unomaha [dot] edu.

THOMPSON FORUM ON WORLD ISSUES . . . Our government must be questioned about the excesses of the so-called war on terror. The first step is to get informed. A Thompson Forum on World Issues is scheduled for Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 7:00pm, at the Lied Center, 12th & R Streets, Lincoln. Mark Danner, a writer and reporter who has written on politics and foreign affairs, focusing on war and conflict for twenty-five years, will speak on the topic “Torture, Obama and Us: The Moral Costs of the War on Terror“. You will need to pick up a ticket in advance, but tickets are free. Click here for ticket information.

SUNDAY LECTURE SERIES . . . The Unitarian Church of Lincoln, 6300 A Street, is hosting its annual free winter lecture series about Russia and Post-Soviet states. Each two-hour Sunday lecture begins at 7:00pm. The first hour features a guest lecturer, followed by refreshments with a half hour of questions and dialogue. Sunday, February 27, 2011, Bruce M. Garver, Professor of History, UN-O, will speak on the nations of Eastern Europe that were once called the Soviet block.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

PUBLIC MEETING WITH JOHANNS . . . Senator Mike Johanns will meet with Omaha constituents Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 7:00am, at Regency Lodge, 909 South 107th Avenue. Ask him to oppose the XL pipeline!

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 “American Radical.” The documentary takes a deeply personal look at Norman Finkelstein’s life, and analyses the roots of his beliefs regarding the Israel-Palestine question. View the trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

“YEAR OF THE ELECTRIC CAR” AT PS COLLECTIVE . . . Thursday, February 24, 2011, 7:00pm, the Nebraska Sierra Club will present Bill Moore and “Year of the Electric Car,” at the Benson Pizza Shoppe, 6056 Maple Street, Omaha. Moore is editor of the on-line journal EV World, headquartered in Omaha, and closely follows the development of new vehicle technologies. Street parking is available on Maple Street, and there is a parking lot in back by Haney Shoes. Arrive between 6:00 and 6:30 to order dinner before the program. Sierra Club programs are free and open to the public. For more information, click here.

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE . . . Omaha protest actions by Guardians of the Good Life resumed Saturday, February 19, 2011, noon, at 90th & Maple. There won’t be an organized protest next weekend. Check Green Notes for location the following week. STOP THE PIPELINE yard signs are available in Omaha by calling Nebraskans for Peace Coordinator Mark Welsch, 453.0776, or e-mail NFPOmaha [at] nebraskansforpeace [dot] org. For more information, e-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Senator Mike Johanns will hold a series of open forums in District 3 this week to hear constituents’ thoughts on the future of ag policy. Monday, February 21, 2011, 11:00am, he will host an Open Coffee in Grand Island at the Howard Johnson Riverside Inn Cottonwood Room, 3333 Ramada Road, Grand Island. Wednesday, February 23rd, he will be in Norfolk at Prenger’s Restaurant, 116 East Norfolk Avenue, 4:00pm; followed by a 6:30 coffee in Neligh at the Senior Center, 204 Main Street. Thursday, February 24, there will be an open coffee in O’Neill at the Blarney Stone Nebraska Room, 432 East Douglas Street; a 9:30am coffee in Bassett at the Range Cafe, 205 Clark Street; and at noon, he will discuss Nebraska Ag Policy Perspectives at an open forum in Burwell at the American Legion, 657 G Street. Take any of these opportunities to ask the Senator to oppose the proposed XL pipeline.
A new report this week, “Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks,” was published jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Countil, the National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club. The Executive Summary begins “Tar sands crude oil pipeline companies may be putting America’s public safety at risk. Increasingly, pipelines transporting tar sands crude oil into the United States are carrying diluted bitumen or “DilBit”—a highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate—raising risks of spills and damage to communities along their paths. The impacts of tar sands production are well known. Tar sands extraction in Canada destroys Boreal forests and wetlands, causes high levels of greenhouse gas pollution, and leaves behind immense lakes of toxic waste. Less well understood, however, is the increased risk and potential harm that can be caused by transporting the raw form of tar sands oil (bitumen) through pipelines to refineries in the United States.” Download the 16 page report here. [pdf]
A McClatchy article, “Kansas unhappy about Keystone tax exemptions,” reports on officials along the existing pipeline’s path feeling sold out by the state for ThansCanada profits. A map of the US shows current and proposed pipeline routes at the end of the article, also published in the Lincoln Journal Star. “Some see Keystone XL as path to higher gas prices in Midwest,” was published February 17, 2011: “As the debate on the economic and environmental effects of Keystone XL continues, there’s silence at the U.S. State Department on whether TransCanada has done enough on an environmental impact statement and whether the project is in the national interest. And the word coming out of a TransCanada meeting called to examine its fourth-quarter financial status reflects a slight shift in its expectations on a State Department outcome from midyear to late year. ” Read here.
A 2:10 minute video explaining the tar sands extraction process is included with “Oil pipeline from Canada stirring anger in US Great Plains,” by McClatchy, published in the Kansas City Star February 13th. “Extracting oil from tar sands and liquefying it enough so it will move through a pipeline is an energy-intensive process that adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Getting it out of the ground involves clear-cutting forests, leaving a wasteland that oil companies say they will restore. Some scientists say that rivers also become polluted. “From start to finish, this a dirty project,” said Stephanie Cole, a spokeswoman for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club. “Forests in Canada are being destroyed, and increased reliance on fossil fuels will accelerate global warming.”
Hearings on three pipeline related bills were held in the legislature’s Natural Resources Committee on February 9, 2011. “TransCanada, critics differ on need for state oversight of pipelines,” was published in LJS the following day. Links to pipeline bills, information on the hearing, and contact information for who to write/call in support of the bills is here.
The Lincoln Journal Star editorialized “The State Department’s responsibility goes beyond providing a simple yes or no answer to the project. It also should ensure that the pipeline will be built and operated safely and with low risk of harm to the environment. In Nebraska, that means that TransCanada should move the pipeline farther east, outside the Sand Hills.” “Pipeline route still valid issue,” was published on February 10th.
“Nebraska gas prices among highest in nation,” published February 6th in the North Platte Bulletin, warns that if the XL pipeline is built, Midwest refineries will be bypassed and the result will be higher gas prices in the Midwest and big profits for Canadian oil producers. “Big Oil’s Pipeline Scheme to Increase Midwest Gas Prices,” at Wildlife Promise begins “It’s an old story: oil companies increase gas prices and their profits soar. But rarely do we get an inside view of how they manipulate markets to drive up prices, and even rarer still an opportunity to stop it from happening. This time, Big Oil has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar as they scheme to hike America’s oil bill by $4 billion every year. This time, we have the industry documents that prove it.” From the article, “…here’s the bottom line if the Keystone XL pipeline is built: Canadian oil producers get a huge profit windfall, and America gets higher gas prices as well as the pollution from refineries and any pipeline spills.” Meanwhile, last week Montana legislators heard from an unlikely duo about how the United States must pursue renewable power and move away from fossil fuels–a retired US Navy vice admiral and a Marine Corps colonel. “Montana lawmakers hear from military about dangers of relying on oil, coal” was published in the Missoulian and by BuzzFlash at TruthOut on February 5th.
Learn more from the National Wildlife Federation’s report on XL, “Staying Hooked on a Dirty Fuel: Why Canadian Tar Sands are a Bad Bet for the United States.” Click here to send a personalized message to President Obama, or sign the online e-mail strongly urging him to stop the proposed pipeline.
Nebraska Green Party is one of the 86 organizations that signed a letter to the President asking him *not* to approved the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through our land and water as he was meeting with the Canadian Prime Minster, who is pushing *for* pipeline approval. The February 5, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star front page hard copy report is titled “Canada’s PM pushes for pipeline approval; coalition of 86 groups opposed to pipeline urge Obama to reject it,” It reports “Environmental groups call the pipeline an ecological disaster waiting to happen and say the so-called tar sands produce “dirty” oil that requires huge amounts of energy to extract.” On February 11th, Scott Svoboda’s letter to the LJS editor, “Canadian PM’s words questionable,” reminds “there is no guarantee that any of the tar sands oil piped from Canada to the Gulf Coast will be dedicated to US consumers. Oil is a commodity and sold to the highest bidder, whether it’s China or an oil corporation.”
Sunday, March 6, 2011, join members of the groups actively working to protect Nebraska land and water from further pipeline exploitation at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar, 136 North 14th Street, 2:30 to 5:00pm. There will be live music by The Lightning Bugs, John Walker and the Prairie Dogs, the Melody Wranglers, Chris Sayre & the Laddies, and The Toasted Ponies.
“TransCanada sues to access pipeline land,” reports “Court records show that TransCanada has filed more than a dozen lawsuits to condemn land along the route of its Keystone XL oil pipeline in western South Dakota, though it hasn’t received the federal permit it needs to go ahead with the project.” “Legal Challenge to Eminent Domain for TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline,” reports on the first legal challenge to the use of eminent domain to secure US right-of-way for the proposed pipeline. “Nebraska Farmers Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline,” features two Nebraska landowners in a national blog post.
An LA Times article by Kim Murphy, “Some Texans, too, resist Keystone XL Pipeline,” published in the LJS under the title “One Pipeline Too Many” begins “Texas has rarely met an oil business it didn’t like. Ever since Spindletop sent a gush of crude 150 feet into the air near here in 1901, Texans have been mostly willing to put up with the spills, smokestack belches and massive refinery vistas that go along with big, fat pots of “Texas tea.” But that was before a Canadian company, TransCanada Corp., came forward with a plan to build a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry heavy, high-pollutant oil from the tar sands under the boreal forests of northern Alberta, across the American heartland, through scenic ranchlands in the piney woods of east Texas and on to refineries near Houston and Port Arthur.”
“Great Plains oil pipeline plan sparks grass-roots activism, high-stakes lobbying,” was written by Washington Post staff writer Juliet Eilperin. It begins “A massive feat of engineering by any measure, the Keystone pipeline expansion project would transport crude oil close to 1,700 miles from “oil sands” in the icy reaches of Hardisty, Alberta, down through the Great Plains to the refineries of Port Arthur, Tex. In doing so, the giant pipe also promises to allay some fears about U.S. energy security: The oil will come from a trusted ally, and its cross-continental path avoids visions of another deep-sea drilling disaster. But the decision on whether to issue a permit to the project, opposed by environmental groups, rests with the State Department, which has little expertise in engineering or environmental matters. And reflecting the chaos of U.S. energy and environmental policy, the proposed pipeline is pitting Montana landowners against pipe fitters in Nebraska and creating unlikely allies of Nebraska ranchers and chieftains from Alberta’s indigenous communities.” The article continues here.
The Natural Resources Defense Council calls tar sands “the dirtiest, most destructive oil on the face of the Earth.” The Keystone XL pipeline would threaten Nebraska’s underground source of fresh water, the 175,000-square-mile High Plains Aquifer, that provides water to 1.9 million people and irrigation for thousands of square miles of farmland throughout eight states. Nebraska’s geologically unique Sand Hills, where many bird species rest during migration, would also be threatened. Read Ken Winston’s November 4, 2010 Tar Sands Pipeline Update for Nebraska Sierra here.
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. Our Congressional delegation and the governor need to receive letters, e-mails and phone calls from constituents demanding regulation on the existing pipeline, expressing concern about more TransCanada
construction in our state. Contact information for Nebraska 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); 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); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
Stop the Keystone XL pipeline — call your senators. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can pressure her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Help put some needed pressure on Clinton by calling your senators today. Tell them that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters.
Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda, tell Gov. Heineman to put forth laws that protect our resources and economic activity and tell President Obama to live up to his promise of clean energy and energy independence. Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts.
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.”

NEBRASKA MARKETPLACE . . . The Fifth Annual Nebraska MarketPlace Conference will be Tuesday and Wednesday, February 22 and 23, 2011, at the Ramada Inn Convention Center, 301 2nd Avenue, in Kearney. Online registration is available here.

“OSCAR SCHINDLER OF AFRICA” AT DOANE . . . Wednesday, February 23, 2011, Paul Rusesabagina will speak at the Doane College Heckman Auditorium, 7:00pm. Rusesabagina was the real-life inspiration for the 2004 award-winning film “Hotel Rwanda.” His speech is free, and open to the public.

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

Green Notes Week of February 13, 2011

February 13, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Three pipeline related bills were heard by the legislature’s Natural Resources Committee on February 9, 2011. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in Congressional District 3 Green Notes.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

THERE IS NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE . . . Monday, February 14, 2011, UN-L economics professor Hank Van den Berg, UN-L associate professor of accounting Linda Ruchala, former UN-L physics professor Dan Schlitt, and Terry Werner, executive director of the Nebraska Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, will hold a 1:00pm news conference on the outdoor west plaza of the state capitol building in Lincoln to explain how the federal deficit could be reduced by cutting the military budget in half. The Pentagon, rather than programs like education, Medicare, Social Security and aid to state governments, should be the primary target of spending cuts. According to Van den Berg, “With the US spending more on the military than the rest of the nations of the world combined, Congress can easily cut the military budget in half without harming our national security. In fact, ending wasteful military spending will make us stronger economically.” For more information about the news conference, contact Nebraskans for Peace State Coordinator Tim Rinne by phone at 402.475.7616.

LPS WANTS INPUT ON STRATEGIC PLAN . . . Lincoln Public Schools administration staff are developing a Strategic Plan for the future. They hosted a public Community Forum on February 5th, and there will be a General Meeting for input from students on Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 6:00 to 7:30pm, at LPS District Offices, 5901 O Street, in the Board Room.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 3:30 TO 4:30pm, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after the have been presented here.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN READ-IN . . . Wednesday, February 16, 2011, at noon, Lincoln City Libraries and Doane College will co-host the 6th Annual African-American Read-in at Bennett Martin Public Library, 136 South 14th Street. Community members, including Lela Shanks, will read excerpts from works by or about African-Americans. The free event, open to the public, will begin with a tribute to human rights advocate Leola Bullock.

PANEL ON WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN AMERICAN . . . The question “Who is an American?” will be explored during a panel discussion presented by the Institute for Ethnic Studies Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 12:30 to 2:00pm, Bailey Library in Andrews Hall at UN-L. Panelists include Miguel Ceballos, assistant professor of sociology and ethnic studies; Ariana Vigil, assistant professor of English and ethnic studies; and Sergio Wals, assistant professor of political science and ethnic studies.

PAUL A. OLSON SEMINAR . . . Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 3:30pm, the Paul A. Olson Seminar in Great Plains Studies will present Thomas C. Gannon, Associate Professor of English and Ethnic Studies, UN-L, speaking on “Avians and Indians: Feathered Folk on the Plains” at the Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q Street, Lincoln. The lecture is free and open to the public. Phone Kim Weide, 472.3964, for more information.

DOCUMENTARY ON PEACEMAKING AT NWU . . . “Refusing to be Enemies: The Zeitouna Story,” will be screened on Wednesday, January 16, 2011, 7:00pm, at Nebraska Wesleyan University’s Olin B Lecture Hall, one block east of 50th Street and St. Paul Avenue, Lincoln. The 58-minute film profiles a group of 12 women peacemakers calling themselves Zeitouna. The documentary’s director, Laurie White, will attend the screening, as will Zeitouna’s fellow co-founder Manya Arond-Thomas. The screening is free and open to the public. View a 3:30 minute trailer, including interviews with many of the women, here.

LELA SHANKS AT HISTORY MUSEUM . . . In conjunction with the Nebraska History Museum’s “Civil Rights & Civil Liberties in Nebraska,” an exhibit that chronicles the state’s civil rights history, a series of public presentations by local leaders continues on Thursday, February 17, 2011 at the Museum, 15th and P streets, Lincoln. Local writer and civil rights activist Lela Knox Shanks will discuss how the press has reported on African Americans at noon. The lecture is free, and open to the public.

FRIENDS OF WILDERNESS PARK . . . This month’s Friends of Wilderness Park meeting and presentation will be Sunday, February 20, 4:30pm, at the Unitarian Church, 6300 A Street, Lincoln. The speaker will be Steven Rolfsmeier, co-author of the definitive text guide, The Flora of Nebraska. The presentation is free and the meeting is open to the public. For more information, e-mail friendsofwildernessparkne [at] yahoo [dot] com.

SUNDAY LECTURE SERIES . . . The Unitarian Church, 6300 A Street, Lincoln, is hosting its annual free winter lecture series about Russia and Post-Soviet states. Each two-hour Sunday lecture begins at 7:00pm. The first hour features a guest lecturer, followed by refreshments with a half hour of questions and dialogue. Sunday, February 20, 2011, Kyle Scott, Director, Office of Russian Affairs, US Department of State, will speak on Russian relationships with the US.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

THERE IS NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE . . . “With the US spending more on the military than the rest of the nations of the world combined, Congress can easily cut the military budget in half without harming our national security. In fact, ending wasteful military spending will make us stronger economically.” (See CD 1 Green Notes.) E-mail Elaine Wells, mmwells1 [at] cox [dot] net to join a carpool from Omaha for the February 14, 2011, 1:00pm news conference at the capitol in Lincoln. Learn how the federal deficit could be reduced by cutting the military budget in half. Then countact your Congressional delegation in support of this win/win approach to cutting the deficit, maintaining security, and providing human services.

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 “Gasland,” a first-person account of how a natural gas company made Josh Fox, the filmmaker, a lease offer for $100,000 to explore on his land in Pennsylvania’s Delaware River Basin. View the trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

SNOW MOON HIKE . . . Thursday, February 17, 2011, the Nebraska Adventure Group will host a hike at Hitchcock Nature Center, 27792 Ski Hill Loop, Honey Creek, Iowa, at 7:30pm. E-mail debhoffnung [at] yahoo [dot] com to rsvp for mandatory reservations.

MEETING ON LOW POWER FM RADIO . . . Saturday, February 19, 2011, 1:00 to 2:30pm, there will be a community meeting on low power FM radio at 3715 Hamilton Street, Omaha. Congress has passed the Community Radio Act of 2010. This meeting will examine how one or more stations might be started in Omaha. Financing, legal, technical and organizational hurdles will need to be addressed. Come prepared to focus and work on providing a local voice for diversity. For more information, e-mail francesmendenhall [at] yahoo [dot] com

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE . . . Omaha protest actions by Guardians of the Good Life will resume with warmer weather. Watch Green Notes for weekly location updates. STOP THE PIPELINE yard signs are available in Omaha by calling Nebraskans for Peace Coordinator Mark Welsch, 453.0776, or e-mail NFPOmaha [at] nebraskansforpeace [dot] org For more information, e-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net

SODERBERGH AND PAYNE AT HOLLAND FUNDRAISER . . . Sunday, February 20, 2011, Steven Soderbergh, director of “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” and “Traffic,” will headline a fundraiser for Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater at the Holland Performing Arts Center, 1200 Douglas Street, in Omaha. Public Radio International’s Kurt Anderson will speak with Soderbergh in live conversation. The event will be introduced by director, screenwriter, and Omaha native Alexander Payne. Click here for ticket information.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Hearings on three pipeline related bills were held in the legislature’s Natural Resources Committee on February 9, 2011. “TransCanada, critics differ on need for state oversight of pipelines,” was published in Lincoln Journal Star the following day. Links to pipeline bills, information on the hearing, and contact information for who to write/call in support of the bills is here.
The Lincoln Journal Star editorialized “The State Department’s responsibility goes beyond providing a simple yes or no answer to the project. It also should ensure that the pipeline will be built and operated safely and with low risk of harm to the environment. In Nebraska, that means that TransCanada should move the pipeline farther east, outside the Sand Hills.” “Pipeline route still valid issue,” was published on February 10th. “House Members Urge Clinton to Okay Pipeline,” was publilshed at Nebraska.Watchdog.org on February 11th. No Nebraska members of the House signed the letter.
“Nebraska gas prices among highest in nation,” published February 6th in the North Platte Bulletin, warns that if the XL pipeline is built, Midwest refineries will be bypassed and the result will be higher gas prices in the Midwest and big profits for Canadian oil producers. “Big Oil’s Pipeline Scheme to Increase Midwest Gas Prices,” at Wildlife Promise begins “It’s an old story: oil companies increase gas prices and their profits soar. But rarely do we get an inside view of how they manipulate markets to drive up prices, and even rarer still an opportunity to stop it from happening. This time, Big Oil has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar as they scheme to hike America’s oil bill by $4 billion every year. This time, we have the industry documents that prove it.” From the article, “…here’s the bottom line if the Keystone XL pipeline is built: Canadian oil producers get a huge profit windfall, and America gets higher gas prices as well as the pollution from refineries and any pipeline spills.” Meanwhile, last week Montana legislators heard from an unlikely duo about how the United States must pursue renewable power and move away from fossil fuels–a retired US Navy vice admiral and a Marine Corps colonel. “Montana lawmakers hear from military about dangers of relying on oil, coal” was published in the Missoulian and by BuzzFlash at TruthOut on February 5th.
Learn more from the National Wildlife Federation’s report on XL, “Staying Hooked on a Dirty Fuel: Why Canadian Tar Sands are a Bad Bet for the United States.” Click here to send a personalized message President Obama, or sign the online e-mail strongly urging him to stop the proposed pipeline.
Nebraska Green Party is one of the 86 organizations that signed a letter to the President asking him *not* to approved the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through our land and water as he was meeting with the Canadian Prime Minster, who is pushing *for* pipeline approval. The February 5, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star front page hard copy report is titled “Canada’s PM pushes for pipeline approval; coalition of 86 groups opposed to pipeline urge Obama to reject it,” reports “Environmental groups call the pipeline an ecological disaster waiting to happen and say the so-called tar sands produce “dirty” oil that requires huge amounts of energy to extract.” On February 11th, Scott Svoboda’s letter to the editor, “Canadian PM’s words questionable,” reminds “there is no guarantee that any of the tar sands oil piped from Canada to the Gulf Coast will be dedicated to US consumers. Oil is a commodity and sold to the highest bidder, whether it’s China or an oil corporation.”
Save the Date: Sunday, March 6, 2011, join members of the groups actively working to protect Nebraska land and water from further pipeline exploitation at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar, 136 North 14th Street, 2:30 to 5:00pm. There will be live music by The Lightning Bugs, John Walker and the Prairie Dogs, the Melody Wranglers, Chris Sayre & the Laddies, and The Toasted Ponies.
“TransCanada sues to access pipeline land,” reports “Court records show that TransCanada has filed more than a dozen lawsuits to condemn land along the route of its Keystone XL oil pipeline in western South Dakota, though it hasn’t received the federal permit it needs to go ahead with the project.” “Legal Challenge to Eminent Domain for TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline,” reports on the first legal challenge to the use of eminent domain to secure US right-of-way for the proposed pipeline. “Nebraska Farmers Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline,” features two Nebraska landowners in a national blog post.
An LA Times article by Kim Murphy, “Some Texans, too, resist Keystone XL Pipeline,” published in the LJS under the title “One Pipeline Too Many” begins “Texas has rarely met an oil business it didn’t like. Ever since Spindletop sent a gush of crude 150 feet into the air near here in 1901, Texans have been mostly willing to put up with the spills, smokestack belches and massive refinery vistas that go along with big, fat pots of “Texas tea.” But that was before a Canadian company, TransCanada Corp., came forward with a plan to build a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry heavy, high-pollutant oil from the tar sands under the boreal forests of northern Alberta, across the American heartland, through scenic ranchlands in the piney woods of east Texas and on to refineries near Houston and Port Arthur.”
“Great Plains oil pipeline plan sparks grass-roots activism, high-stakes lobbying,” was written by Washington Post staff writer Juliet Eilperin. It begins “A massive feat of engineering by any measure, the Keystone pipeline expansion project would transport crude oil close to 1,700 miles from “oil sands” in the icy reaches of Hardisty, Alberta, down through the Great Plains to the refineries of Port Arthur, Tex. In doing so, the giant pipe also promises to allay some fears about U.S. energy security: The oil will come from a trusted ally, and its cross-continental path avoids visions of another deep-sea drilling disaster. But the decision on whether to issue a permit to the project, opposed by environmental groups, rests with the State Department, which has little expertise in engineering or environmental matters. And reflecting the chaos of U.S. energy and environmental policy, the proposed pipeline is pitting Montana landowners against pipe fitters in Nebraska and creating unlikely allies of Nebraska ranchers and chieftains from Alberta’s indigenous communities.” The article continues here.

The Natural Resources Defense Council calls tar sands “the dirtiest, most destructive oil on the face of the Earth.” The Keystone XL pipeline would threaten Nebraska’s underground source of fresh water, the 175,000-square-mile High Plains Aquifer, that provides water to 1.9 million people and irrigation for thousands of square miles of farmland throughout eight states. Nebraska’s geologically unique Sand Hills, where many bird species rest during migration, would also be threatened. Read Ken Winston’s November 4, 2010 Tar Sands Pipeline Update for Nebraska Sierra here.
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. Our Congressional delegation and the governor need to receive letters, e-mails and phone calls from constituents demanding regulation on the existing pipeline, expressing concern about more TransCanada construction in our state. Contact information for Nebraska 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); 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); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
Stop the Keystone XL pipeline — call your senators. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can pressure her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Help put some needed pressure on Clinton by calling your senators today. Tell them that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters. Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda, tell Gov. Heineman to put forth laws that protect our resources and economic activity and tell President Obama to live up to his promise of clean energy and energy independence. Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and
background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts.
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.”

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.

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

Green Notes Week of February 6, 2011

February 6, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Three pipeline related bills will be heard by the legislature’s Natural Resources Committee this Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 1:30pm, in room 1525, at the state capitol. News items and contact information for needed communication with specific elected officials are below in Congressional District 3 Green Notes.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

CIVIL RIGHTS SERIES . . . The Nebraska Historical Society series of programs, “Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in Nebraska: Understanding the Past, Looking to the Future,” will present well known local attorney Alan Petersen discussing the rights of a free press versus the right of a fair trial, on Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 5:30pm, at the Nebraska History Museum, 15th & P Streets, in Lincoln. The presentation is free and open to the public.

WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES SEMINARS . . . A 14-lecture series of seminars at UN-L focused on urban stormwater runoff, gobal climate change, and related environmental issues continues Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 3:30 TO 4:30pm, in the first-floor auditorium of Hardin Hall, on the northeast corner of North 33rd and Holdrege Streets, Lincoln. For more information, contact the UN-L Water Center, 402.472.3305. Click here for a schedule of the lectures. View most lectures online after the have been presented here.

IMMIGRATION FORUM . . . Thursday, February 10, 2011, 7:00 to 8:30pm, there will be a forum on the implications of immigration legislation for Nebraska at Lincoln’s Unitarian Church, 6300 A Street. Panelists include retired Navy rear admiral Jim Partington, former state Senator DiAnna Schimek, and Nebraska Appleseed attorney Norman Pflanz, who will also take questions from the audience. The Forum is free and open to the public.

COMMUNITY CROPS GARDEN BRUNCH . . . Saturday, February 12, 2011, Community CROPS will host a Garden Brunch at Windsor Stables, 1024 L Street, Lincoln. For more information about the fundraiser, including a list of silent auction items donated for the event, and to by tickets online, click here. “Community CROPS helps people work together to grow healthy food and live sustainably.”

GREAT PLAINS TRAILS ANNUAL . . . The Great Plains Trails Network will present Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, speaking at their annual meeting, Sunday, February 13, 2011, 1:00pm, at BryanLGH College of Health Sciences, room 204, 5035 Everett Street, Lincoln. Clarke’s topic will be “Creating a More Bicycle-Friendly Lincoln.” The meeting is open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call 402.325.8668 or click here.

SUNDAY LECTURE SERIES . . . The Unitarian Church of Lincoln, 6300 A Street, is hosting its annual free winter lecture series about Russia and Post-Soviet states. Each two-hour Sunday lecture begins at 7:00pm. The first hour features a guest lecturer, followed by refreshments with a half hour of questions and dialogue. Sunday, February 13, 2011, Bill Gleason, Coordinator, Eurasian Studies at the US Department of State, will speak on Russian-Ukranian relations.

LOCAL ARTISTS WANTED . . . The Third Annual Artistic Rain Barrel Program invites local artists to paint rain barrels with original designs for display citywide next spring. Twenty-five artists will be chosen for a public auction of barrels in May, 2011. Click here [pdf] for an application, which includes a short summary and preliminary sketch of your intended design. Applications are due by February 11, 2011. For more information, contact Ellen Wright, 402.441.7075.

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 “South Of The Border.” Oliver Stone films a road trip across five South American countries, interviewing seven of its elected presidents. View the trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

PROGRESSIVE OMAHA MEETING . . . UN-L Economics professor Hank Van den Berg will speak on “How Economists Provided Intellectual Cover for the Corporate and Financial Takeover” at the Progressive Omaha meeting Saturday, February 12, 2011, 6:00 to 9:00pm, at 4924 Chicago, in Dundee. EveryOne is welcome at a potluck, beginning at 6:00, followed by the speaker from 7:00 to 8:00, and business meeting with social time until 9:00pm. Progressive Omaha provides information, education and support to progressive people and groups through various approaches including a website, speakers bureau, film festival, calendar of events, and monthly meetings.

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE . . . Saturday protest actions by Guardians of the Good Life are on hold until weather warms up. STOP THE PIPELINE yard signs are available in Omaha by calling Nebraskans for Peace Coordinator Mark Welsch, 453.0776, or e-mail NFPOmaha [at] nebraskansforpeace [dot] org For more information, e-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net

HIKE WAUBONSIE STATE PARK . . . There will be a Second Sunday Hike with the Nebraska Adventure Group at Iowa’s Waubonsie State Park on Sunday, February 13, 2011. Meet at Panera Bread, 344 North Saddle Creek Road, Omaha, 8:45am. Send a mandatory rsvp to debhoffnung [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . The three pipeline related bills being introduced in the Nebraska legislature will be heard by the Natural Resources Committee this Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 1:30pm, in room 1525, at the state capitol. Links to Committee members’ e-mail are here. If you can’t be at the hearing, you may e-mail your testimony to info [at] boldnebraska [dot] org, and it will be submitted on your behalf Wednesday. Your presence at the hearing, however, is very important. Dr. Mary Pipher’s (sample) testimony is linked here. Even if you don’t wish to testify, being there, and signing-in to support the bills, will make a difference. Bold Nebraska will have t-shirts available to wear at the hearing starting at 1:00pm outside room 1525.
The following pipeline bills have been introduced in the Nebraska legislature this session:
LB 340 [pdf] establishes state-based guidelines and oversight for oil pipelines. Introduced by Senator Dubas.
LB 629 [pdf]establishes a state-based certification process for oil pipelines. Introduced by Senator Sullivan.
LB 578 requires pipeline companies to be financially responsible for clean-up, decommissioning, and maintenance to roads. Introduced by Senator Haar.
Nebraska Green Party is one of the 86 organizations that signed a letter to President Obama this week, asking him *not* to approved the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through our land and water. This weekend, Obama is meeting with the Canadian Prime Minster, who is pushing *for* pipeline approval. The February 5, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star front page hard copy report is titled “Canada’s PM pushes for pipeline approval; coalition of 86 groups opposed to pipeline urge Obama to reject it.” Online, the article is called “Report: Keystone XL could reduce dependence on Mideast oil.” From the article, “Environmental groups call the pipeline an ecological disaster waiting to happen and say the so-called tar sands produce “dirty” oil that requires huge amounts of energy to extract. A coalition of 86 environmental and progressive groups sent a letter Friday urging Obama to reject the pipeline and “stop giving a free pass to oil companies to increase profits at the expense of Americans. Activists also gathered across from the White House on Friday to protest the project.”
A LJS letter to the editor, “Stop the ‘black beast,” by Cindy Myers, Stuart, NE, was published February 2, 2011. “The ‘black beast’ must not be allowed to devour our waters, lands and people.” In a related event this week, despite public promises to compensate residents for losses associated with the summer oil spill in Kalamazoo, Enbridge is arguing it is not legally liable for damages from the spill. Read about that here.
Last week’s LA Times article by Kim Murphy, “Some Texans, too, resist Keystone XL Pipeline,” was published in the Sunday Lincoln Journal Star hard copy, January 30, 2011, under the title “One Pipeline Too Many.” From Port Arthur, the report begins “Texas has rarely met an oil business it didn’t like. Ever since Spindletop sent a gush of crude 150 feet into the air near here in 1901, Texans have been mostly willing to put up with the spills, smokestack belches and massive refinery vistas that go along with big, fat pots of “Texas tea.” But that was before a Canadian company, TransCanada Corp., came forward with a plan to build a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry heavy, high-pollutant oil from the tar sands under the boreal forests of northern Alberta, across the American heartland, through scenic ranchlands in the piney woods of east Texas and on to refineries near Houston and Port Arthur.”
“Big Oil’s Pipeline Scheme to Increase Midwest Gas Prices,” by Jeremy Symons, was published by Wildlife Promise January 24, 2011. “It’s an old story: oil companies increase gas prices and their profits soar. But rarely do we get an inside view of how they manipulate markets to drive up prices, and even rarer still an opportunity to stop it from happening. This time, Big Oil has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar as they scheme to hike America’s oil bill by $4 billion every year. This time, we have the industry documents that prove it.” From the article, “Here’s how the pipeline scheme would really work: …So here’s the bottom line if the Keystone XL pipeline is built: Canadian oil producers get a huge profit windfall, and America gets higher gas prices as well as the pollution from refineries and any pipeline spills.”
Learn more from the National Wildlife Federation’s report on XL, “Staying Hooked on a Dirty Fuel: Why Canadian Tar Sands are a Bad Bet for the United States.”
Click here to send a personalized message to the President, or sign the online e-mail strongly urging him to stop the proposed pipeline.
“TransCanada sues to access pipeline land,” by Cody Winchester, January 26, 2011, reports “Court records show that TransCanada has filed more than a dozen lawsuits to condemn land along the route of its Keystone XL oil pipeline in western South Dakota, though it hasn’t received the federal permit it needs to go ahead with the project. …So here’s the bottom line if the Keystone XL pipeline is built: Canadian oil producers get a huge profit windfall, and America gets higher gas prices as well as the pollution from refineries and any pipeline spills.”
A Washington Post article about the proposed XL pipeline was published on the front page of the January 24, 2011 LJS. “Great Plains oil pipeline plan sparks grass-roots activism, high-stakes lobbying,” was written by staff writer Juliet Eilperin. “A massive feat of engineering by any measure, the Keystone pipeline expansion project would transport crude oil close to 1,700 miles from “oil sands” in the icy reaches of Hardisty, Alberta, down through the Great Plains to the refineries of Port Arthur, Tex. In doing so, the giant pipe also promises to allay some fears about U.S. energy security: The oil will come from a trusted ally, and its cross-continental path avoids visions of another deep-sea drilling disaster. But the decision on whether to issue a permit to the project, opposed by environmental groups, rests with the State Department, which has little expertise in engineering or environmental matters. And reflecting the chaos of U.S. energy and environmental policy, the proposed pipeline is pitting Montana landowners against pipe fitters in Nebraska and creating unlikely allies of Nebraska ranchers and chieftains from Alberta’s indigenous communities.” The article continues here.
Save the Date: Sunday, March 6, 2011, join members of the groups actively working to protect Nebraska land and water from further pipeline exploitation at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar, 136 North 14th Street, 2:30 to 5:00pm. Live music to be announced.
The Natural Resources Defense Council calls tar sands “the dirtiest, most destructive oil on the face of the Earth.” The Keystone XL pipeline would threaten Nebraska’s underground source of fresh water, the 175,000-square-mile High Plains Aquifer, that provides water to 1.9 million people and irrigation for thousands of square miles of farmland throughout eight states. Nebraska’s geologically unique Sand Hills, where many bird species rest during migration, would also be threatened. Read Ken Winston’s November 4, 2010 Tar Sands Pipeline Update for Nebraska Sierra here.
Nebraska has no legislation on the books for regulating the current Keystone I pipeline, nor the proposed XL tar sands pipeline. Our Congressional delegation and the governor need to receive letters, e-mails and phone calls from constituents demanding regulation on the existing pipeline, expressing concern about more TransCanada
construction in our state. Contact information for Nebraska 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); 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); and Governor Dave Heineman, PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244.
Stop the Keystone XL pipeline — call your senators. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and your senators can pressure her to stand up to Big Oil and stop it. Help put some needed pressure on Clinton by calling your senators today. Tell them that oil pipeline regulations need to be in place, not only to govern the existing pipeline, but also any future pipeline proposed by TransCanada or other environmental exploiters.
Click here to tell Secretary Clinton NOT to grant a permit to TransCanda, tell Gov. Heineman to put forth laws that protect our resources and economic activity and tell President Obama to live up to his promise of clean energy and energy independence. Click here for a Bold Nebraska XL Pipeline Action page with resources and background information. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org to get yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts.
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.

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