Category Archives: Green Notes

Green Notes Week of August 7, 2011

August 7, 2011Green Notesgreenone

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

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

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

VIGIL AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY . . . Every Monday, from noon to 1:00pm, Nebraskans for abolition of the death penalty meet in front of the governor’s mansion when weather is good, 1425 H Street, Lincoln. In winter, the vigil is inside the capitol, near the Information Desk. The lunch-hour presence reminds the governor of a constituency that does not want state killings. Weekly vigils have taken place year-round since July, 1991. All abolitionists are welcome to participate for a few minutes, or the hour. For information about Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, click here. A July 13, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star front page feature story with photo about Norma Fleisher’s statewide summer tour of all Nebraska counties calling for an end to the death penalty is here.

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

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

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

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

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

WEEKLY WALKABOUTS AT WILDERNESS PARK . . . Friends of Wilderness Park is hosting weekly hikes through the Park, led by Adam Hintz, starting at 1:00pm every Saturday, now through October. Each week will focus on a different area, highlighting the diversity of life in the Park. Hikes will start in parking lots according to the following schedule: the first and second Saturday of the month, meet at the Pioneers Boulevard entrance; the third Saturday, meet at Old Cheney Road; the fourth Saturday, meet at 14th Street north of Rokeby Road; and every fifth Saturday, the hike will start at Saltillo Road east of the Jamaica Trail. For more information, contact Adam at 402.421.8464.

LINCOLN FARMERS MARKETS . . . The Haymarket Farmers Market is open every Saturday, 8:00am to noon, in the Haymarket District at 7th & P Streets. Expect to find more than 120 vendors with fresh produce, flowers, baked goods and handmade items plus a performance showcase featuring local folk, jazz, blues and classical music. The Market continues through October 15th. Every Sunday, from 10:00am to 2:00pm, the Old Cheney Road Farmers Market at 5500 Old Cheney Road features in-season heirloom and traditional produce, artisan breads and cheeses, homemade baked goods, wild-crafted and traditional jams, jelly, honey, meats, fish, eggs, and bedding plants. The Piedmont Farmers Market is open Saturdays, 8:00am to noon, at 1265 South Cotner, through mid-September. Saturday Farmers Markets at the FARM, 11855 Yankee Hill Road, 9:00am to noon, run until October 29th. Community CROPS, 1551 South 2nd Street, has garden pick-up 4:00 to 6:00pm Monday and Thursday, May 23 through October 20. Through mid-September, a Wednesday market in University Place is open from 3:00 to 7:00pm at the former Green’s Plumbing site, 48th & Madison Streets. Thursday’s market from 4:00 to 8:00pm at Fallbrook Town Square Park on the corner of Fallbrook Blvd. between NW Sixth and Seventh Streets will be open through October 13th. Check an interactive map of Lincoln’s Farmers Markets, Farms and Community Supported Agriculture programs, and learn more about markets, CSAs, and local farms at the Buy Fresh, Buy Local Facebook page.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

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

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

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for details. STOP THE PIPELINE yard signs are available in Omaha by calling Nebraskans for Peace Coordinator Mark Welsch, 402.453.0776, or e-mail NFPOmaha [at] nebraskansforpeace [dot] org.

BENSON COMMUNITY GARDEN . . . Omaha’s newest community garden is at 60th & Lafayette, at the south side of the historic Benson neighborhood. The Benson Community Garden is looking for individuals and families interested in garden plots. For more information, phone 402.714.0290 or e-mail goetzinger2 [at] cox [dot] net. To get involved, or help support the garden, please register here.

ENGAGE OMAHA . . . One of the nation’s first city-wide, virtual town hall websites, EngageOmaha, is now online. Omaha residents may weigh in on issues for the city to consider. Pick a topic, and join the mix here.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

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

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Between 1,150 and 1,200 XL pipeline opponents circled the governor’s mansion Friday night with flashlights shining light on Dave Heinemann–letting him know he is being watched and will be held accountable for his lack of action to protect Nebraska’s land, water and human resources threatened with eminent domain by TransCanadia. An incorrect, misleading number of protesters was published in the Lincoln Journal Star article Saturday morning. Speaking Friday night, Randy Thompson, the Merrick County property owner standing up to TransCanada, was joined by two farmers from North Dakota who told about the May 28th rupture of Keystone I that sent a six-story high gusher of oil into the air on their land–the 12th spill from the Keystone I which is not even a year old.” The protest was described as “awesome,” “amazing,” “wonderful” and “inspiring,” although the governor was not present.
BOLD Nebraska hosted a Thursday Pipeline Briefing for elected officials on what jurisdiction they have over pipelines, but many of the questions were addressed to the North Dakota farmers about the May oil geyser. LJS coverage is here.
State Senator Ken Haar called for a Special Session of the Nebraska legislature last week. His Midlands Voices editorial in the Omaha World Herald begins “Nebraska is home to twin jewels — the Sand Hills and the Ogallala Aquifer. The Sand Hills is a region of mixed-grass prairie on grass-stabilized sand dunes in north-central Nebraska. The Ogallala Aquifer is the largest aquifer in the United States, containing as much water as Lake Erie and having a saturated depth of more than 1,000 feet in many parts of the Sand Hills. Gov. Dave Heineman has called the Ogallala Aquifer “the lifeblood of agriculture.” TransCanada Corp. plans to run its proposed Keystone XL pipeline through a part of the Sand Hills where the Ogallala Aquifer is both deepest and closest to the surface — and therefore most vulnerable to contamination.
“Over the past year there has been a great deal of confusion about who has the authority to route the pipeline. While the U.S. State Department has the authority to approve or deny a permit for the pipeline, State has no power to dictate the pipeline’s route. It is now well established that routing of pipelines is reserved to the states.
“Unlike Montana and South Dakota, which have siting criteria for oil pipelines, Nebraska has no siting laws on its books. Therefore, in the absence of any state law, TransCanada is free to lay its pipeline through the Sand Hills once it has its permit from the State Department.
“This action could have grave consequences for our state. Consider recent developments, which spotlight this issue:
1. There have been at least 12 leaks reported in TransCanada’s first year of operation of the new Keystone 1 pipeline that runs through eastern Nebraska, including a 21,000-gallon leak — a geyser of oil shooting 60 feet into the air in South Dakota.
2. On July 20, TransCanada experienced a massive explosion on a brand-new natural gas pipeline in Wyoming. This is the same pipeline that had problems with trenches caving in, which TransCanada blamed on its haste to finish the project.
3. Less than a month ago, ExxonMobil had a leak of at least 42,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River from a ruptured pipeline exposed by floodwaters.
4. University of Nebraska-Lincoln hydrologists John Gates and Wayne Woldt sent a letter to the State Department stating there are no studies that evaluate the potential hydrological impact of a spill in Sand Hill soil types. They cited the need for studies to determine how to best protect the Ogallala Aquifer and prepare for remediation in the event of a spill.
5. John Stansbury, associate professor and associate chair of environmental/water resources engineering at UNL, performed an analysis of the worst-case scenarios projected by TransCanada. He concluded that the number of leaks and the amount that would be leaked are far greater than estimated by TransCanada and that the water supplies of Lincoln and Omaha could be at risk.”
Haar’s compelling op-ed continues here. Heineman was quick to follow the call for a special session with a statement that he opposes the idea.
Bill McKibben’s latest article, “New Pipeline to Challenge Obama’s Promises,” says the president now has the opportunity to make good on his environmental promises, but questions if he will. McKibben will join as many as a thousand people, including Nebraskans, who will risk arrest in daily protests of the XL pipeline at the White House over the last two weeks in August. This will be the largest outbreak of civil disobedience in recent environmental history. There is still money available for plane transportation for Nebraskans who want to go to DC. E-mail jane [at]boldnebraska [dot] org or call 402.705.3622 for more information. There is also money to cover the cost of getting arrested. The fine will be similar to a j-walking ticket, with no jail time. A Tarsands Action Stop The Pipeline White House Sit-In Website is here.
August 4th, BBC New Africa covered a new UN report that the Nigeria Ogoniland oil clean-up ‘could take 30 years’ and cost $1 Billion. The report indicates that in at least 10 Ogoni communities where drinking water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons, public health is seriously threatened. Key findings of the UN report are here.
Ogoniland lies in the Niger Delta, and residents from several Ogoni communities spent Sunday afternoon Standing With Randy at Antelope Park, singing, dancing and sharing their stories of survival.
Keystone XL is “the fuse to the biggest carbon bomb ever.” Now the US Chamber of Commerce has announced the “Partnership to Fuel America,” which they claim will promote energy policy to keep America “clean.” The first major initiative of this partnerhship is a campaign to promote the Keystone XL pipeline–one of the dirtiest projects on the entire planet. Here’s the 3-part plan to fight back from 350.org.
1) Petition President Obama to reject the permit for the pipeline. Already, nearly 30,000 people have signed on–but we’ll need many more to make a big impact for our high-profile petition delivery in DC. The petition says “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and focusing on developing safe, clean energy.” Please click here, www.350.org/take-a-stand and sign on.
2) Spread the word about a civil disobedience campaign being planned in DC this August. If you’re ready to escalate your committment to this movement–or know someone who is–please click here.
3) Join hard-hitting activism in all the states that the Keystone pipeline passes through. 350.org will be dominating public comment hearings to oppose the pipeline, recruiting local chambers of commerce to take a stand to stop the tar sands, and on September 24th there wil be big rallies for the Moving Planet day of action.
“Cornhuskers vs Dirty Oil” is a new four part YouTube video by Nebraska Greens featuring a great original song to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies; interviews with Senators Dubas, Fulton, Avery, and Coash; clips from the rally at the capitol, and great quotes from Raymond Joe Moller, a Douglas, NE resident with family property near Central City. Thanks to John Carlini, Shari Schwartz, and Anthony DiCostanzo for production. View Part 1 of 4 here.
As internationally acclaimed National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore wrote in a Journal Star Local View, please “Write and call Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” and let them know that “trading our environmental heritage in order to cater to greed and increase the wealth of a select few will not be tolerated. Nebraska is better than this.”
Contact information for Nebraska’s Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln), FaceBook; Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); Senator Ben Nelson, 720 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.6551; Senator Mike Johanns, 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.4224. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems.
Stop The Tar Sands Pipeline is a new Credo Action petition to the president that reads “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. President Obama, you have the final word. You do not have to negotiate with Congress or industry. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.” Click here to sign and add personal comments.
Comprehensive Green Notes covering international, national and local opposition to the XL pipeline since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.)
Thanks to EveryOne who circled the governor’s mansion Friday night, and All who participated in the many “I Stand With Randy” events statewide. The governor could stop this pipeline madness right now by making the Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer off limits to pipelines. He needs to hear from EveryOne who opposes the XL project. Please contact him, continue writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper, and keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project.

STOP FRACKING NOW . . . “We, the undersigned, call on Congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act this year. It’s time to hold the oil and gas production industry to the same standards as any other industry to ensure the safe protection of America’s drinking water.” Sign the Petition and view 6:20 minute Colbert Report interview with Tom Ridge.

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

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

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

HELP NEBRASKA GREENS WITH GOODSEARCH . . . Each time you search the Internet (or shop online at a participating store), a donation can be made to Nebraska Green Party at no cost to you! To help NGP in this way, enter Nebraska Green Party where it says WHO DO YOU GOODSEARCH FOR? here. Bookmark the GoodSearch Homepage, or make it your own Home Page. Enter the url you want in the GoodSearch search box. Each time you do, one penny will be donated to Nebraska Greens. THANK YOU for your support!

Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.“

STOP THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of July 31, 2011

July 31, 2011Green Notesgreenone

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

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

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

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

OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film is “Commune,” a documentary about Big Bear Ranch, an 80 acre, late 1960’s California commune, featuring archival footage, photographs, documents, news articles, and interviews. A Village Voice review is here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

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

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

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

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

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

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . It’s not too late to add an event and Stand With Randy August 5th through August 7th statewide. Use the themes of Water, the Sand Hills, and stopping the XL pipeline to create an artistic expression in dance, song, theater, cooking, poetry, music, sculpture, origami, flower arrangement, film, photography–whatever your art form of choice might be. AnyOne can organize an event anywhere. Your event can be small–just a few friends talking about the fragile Sand Hills and the Aquifer over dinner. Please join the network of actions statewide, and guarantee that your event is posted online by filling out the form here.
A new article about Randy Thompson, the I Stand With Randy campaign, and XL pipeline opposition featuring quotes from Jane Kleeb, Ben Gotschall, and Arts Festival Weekend mastermind Mary Pipher, “Nebraska Artists Standing With Randy,” was published in HearNebraska July 28th. Writer Bryce Wergin describes Randy as “a broad-shouldered, grey-haired picture of the modern cowboy who makes his living managing his family’s farm and trading cattle from Merrick County. He has spent his entire life as a farmer, rancher and cattle trader in several different parts of Nebraska. He’s spent the last three years refusing offers on his land from oil corporation TransCanada, which wants to route its new pipeline through it. In the process, he’s become an iconic figure behind a movement against the pipeline.”
The House vote was 279 to 147 in favor of CD 2 Representative Lee Terry’s bill (H.R. 1938) to expedite the process for considering the Keystone XL pipeline. It requires the President to make a decision within 30 days of issuance of a Final Environmental Impact Study–no later than November 1, 2011. CD 1 Representative Jeff Fortenberry split with his Republican counterparts and voted against this bad bill setting a deadline “for determining if the $7 billion project is in the national interest.” Read the Lincoln Journal Star coverage here. Please thank Fortenberry for his vote against rushing a final decision on his FaceBook page here. His local phone number is 402.438.1598. See photos of Tuesday’s protest at Terry’s Omaha office on FaceBook here.
Scroll down here for two letters to the editor in the July 31st omaha World Herald. “What’s the rush?” And “Is it Worth Risking Water for Oil?” Thanks to the writers. Also published by Daily Climate from Living on Earth July 31st, “Pressure Builds on Pipeline Decision,” quotes Bill McKibben among others in an interview by Mitra Taj. Terry’s bill to rush the decision is questioned there as well.
A new 350.org petition to President Obama says “The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and focusing on developing safe, clean energy.” Click here for to sign and comment.
As internationally acclaimed National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore wrote in a Journal Star Local View, please “Write and call Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” and let them know that “trading our environmental heritage in order to cater to greed and increase the wealth of a select few will not be tolerated. Nebraska is better than this.”
Contact information for Nebraska’s Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln), FaceBook; Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); Senator Ben Nelson, 720 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.6551; Senator Mike Johanns, 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.4224. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems.
Comprehensive Green Notes covering international, national and local opposition to the XL pipeline since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.)
What more can you do? Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.“

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

STOP THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of July 24, 2011

July 24, 2011Green Notesgreenone

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

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

CITY BUDGET . . . A $144 Million budget reflecting the mayor’s proposed property tax increase has been presented to the City Council. Monday July 25, 2011, 3:00pm, the council votes on changes. A public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for Thursday, August 8, 2011, 2:30 to 10:30pm (with 1/2 hour dinner break). And the council gets one more chance to make changes on Wednesday, August 10th, at 5:30pm. Deena Winter blogs on “What you need to know about the Mayor’s budget proposal,” here at Winterized.

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

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

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

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

GROUNDWATER RULES . . . The Lower Platte South Natural Resources District is holding a series of public hearings about proposed changes to its groundwater rules. This week’s hearing is July 27, 2011, at the Elmwood Village Hall, 113 West E Street, Elmwood, Nebraska. Changes requested by NRD are listed in LJS coverage here. For more information, or a complete copy of proposed changes, contact Dick Ehrman or Dan Schulz at the district office, 402.476.2729 or lpsnrd [at] lpsnrd [dot] org.

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

WEEKLY WALKABOUTS AT WILDERNESS PARK . . . Friends of Wilderness Park is hosting weekly hikes through the Park, led by Adam Hintz, starting at 1:00pm every Saturday from now through October. Each week will focus on a different area, highlighting the diversity of life in the Park. Hikes will start in parking lots according to the following schedule: the first and second Saturday of the month, meet at the Pioneers Boulevard entrance; the third Saturday, meet at Old Cheney Road; the fourth Saturday, meet at 14th Street north of Rokeby Road; and every fifth Saturday, the hike will start at Saltillo Road east of the Jamaica Trail. For more information, contact Adam at 402.421.8464.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film is “A Jihad for Love,” a documentary dealing with the reality of severe religion based oppression of homosexuals. View the trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE, OPPOSE H.R. 1938 . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for details. BOLD Nebraska blogged about CD 2 US Representative Lee Terry’s bill, the “Oil Disaster Promotion Act,” here, and here. (See XL Update in CD 3 Green Notes below.) E-mail, Tweet or write on Terry’s Facebook wall letting him know his pipeline bill was reckless and he needs to pull it now. Call him at 402.397.9944. Plan events ouside his Omaha office, 11717 Burt Street, Suite 106. Stand outside, alone, with a friend or group of friends, holding a sign such as “don’t rush the pipeline.” Or hold a BOLD Nebraska STOP THE PIPELINE sign for a presence at his office. STOP THE PIPELINE yard signs are available in Omaha by calling Nebraskans for Peace Coordinator Mark Welsch, 402.453.0776, or e-mail NFPOmaha [at] nebraskansforpeace [dot] org.

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

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . “State Department firms up timetable for Keystone XL Pipeline decision,” by Art Hovey, was published in the Lincoln Journal Star Saturday, July 23, 2011. It begins “The State Department is pointing to November as the time frame for a final decision on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. In a Friday conference call, department spokesman Daniel Clune also said a final environmental impact statement is likely to be issued next month on the $7 billion petroleum project. And Clune announced that State Department officials would come to Lincoln and to the Nebraska Sand Hills in September to give residents two more chances to weigh in on the controversial project. Similar meetings are planned for state capitals in the five other states the pipeline would cross on its way from the oil sands of Alberta to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Information on specific dates and locations will be circulated next month.”
The Sierra Club welcomed the State Department announcement with the following statement: “The spill of more than 42,000 gallons of oil into the formerly pristine Yellowstone River from a broken Exxon pipeline this month is the latest tragic example of the shortcomings of our pipeline safety regulations. Luckily both Houses of Congress have proposed legislation that would require much-needed updates to these regulations, as well as require a study of the safety of tar sands oil pipelines. This legislation should be passed, and the tar sands oil pipeline safety study conducted, before the Keystone XL pipeline is permitted. In the end, though, our nation should instead be investing in a clean energy economy, not more fossil fuels. We don’t need another dirty oil pipeline – just ask the residents along the Yellowstone River. We don’t need to further our addiction to oil – just ask the residents along the Gulf Coast. We don’t need more polluting oil refineries – just ask the residents in Port Arthur, Texas.” Opposition leader, BOLD Nebraska Executive Director Jane Kleeb blogged on the importance of these public hearings July 22nd.
Monday, July 18th, there was a new oil spill in northwestern Montana. From Helena, Matt Volz reported that the spill “involving hundreds of gallons of crude” was discovered in Montana “350 miles from where cleanup crews are mopping up a larger one on the Yellowstone River.” The new spill “went unreported for a month before a neighboring landowner complained to the Blackfeet Indian Tribe.” The FX Drilling Company oil field is in a remote corner of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
More than three weeks after the Yellowstone River spill, “federal officials remain unsure how many pipelines carrying hazardous fuels cross the nation’s rivers and streams, nor can they say how deeply those pipelines are buried.” “Keystone XL would cross water 1,904 times, 160 in Nebraska.”
Wednesday, July 20th, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against ExxonMobil barring it from transporting heavy oilfield equipment through western Montana, granting a request from Missoula County and three conservation groups. Reported in the Missoulian, the groups, which oppose oil sands development, say the state transportation department did inadequate environmental analysis before approving the move.
Also on Wednesday, the New York Times publiched the Editorial “Wrong Pipeline, Wrong Assessment.” The op-ed begins and ends as follows: “For the second time in a year, the State Department has issued an environmental impact statement about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry diluted bitumen — an acidic crude oil — from the tar sands of northern Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast. And for the second time in a year, the Environmental Protection Agency has excoriated the State Department for the inadequacy of its assessment. …On the merits — economic and environmental — and in terms of future energy policy, this is the wrong pipeline for the wrong oil.”
Wednesday night, a TransCanada natural gas pipeline exploded, shaking nearby homes and echoing at least 30 miles away, in Wyoming. The blast ripped open a 60-foot section of the Bison Pipeline and shot several pieces of 30-inch-diameter pipe around bluffs about 20 miles west of Gilette.. around the bluffs on land about 20 miles west of Gillette. Click here for a Billings Gazette report on the explosion published Thursday.
Thursday, July 14th, The LA Times editorialized “…TransCanada has a poor record when it comes to spills. Its first pipeline, Keystone I, has already sprung more than a dozen leaks in its first year of operation. The State Department is promising to make a decision on Keystone XL before the end of the year, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee is pushing for approval by Nov. 1, but there is no rush. The environmental risks should be thoroughly studied and mitigation measures must be put in place.” Read “The Risks of the Keystone XL Pipeline,” here.
“Should Alberta’s cross-border oil pipeline be extended to Texas?” The CBC News article and poll are still online. At 1,342 votes Saturday, July 23rd, the “No” percentage was 67.81. “No” continues to be the resounding answer. Please click here and scroll down to Vote if you haven’t already!
Friday, August 5, 2011, plan now to join a circle around the governor’s mansion at 9:00pm for one of Lincon’s “I Stand With Randy” events against the pipeline. XL pipeline opposition groups are planning a Statewide Festival to coincide with the Washington DC Action August 5 through August 7, 2011. In towns across the state, in venues from churches to bars, artists will use the themes of Water, the Sand Hills, and stopping the XL pipeline to create a statewide Festival. Arts include dance, theater, cooking, poetry, music, sculpture, origami, flower arrangement, film, photography and more. AnyOne can organize an event anywhere. Think about what kind of event you’d like to plan. Your event can be small–just a few friends talking over dinner. A new Stand With Randy website maps and lists all the events planned so far. Please join the network of actions statewide, and guarantee that your event is posted online by filling out the form here. Joel Sartore, internationally acclaimed National Geographic contributing photographer, challenges all Nebraskans to “Write and call Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” and let them know that “trading our environmental heritage in order to cater to greed and increase the wealth of a select few will not be tolerated. Nebraska is better than this.”
Contact information for Nebraska’s Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln), FaceBook; Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); Senator Ben Nelson,
720 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.6551; Senator Mike Johanns, 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510,
202.224.4224. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems.
A petition to Secretary of State Clinton: “Stop the Pipeline. Save Our Songbirds!” says “The numbers are staggering: tar sands mining in Canada’s Boreal forest could claim the lives of 160 million migratory birds — including millions of backyard songbirds we love seeing and hearing every summer.” A petition from the National Wildlife Federation, “Save SandHill Cranes from Dirty Oil,” is addressed to the president, the signer’s senators, representative, and the State Department. Other petitions still open to signatures requesting the denial of a permit to TransCanada include “Stop the TransCanada Pipeline” to Secretary Clinton, Governor Heineman, and President Obama; “Protect Nebraska; Say NO to Tar Sands;” “Protect Nebraska’s Economic Activity, Put the Brakes on the Pipeline;” “Protect Your Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” and a Brave New Foundation petition to Clinton, “Say No to the Kochs and Yes to Protecting Americans.”
A new Sierra Action Alert to call President Obama at 202.456.1111 outlines talking points for asking him to reject the dirty and dangerous XL tar sands pipeline. And readers can sign a letter asking Dole and Chiquita not to use toxic tar sands oil for transporting their bananas here.
“Time’s Running Out to Stop the Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline — Take Action Now,” by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, June 3, 2011 also links a new petition to Secretary Clinton. Please take all these actions, if you haven’t already.
Comprehensive Green Notes covering international, national and local opposition to the XL pipeline since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.)
What more can you do? Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. Click here to learn about planning your own “I Stand With Randy” event August 5th through the 7th. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.“

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

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

STOP THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of July 17, 2011

July 17, 2011Green Notesgreenone

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

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

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

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

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

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

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

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film is “Speaking Freely Vol. 5: Hugo Chavez,” featuring Chavez speaking to members of the international press core about the advantages of socialism over capitalism, explaining why true democracy cannot exist under the latter. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

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

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE, OPPOSE H.R. 1938 . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for details. BOLD Nebraska blogged about CD 2 US Representative Lee Terry’s bill, the “Oil Disaster Promotion Act,” here, (See XL Update in CD 3 Green Notes below.) E-mail, Tweet or write on Terry’s Facebook wall letting him know his pipeline bill was reckless and he needs to pull it now. Call him at 402.397.9944. Plan events ouside his Omaha office, 11717 Burt Street, Suite 106. Stand outside, alone, with a friend or group of friends, holding a sign such as “don’t rush the pipeline.” Or hold a BOLD Nebraska STOP THE PIPELINE sign for a presence at his office. STOP THE PIPELINE yard signs are available in Omaha by calling Nebraskans for Peace Coordinator Mark Welsch, 402.453.0776, or e-mail NFPOmaha [at] nebraskansforpeace [dot] org.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . “Should Alberta’s cross-border oil pipeline be extended to Texas?” The CBC News article and poll are still online. Let a resounding “No” be reflected. Please scroll down and Vote!
UN-L professor of water resources engineering John Stansbury released his independent analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline project Monday with a “Worst-case scenario” report on a spill in Nebraska’s Platte River. A Lincoln Journal Star article covers the “disastrous” results on the Sand Hills, our Ogallala Aquifer, and serious health risks to people using that groundwater for drinking water and irrigation. From BOLD Nebraska, “The study offers a first-of-its-kind independent analysis of the potential frequency and magnitude of oil spills from the tar sands oil project, as well as the consequences of worst-case spills into the Yellowstone, Missouri and Platte Rivers and atop the Ogallala Aquifer. The findings raise serious questions about the reliability of data that pipeline company TransCanada has provided to U.S. regulators.” The Guardian reported on the analysis, as did the Huffington Post.
SAVE THE DATE: Friday, August 5, 2011, plan now to join a circle around the governor’s mansion at 9:00pm for one of Lincon’s “I Stand With Randy” events against the pipeline. XL pipeline opposition groups are planning a STATEWIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS to coincide with the Washington DC Action August 5 through August 7, 2011. In towns across the state, in venues from churches to bars, artists will use the themes of Water, the Sand Hills, and stopping the XL pipeline to create a statewide Festival. Arts include dance, theater, cooking, poetry, music, sculpture, origami, flower arrangement, film, photography and more. AnyOne can organize an event anywhere.
Pippa White will present her production of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People at the Center for People in Need as part of the weekend to Stand with Randy. Think about what kind of event you’d like to plan. Your event can be small–just a few friends talking over dinner. Please join the network of actions statewide, and guarantee that your event is posted online by filling out the form here.
Friday, July 15th, The Hill reported “Seven Senate Democrats called on the State Department to conduct additional review of a proposed pipeline that would carry oil from Canada to Texas. The lawmakers, in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, raised concerns about TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, pointing to recent leaks at the company’s existing Keystone pipeline and a recent oil spill at an Exxon Mobil Corp. pipeline in Montana. “We write to express our continuing concerns regarding TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline,” the Senate Democrats say in the letter. “One need look no further than the ongoing impacts on the Yellowstone River in Montana from a leak in ExxonMobil’ s Silvertip pipeline to recognize that such risks are very real.” Read the full letter signed by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Robert Menenedez (D-N.J.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) here.
Thursday, July 14th, the LA Times editorialized “…TransCanada has a poor record when it comes to spills. Its first pipeline, Keystone I, has already sprung more than a dozen leaks in its first year of operation. The State Department is promising to make a decision on Keystone XL before the end of the year, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee is pushing for approval by Nov. 1, but there is no rush. The environmental risks should be thoroughly studied and mitigation measures must be put in place.” Read “The Risks of the Keystone XL Pipeline,” here.
Internationally acclaimed National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore challenged all Nebraskans to “Write and call Governor Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns” to let them know that “trading our environmental heritage in order to cater to greed and increase the wealth of a select few will not be tolerated. Nebraska is better than this.”
Contact information for Nebraska’s Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln), FaceBook; Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); Senator Ben Nelson, 720 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.6551; Senator Mike Johanns, 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.4224. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems.
A new petition to Secretary of State Clinton: “Stop the Pipeline. Save Our Songbirds!” says “The numbers are staggering: tar sands mining in Canada’s Boreal forest could claim the lives of 160 million migratory birds — including millions of backyard songbirds we love seeing and hearing every summer.” A petition from the National Wildlife Federation, “Save SandHill Cranes from Dirty Oil,” is addressed to the president, the signer’s senators, representative, and the State Department. Other petitions still open to signatures requesting the denial of a permit to TransCanada include “Stop the TransCanada Pipeline” to Secretary Clinton, Governor Heineman, and President Obama; “Protect Nebraska; Say NO to Tar Sands;” “Protect Nebraska’s Economic Activity, Put the Brakes on the Pipeline;” “Protect Your Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” and a Brave New Foundation petition to Clinton, “Say No to the Kochs and Yes to Protecting Americans.”
A new Sierra Action Alert to call President Obama at 202.456.1111 outlines talking points for asking him to reject the dirty and dangerous XL tar sands pipeline. And readers can sign a letter asking Dole and Chiquita not to use toxic tar sands oil for transporting their bananas here.
“Time’s Running Out to Stop the Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline — Take Action Now,” by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, June 3, 2011 also links a new petition to Secretary Clinton. Please take all these actions, if you haven’t already.
Comprehensive Green Notes covering international, national and local opposition to the XL pipeline since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.)
What more can you do? Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. Click here to learn about planning your own “I Stand With Randy” event August 5th through the 7th. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project. Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.“

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

STOP THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of July 10, 2011

July 10, 2011Green Notesgreenone

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

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

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

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

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

SAVE THE DATE: August 25, 2011 . . . The annual potluck supper for the group Alternatives to the Military will be on Thursday, August 25, 2011, 5:30pm, at Christ United Methodist Church, 45th & A Street, Lincoln. Paul Olson, and Lela Shanks, two well known, well deserved people will receive the Peacemaker of the Year Award this year. Save the Date!

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

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

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film is “Rashomon,” a 1950 Japanese crime drama depicting the rape of a woman and the apparent murder of her husband through the widely differing accounts of four witnesses. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE, OPPOSE H.R. 1938 . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for details. BOLD Nebraska blogged about CD 2 US Representative Lee Terry’s bill, the “Oil Disaster Promotion Act,” here, (See XL Update in CD 3 Green Notes below.) E-mail, Tweet or write on Terry’s Facebook wall letting him know his pipeline bill was reckless and he needs to pull it now. Call him at 402.397.9944. Plan events ouside Terry’s Omaha office, 11717 Burt Street, Suite 106. Stand outside, alone, with a friend or group of friends, holding a sign such as “don’t rush the pipeline.” Or hold a BOLD Nebraska STOP THE PIPELINE sign for a presence at his office. STOP THE PIPELINE yard signs are available in Omaha by calling Nebraskans for Peace Coordinator Mark Welsch, 402.453.0776, or e-mail NFPOmaha [at] nebraskansforpeace [dot] org.

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

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

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

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . “Should Alberta’s cross-border oil pipeline be extended to Texas?” This CBC News article and poll posted July 9, 2011 reports “Alberta’s energy minister says he’s going to push Ottawa to promote TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. government.” Please Vote! Let a resounding “No” be reflected.
Comments are invited in “Petroleum Companies and Politicians,” a July 8th Statepaper.com Analysis. “Have you noticed enormously arrogant multinational companies behave like enormously arrogant politicians? What with that oil spill in Montana, and the scuffle over the Keystone XL pipeline proposed for Nebraska, we’d like to get your thoughts on oil companies, politicians and the entire process.” Read Analysis and post feedback here.
A Sunday, July 10, 2011 Lincoln Journal Star letter to the editor by James F. Shoup begins “Thousands of gallons of Exxon-Mobil crude flushing down the Yellowstone River, poisoning who knows how much land and how many animals, should make one think twice (or more times) about running a pipeline across our prized land. There are 25 miles of ruined land (at last count) and 42,000 gallons of oil. If accidents such as this don’t put a stop to the proposed pipeline here, then all those who want it should be forced to help clean up the mess after the catastrophe. …If the tragedy that just occurred in Montana with the oil pipeline happens here in Nebraska, are we really ready to accept the consequences?”
Tv news of the July 2nd Exxon spill at the Yellowstone River in Montana prompted evacuations. “Oil Spill in Montana’s Yellowstone River, Lessons for Nebraska,” by Jane Kleeb, BOLD Nebraska Executive Director, July 3rd begins “A tragic oil spill is happening right now in Montana. An Exxon Mobile oil pipeline ruptured in the Yellowstone River resulting in gallons of oil and chemicals on families’ farms and homes. Wildlife is being rescued and oil booms were laid trying to soak up as much oil as possible. It is still unclear how much oil was spilt, however we do know at least 150 miles of the Yellowstone River and families’ homes and farms have been spoiled by oil. …Frustrated by the spill and want to take local action? Consider joining us on August 5th to circle Gov. Heineman’s mansion for an I Stand with Randy event.” Start thinking about how you’d like to Stand With Randy August 5th, and plan to join the circle at the governor’s mansion in Lincoln at 9:00pm. Read Jane’s blog about the spill here. An NPR story is here. An AP article published by Reader Supported News, “Exxon Spills Again, Scenic Yellowstone River Tarnished,” is here. And a
Democracy Now! video segment is here.
The Lincoln Journal Star editorialized “Regrettable proof of oil pipeline risk” on July 8th. “If there were any Nebraskans who were still unconcerned about the possibility that the Sandhills could face long-term damage from an oil spill from the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, they ought to be worried now. The rupture of a 12-inch Exxon pipeline Friday night under the Yellowstone River in Montana sent about 1,000 barrels, or 42,000 gallons, of crude oil downstream. …If a spill were to occur under similar conditions in the Nebraska Sandhills, environmental damage would be magnified by the porous nature of the sandy soil, and the difficulty of reestablishing vegetation. Damage from the oil and cleanup work might extend miles from the pipeline itself. …In more than a dozen editorials, the Journal Star editorial board has hammered away at the plan to jam the Keystone XL pipeline through the beautiful and fragile Sandhills. The latest pipeline spill provides regrettable proof that our fears are not unfounded. …Meanwhile, Nebraskans are waiting for an announcement on when and where the federal government will hold its last public hearing in the state on the proposed pipeline. We hope that federal officials are getting the message. The Keystone XL pipeline should be rerouted to avoid the Sandhills.” The complete Editorial is here. LJS also published “Exxon Mobil called broken pipeline safe,” by Detroit Free Press, July 7th. It says “Regulators were told oil line was buried deep enough before 1,000 barrels spilled.”
The US House of Representatives is expected to vote on Rep. Lee Terry’s bill, H.R. 1938, this week. The bill is expected to be “dead on arrival” at the Senate, but a House vote for the bill will give TransCanada momentum. This is a bad bill that says Secretary Clinton must make a decision about the XL pipeline by November 1, 2011, even if the final Environmental Impact Statement is not completed. Read a BOLD Nebraska blog about the “Oil Disaster Promotion Act” here. A National Wildlife Federation commentary is here.
New Nebraska Green Party grouplist contributor John Atkeison was published in the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha-World Herald this past week. His solution to the tar sands question is leave it in the ground! “Their record of twelve leaks in 12 months for TransCanada’s Keystone I pipeline is not reassuring. …There is an even more important reason to leave it in the ground. It is now more imperative than ever to keep the carbon in this goo out of the air where there is already an overabundance of unnatural greenhouse gases. Greenhouse pollution is increasing rapidly even in this recession and the effects on climate are charging into view faster than most people would have thought possible just a few years ago.” If you’d like to start receiving Nebraska Green Party grouplist e-mails about current news and actions, click here, put “subscribe listserv” in the subject line, and send us your e-ddress.
From “Heineman Remains Silent on Pipeline,” by Ben Gotschall, “…a Congressional Research Service (CRS) memo requested by Nebraska Republican Congressman Lee Terry has shown that, although the State Dept. wields the power of approving or denying a permit for the pipeline to cross the US/Canadian border, it is ultimately up to the states (i.e. Nebraska) to determine siting of the pipeline route. This means that Gov. Heineman has the legal authority and duty to get the pipeline out of the Sand Hills. …Sadly, Gov. Heineman still chooses to sit back and remain silent in the same invertebrate fashion he has displayed in the past. While it would be easy to write off his lack of initiative as typical partisan accommodation of big oil companies, the pipeline is a nonpartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans are concerned about the route of the pipeline, and members of the Nebraska legislature have shown that other state leaders can and will take action to protect our citizens. The highest-ranking elected official in our state has chosen to opt out and avoid responsibility. This is not leadership. This is outright neglect of duty, and we need to let Governor Heineman know that his inaction is not what Nebraska citizens expect from a leader with such an important role and with so much at stake–our land, water, economic activity and the cultural heritage that makes our state strong.”
Quoting “Piping in some common sense,” a LJS Local View by Lincoln’s National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore, “…For the sake of my family, myself and my state, I challenge the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline. …I don’t wish to offend anyone, but the conclusion I come away with every time is this: I cannot believe this is something we’re considering for even a minute. …If you care, let your voice be heard. Write and call Gov. Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns. Let them know that trading our environmental heritage in order to cater to greed and increase the wealth of a select few will not be tolerated. Nebraska is better than this.”
Contact information for Nebraska’s Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln), FaceBook; Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); Senator Ben Nelson, 720 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.6551; Senator Mike Johanns, 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.4224. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems.
New this week is a petition to Secretary of State Clinton: “Stop the Pipeline. Save Our Songbirds!” “The numbers are staggering: tar sands mining in Canada’s Boreal forest could claim the lives of 160 million migratory birds — including millions of backyard songbirds we love seeing and hearing every summer.” A petition from the National Wildlife Federation, “Save SandHill Cranes from Dirty Oil,” is addressed to the president, the signer’s senators, representative, and the State Department. Other petitions still open to signatures requesting the denial of a permit to TransCanada include “Stop the TransCanada Pipeline” to Secretary Clinton, Governor Heineman, and President Obama; “Protect Nebraska; Say NO to Tar Sands;” “Protect Nebraska’s Economic Activity, Put the Brakes on the Pipeline;” “Protect Your Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” and a Brave New Foundation petition to Clinton, “Say No to the Kochs and Yes to Protecting Americans.” A new Sierra Action Alert to call President Obama at 202.456.1111 outlines talking points for asking him to reject the dirty and dangerous XL tar sands pipeline. And readers can sign a letter asking Dole and Chiquita not to use toxic tar sands oil for transporting their bananas here. “Time’s Running Out to Stop the Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline — Take Action Now,” by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, June 3, 2011 also links a new petition to Secretary Clinton. Please take all these actions, if you haven’t already.
Farmers and ranchers along the pipeline route signed an open letter to Montana’s Governor calling on him to protect the state’s rivers. Their list of requirements for needed protection is included with their entire letter here.
“The Keystone XL Pipeline Story in the United States,” is a new 40-minute documentary being produced in association with the National Wildlife Federation to explore environmental, social and political impacts of the $13 billion XL pipeline construction. From the website, “This film will uncover the realities behind building this 1,980-mile pipeline through the heartland of America. It will discuss the ramifications of the growing US reliance on Canadian oil, as well as the sacrifices on people, wildlife and the environment as a result of the transport and refinement of this very polluting tar sands oil.” To learn more about the project and become a supporting financial contributor, click here.
SAVE THE DATES: Nebraska XL opposition groups are planning a STATEWIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS to coincide with the Washington DC Action August 5th through August 7th. In towns across the state, in venues from churches to bars, during the first weekend of August artists will use the themes of Water, the Sand Hills, and stopping the XL pipeline to create a statewide Festival. Arts include dance, theater, cooking, poetry, music, sculpture, origami, flower arrangement, film, photography and more. AnyOne can organize an event anywhere. Think about what kind of event you’d like to plan, and fill out a form to participate in the statewide action here.
Comprehensive Green Notes covering international, national and local opposition to the XL pipeline since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.)
What more can you do? Sign all the petitions linked above. Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. Click here to learn about planning your own “I Stand With Randy” event August 5th through the 7th. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Substitute Hemp for Oil.“

AGENCY SCIENTISTS OPPOSE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON . . . The following quotes are from Fish and Wildlife Service scientists themselves: “The environmental impact of escaped GE salmon is of great concern.” – Gregory Moyer, Regional Geneticist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; “…approval of the proposal is premature, given the unknowns and uncertainties regarding the possible ecological and environmental effects of these fish.” – Jeff Adams, Branch Chief, Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and “…I do think the chance of escapement is huge” – Deborah Burger, Manager, Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Ask the President to stop the GE salmon approval process.

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

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

STOP THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of July 3, 2011

July 3, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Keystone XL pipeline news is in CD 3 Green Notes below. Note the July 4th pipeline opposition rally in Omaha at noon, 90th & Maple Streets. Lincoln area: Congressional District 1 VIGIL AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY . . . Every Monday, from noon to 1:00pm, Nebraskans for abolition of the death penalty meet in front of the governor’s mansion when weather is good, 1425 H Street, Lincoln. In winter, the vigil is inside the capitol, near the Information Desk. The lunch-hour presence reminds the governor of a constituency that does not want state killings. Weekly vigils have taken place year-round since July, 1991. All abolitionists are welcome to participate for a few minutes, or the hour. For information about Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, click here. LINCOLN PEACE VIGILS . . . Lincoln peace vigils continue at the Federal Building, 15th and O streets, every Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. Contact Mark at 402.499.6672 or e-mail mark [at] weddleton [dot] com for more information. MORRILL HALL THURSDAYS . . . The UN-L State Museum, Morrill Hall, at 14th & Vine Streets in Lincoln, is offering free admission every Thursday, 4:30 to 8:00pm, through August 25th. Visit the Morrill Hall website for summer schedule information. THINK GREEN IT’S THURSDAY . . . TGIT is a new happy hour for planning a sustainable future at the Eco Stores Conference Room, 530 West P Street, Lincoln. This is an informational, educational, and social weekly event, with locally grown food and beverages. (Beverage donations will be accepted.) Learn about the latest green products, businesses, policies and practices every Thursday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. For the spring schedule of TGIT speakers, click here. For more information, e-mail mitch [dot] paine [at] ecostoresne.org. COUNT BUTTERFLIES AT PIONEERS PARK NATURE CENTER . . . The 35th Annual Butterfly Count will be Saturday, July 9, 2011, 9:00am to 12:30pm, at the Pioneers Park Nature Center on the southwest edge of Lincoln. Ted Burk, a biology professor at Creighton University, will present an hourlong introductory slide show, and participants then will count at the Center, or Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center near Denton. SAVE THE DATE: August 25, 2011 . . . The annual potluck supper for the group Alternatives to the Military will be on Thursday, August 25, 2011, 5:30pm, at Christ United Methodist Church, 45th & A Street, Lincoln. Paul Olson, and Lela Shanks, two well known, well deserved people will receive the Peacemaker of the Year Award this year. Save the Date! WEEKLY WALKABOUTS AT WILDERNESS PARK . . . Friends of Wilderness Park is hosting weekly hikes through the Park, led by Adam Hintz, starting at 1:00pm every Saturday from now through October. Each week will focus on a different area, highlighting the diversity of life in the Park. Hikes will start in parking lots according to the following schedule: the first and second Saturday of the month, meet at the Pioneers Boulevard entrance; the third Saturday, meet at Old Cheney Road; the fourth Saturday, meet at 14th Street north of Rokeby Road; and every fifth Saturday, the hike will start at Saltillo Road east of the Jamaica Trail. For more information, contact Adam at 402.421.8464. LINCOLN FARMERS MARKETS . . . Farmers markets are now open in Lincoln. The Haymarket Farmers Market is open every Saturday, 8:00am to noon, in the Haymarket District at 7th & P Streets. Expect to find more than 120 vendors with fresh produce, flowers, baked goods and handmade items plus a performance showcase featuring local folk, jazz, blues and classical music. The Market continues through October 15th. Every Sunday, from 10:00am to 2:00pm, the Old Cheney Road Farmers Market at 5500 Old Cheney Road features in-season heirloom and traditional produce, artisan breads and cheeses, homemade baked goods, wild-crafted and traditional jams, jelly, honey, meats, fish, eggs, and bedding plants. The Piedmont Farmers Market is open Saturdays, 8:00am to noon, at 1265 South Cotner, through mid-September. Saturday Farmers Markets at the FARM, 11855 Yankee Hill Road, 9:00am to noon, run until October 29th. Community CROPS, 1551 South 2nd Street, has garden pick-up 4:00 to 6:00pm Monday and Thursday, May 23 through October 20. A Thursday market from 4:00 to 8:00pm at Fallbrook Town Square Park on the corner of Fallbrook Blvd. between NW Sixth and Seventh Streets will be open through October 13th. Other markets have now started, and more will start in July. Find out what’s new this year, check an interactive map of Lincoln’s Farmers Markets, Farms and Community Supported Agriculture programs, and learn more about markets, CSAs, and local farms at the Buy Fresh, Buy Local Facebook page. Omaha area: Congressional District 2 JOIN XL OPPOSITION AGAINST H.R. 1938 . . . Rep. Lee Terry will be at Monday’s GOP Pancake Feed, July 4th, 8:00am to noon, at Elmwood Park Pavilion. BOLD Nebraska blogged about Terry’s bill, the “Oil Disaster Promotion Act,” here, and here. (See XL Update in CD 3 Green Notes below.) Stand outside the Pavilion with a sign such as “don’t rush the pipeline,” or hold a BOLD Nebraska STOP THE PIPELINE sign while Republicans gather throughout the morning. PIPELINE OPPOSITION RALLY . . . Celebrate “Independence Day” with XL pipeline opposition activists on Monday, July 4, 2011, noon, at 90th & Maple Streets in Omaha. (Park in the bank parking lot, southwest corner of the intersection.) PROTECTING OUR LAND & WATER IS PATRIOTIC. STOP THE KEYSTONE XL. FOURTH OF JULY HIKE . . . Monday, July 4, 2011, the Omaha Hiking Club will host an 8:30am, five mile hike at Chalco Hills Recreation Area, about 12 miles west of downtown Omaha. E-mail omahahikingclub [at] cox [dot] net for more information. OMAHA PEACE VIGILS . . . Omaha peacemakers vigil every Wednesday, 4:30-5:30pm, at StratCom/UN-O, 6801 Pine Street, east of the Scott Technology Center on the UN-O campus. Free parking is available at the NE Corner of 67th Street and Pine in a student lot. For more information, phone Jerry Ebner, 402.502.5887. Every Saturday, 1:00-2:00pm, there is a Peace Vigil at 72nd and Dodge Streets. Park next to 72nd Street, in the pet store parking lot. Contact Steve Horn at 402.426.9068 for more information about Saturday vigils. OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film is “RIP: A Remix Manifesto,” a documentary about “the changing concept of copyright.” View a 2:31 minute trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004. PROTEST KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE . . . Omaha protests with Guardians of the Good Life continue. E-mail japlapoo [at] netzero [dot] net for details. Plan events ouside Lee Terry’s Omaha office, 11717 Burt Street, Suite 106. E-mail, Tweet or write on Terry’s Facebook wall letting him know his pipeline bill was reckless and he needs to pull it now. Call him at 402.397.9944. STOP THE PIPELINE yard signs are available in Omaha by calling Nebraskans for Peace Coordinator Mark Welsch, 402.453.0776, or e-mail NFPOmaha [at] nebraskansforpeace [dot] org. BENSON COMMUNITY GARDEN . . . Omaha’s newest community garden is at 60th & Lafayette, at the south side of the historic Benson neighborhood. The Benson Community Garden is looking for individuals and families interested in garden plots. For more information, phone 402.714.0290 or e-mail goetzinger2 [at] cox [dot] net. To get involved, or help support the garden, please register here. ENGAGE OMAHA . . . One of the nation’s first city-wide, virtual town hall websites, EngageOmaha, is now online. Omaha residents may weigh in on issues for the city to consider. Pick a topic, and join the mix here. Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3 KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Saturday morning, July 2, 2011, there was breaking news from a Billings, Montana tv station that an Exxon oil pipeline under the Yellowstone River ruptured sending an undetermined amount of oil down river. The oil leak in a 12 inch line near the boat ramp at Riverside Park near Laurel prompted evacuations. Video and a photo gallery are here. Quoting an AP article, A 600-foot-long black smear of oil coated the riverfront property of Jim Swanson just downstream from where the pipe broke. Swanson said globules of oil bubbled to the surface of the river. NBC Sunday night news said wildlife is already slicked in oil from the estimated 42,000 gallon spill. “Oil Spill in Montana’s Yellowstone River, Lessons for Nebraska,” by Jane Kleeb, BOLD Nebraska Executive Director, July 3rd begins “A tragic oil spill is happening right now in Montana. An Exxon Mobile oil pipeline ruptured in the Yellowstone River resulting in gallons of oil and chemicals on families’ farms and homes. Wildlife is being rescued and oil booms were laid trying to soak up as much oil as possible. It is still unclear how much oil was spilt, however we do know at least 150 miles of the Yellowstone River and families’ homes and farms have been spoiled by oil. …Frustrated by the spill and want to take local action? Consider joining us on Aug. 5th to circle Gov. Heineman’s mansion for an I Stand with Randy event.” A Top 10 Pipeline Opposition Update went out to the SignOn.org e-mail list last week. From the e-mail by Jane Kleeb, here is part of the list: *The State Department listened to you and is scheduling a meeting in Nebraska to hear from landowners and citizens. The meeting will take place in Lincoln around August 15th. (Watch Green Notes for updates.) *Randy Thompson is a landowner who is standing up to TransCanada. He is refusing to sign their “contract” to seize his land. We started an “I Stand with Randy” campaign to show our support of not only Randy, but all landowners and citizens who are standing up to TransCanada and their risky tarsands pipeline. You can buy a t-shirt to show your support, you can also pick up a yard sign at the Bold office (new signs available in 2 weeks). *Plan an “I Stand with Randy” event. August 5-7th, all across Nebraska, we are asking folks to hold an event to show their support of Randy but also to educate others what’s at stake if we let this pipeline come through our land and water. We will even circle Gov. Heineman’s mansion on Aug. 5th at 9pm, so join us and bring a flashlight! *If you are ready to take your activism to an even higher level, national celebrities and leaders want you to join them in front of the White House in August and September to tell President Obama he needs to stand with Randy and stand with the promise he made to a clean energy economy by denying the TransCanada permit to build this risky pipeline. *York County is doing a great job of not only holding public meetings on the pipeline, but their paper is also doing an excellent job covering the meetings. We applaud the York County Commissioners and encourage you to read the articles. *Rep. Terry introduced an awful and reckless bill that would rush a decision on the pipeline by Nov. 1st even if Sec. Clinton and states along the pipeline route need more time to finish studies on safety and pipeline routes. If you see him around town, tell him how disappointed you are in his reckless bill. *TransCanada continues to lie to small towns and landowners about the “benefits” of the pipeline. A great site to look at for info is Dirty Oil Sands. Remember, the oil is NOT guaranteed for the United States and only 12% of the jobs will go to Nebraskans (which means about 120 jobs for about 3 months compared to over 7,000 ethanol long-term jobs in our state). * TransCanada and their allies like to say their pipeline is no big deal since thousands of pipelines already cross the Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer. This is simply not true. While Nebraska has many water and natural gas pipelines, we are not an oil state. The oil pipelines we do have are small and carry traditional crude oil. TransCanada’s pipeline is a large-scale project that carries the dirtiest form of oil, tarsands, that contains chemicals like Benzene. Their pipeline also pumps this oil at very high temperatures and high pressure. Their oil is 16 times more corrosive also than traditional oil which means more spills–and this is proven on TransCanada’s first Keystone pipeline that had 12 spills in 12 months already (when they told us they would only have 1 spill every 7 years). Thank you for standing with us and standing with Randy as we hold TransCanada and elected officials in their pocket accountable. The entire list is blogged here. Start thinking about how you’d like to Stand With Randy August 5th, and plan to join the circle at the governor’s mansion in Lincoln at 9:00pm. “Keystone XL Pipeline Bill Passes House Committee,” by by Tony Iallonardo for the National Wildlife Federation begins “Higher Oil Prices for Consumers Sought by Industry. After passing through subcommittee last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation, H.R. 1938, today that forces the Obama administration to make a decision on the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline by November. The committee has passed numerous pro-polluter bills that are unlikely to get traction on the other side of Capitol Hill. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), whose state is among those on the proposed pipeline’s path, has predicted it will not move in the Senate.” From an official NWF statement, “If we let oil companies build this pipeline, they will manipulate oil supplies to increase gas prices at the pump in 15 states throughout the Midwest. Changing the rules robs Americans of a full and fair debate and puts Big Oil ahead of consumers and ahead of pipeline safety.” BOLD Nebraska blogged about Terry’s bill, the “Oil Disaster Promotion Act,” here, and here. According to BOLD Nebraska, H.R. 1938 is “dead on arrival” in the Senate, but it is important because it gives momentum to TransCanada. It is a bad bill that says Secretary Clinton must make a decision about the XL pipeline by November 1, 2011, even if the final Environmental Impact Statement is not completed. The House vote is expected the week of July 11th. Quoting another early news article about Terry’s bill, from The Guardian, “…Congress took a first step on Wednesday to fast-track a controversial Alberta tar sands pipeline, ordering Barack Obama to reach a decision on the project by 1 November. The bill, voted through a panel of the house energy and power subcommittee, would compel Obama to over-rule demands for a further review of the project from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and disregard local opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline from landowners along its 1,700-mile route. Republicans in Congress are planning further action to push ahead on the pipeline next week, environmentalists said. Tony Iallonardo is quoted saying “The fossil fuel industry now has the ability to write and pass legislation that defies common sense.” From “Heineman Remains Silent on Pipeline,” by Ben Gotschall, “…a Congressional Research Service (CRS) memo requested by Nebraska Republican Congressman Lee Terry has shown that, although the State Dept. wields the power of approving or denying a permit for the pipeline to cross the US/Canadian border, it is ultimately up to the states (i.e. Nebraska) to determine siting of the pipeline route. This means that Gov. Heineman has the legal authority and duty to get the pipeline out of the Sand Hills. …Sadly, Gov. Heineman still chooses to sit back and remain silent in the same invertebrate fashion he has displayed in the past. While it would be easy to write off his lack of initiative as typical partisan accommodation of big oil companies, the pipeline is a nonpartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans are concerned about the route of the pipeline, and members of the Nebraska legislature have shown that other state leaders can and will take action to protect our citizens. The highest-ranking elected official in our state has chosen to opt out and avoid responsibility. This is not leadership. This is outright neglect of duty, and we need to let Governor Heineman know that his inaction is not what ebraska citizens expect from a leader with such an important role and with so much at stake–our land, water, economic activity and the cultural heritage that makes our state strong.” A SolveClimateNews article “Nebraska Water Scientists Warn of Oil Pipeline’s Risk, Call for More Study,” reports “A single study by the U.S. Geological Survey in Minnesota is the sole source for what scientists know about crude oil behavior in aquifers.” View a satellite image of Nebraska’s Sand Hills at page 1 of 4. The Art Hovey Lincoln Journal Star coverage “Keystone XL spokesman, UNL water experts on different tracks,” was published June 21st. E-mail or call Gov. Heineman at 402.471.2244, and tell him to get serious about his duty to protect our land and water by rerouting the pipeline now. The new Audubon Magazine features an article by Ted Williams. Quoting “Tarred and Feathered,” “…In the United States the pipeline will chew up important wildlife habitat with roads and powerlines to pumping stations and with the excavation itself. But a much bigger threat is leaking DilBit, which could pollute the aquifer for great distances, rendering water unfit for use by wildlife and humans. The state of Nebraska can require that Keystone XL be moved east or west, safely away from its Sandhills. Maintaining the current route simply so TransCanada can save money is, as the Times reported, unnecessary and risky. …Because the unstable, porous soil makes crop growing difficult, something like 85 percent of the Sandhills has never come under the plow. As a result they support by far the most intact native ecosystems on the Great Plains, including short-grass, mixed-grass, and tallgrass prairies. Found here are at least 720 plant species, many of which, like the federally endangered blowout penstemon, are tolerant of—in fact, dependent upon—wind and shifting sand. And 314 species of vertebrates are known to breed in this internationally recognized ecoregion.” The article quotes Nebraska Sierra’s Ken Winston and Mitch Paine, Nebraska Audubon’s Marian Langan, Nebraska landowners Randy Thompson, Cindy Myers, and others. A June 18th canada.com article by Sheldon Alberts features Jane Kleeb, Randy Thompson, and other Nebraska landowners. “Thompson’s perception of TransCanada has been sealed over three stressful years. He says the company has shown contempt for both landowners and Nebraska’s resources by refusing to alter Keystone XL’s route. “We can find another source of energy, but we have no alternative to our source of water. We are just a bunch of damn fools if we put our aquifer at risk,” he says. “We’re not just going to roll over and play dead for these guys.” Click here to view a 5:32 minute video of Randy, and learn about the “I Stand With Randy” campaign here. The Keystone Pipeline: Triple Trouble, by Bruce Johansen writing for Nebraskans For Peace, June 17th begins “The proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would carry about 830,000 barrels a day at full capacity, has been catching a lot of grief locally because it could spill oil that might ruin our underground water supply. That much is true. But the environmental cost of the pipeline does not stop there. The oil that will be transported is refined from tar sands, mainly from Alberta, which combine all the worst attributes of fossil fuels: spill potential, the carbon footprint of coal, and the environmental damage of coal strip mining. Tar sands are, briefly stated, a triple environmental atrocity—enough to send a thinking person to a bicycle. …In other words, tar sands’ huge demand for water and energy, as well as its damage to the boreal forests of Canada, is beside the point—-which is profit. One wonders how much damage will have to be done before people realize that our appetite for fossil fuels is condemning coming generations to a hot, miserable, barren future.” Quoting “Piping in some common sense,” a LJS Local View by Lincoln’s National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore, “…For the sake of my family, myself and my state, I challenge the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline. …I don’t wish to offend anyone, but the conclusion I come away with every time is this: I cannot believe this is something we’re considering for even a minute. …If you care, let your voice be heard. Write and call Gov. Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns. Let them know that trading our environmental heritage in order to cater to greed and increase the wealth of a select few will not be tolerated. Nebraska is better than this.” Contact information for Nebraska’s Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln), FaceBook; Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); Senator Ben Nelson, 720 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.6551; Senator Mike Johanns, 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.4224. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems. A new petition from the National Wildlife Federation, Save SandHill Cranes from Dirty Oil, is addressed to the president, the signer’s senators, representative, and the State Department. Other petitions still open to signatures requesting the denial of a permit to TransCanada include “Stop the TransCanada Pipeline” to Secretary Clinton, Governor Heineman, and President Obama; “Protect Nebraska; Say NO to Tar Sands;” “Protect Nebraska’s Economic Activity, Put the Brakes on the Pipeline;” “Protect Your Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” and a Brave New Foundation petition to Clinton, “Say No to the Kochs and Yes to Protecting Americans. A new Sierra Action Alert to call President Obama at 202.456.1111 outlines talking points for asking him to reject the dirty and dangerous XL tar sands pipeline. And readers can sign a letter asking Dole and Chiquita not to use toxic tar sands oil for transporting their bananas here. “Time’s Running Out to Stop the Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline — Take Action Now,” by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, June 3, 2011 also links a new petition to Secretary Clinton. Please take all these actions, if you haven’t already. A 6:31 minute YouTube video “Stop the Megaloads Now!” films this country’s scenic natural environments and contrasts the images of beauty with the “biggest, dirtiest, most ecologically destructive extraction operation on Earth” that has turned Alberta, Canada into a “raped and stinking tar pit.” Please watch to see how Exxon will treat Idaho and Montana’s scenic highways when destruction equipment starts rolling for tar sands extraction there. The 2011 Earth First Round River Rendezvous, July 5th through the 12th, will focus on tar sands and the proposed XL pipeline. “Fight the Power!” An AlterNet article June 30th, “Why Unions Should Reconsider Support for Tar Sands Oil Pipeline” says “Presidents of several unions have come out in support of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. But the damage the pipeline will do far outweighs its benefits.” “The Keystone XL Pipeline Story in the United States” is a new 40-minute documentary being produced in association with the National Wildlife Federation to explore environmental, social and political impacts of the $13 billion XL pipeline construction. From the website, “This film will uncover the realities behind building this 1,980-mile pipeline through the heartland of America. It will discuss the ramifications of the growing US reliance on Canadian oil, as well as the sacrifices on people, wildlife and the environment as a result of the transport and refinement of this very polluting tar sands oil.” Pending funding, principal photography is scheduled to begin on June 20, 2011. To learn more about this project and become a supporting financial contributor, click here. SAVE THE DATES: Nebraska XL opposition groups have started planning a STATEWIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS to coincide with the Washington DC Action August 5th through August 7th. In towns across the state, in venues from churches to bars, during the first weekend of August artists will use the themes of Water, the Sand Hills, and stopping the XL pipeline to create a statewide Festival. Arts include dance, theater, cooking, poetry, music, sculpture, origami, flower arrangement, film, photography and more. AnyOne can organize an event anywhere. Nebraska writer Mary Pipher is coordinating poetry events. Phone Mary at 402.484.5548 for details about what poets are planning. Comprehensive Green Notes covering international, national and local opposition to the XL pipeline since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.) What more can you do? Sign all the petitions linked above. Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. Click here to learn about planning your own “I Stand With Randy” event August 5th through the 7th. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here. Be a community educator and organizer. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project. Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.” STOP FRACKING NOW . . . “We, the undersigned, call on Congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act this year. It’s time to hold the oil and gas production industry to the same standards as any other industry to ensure the safe protection of America’s drinking water.” Sign Petition and view 6:20 minute Colbert Report interview with Tom Ridge. PETITION THE EPA . . . Tell the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately prohibit the use of clothianidin and conduct a full scientific review to determine its impact on honey bee populations. Learn more about clothianidin and sign the petition here. TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA NOT TO CAVE TO MONSANTO AND THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY . . . The Obama administration has unbelievably chosen to approve three biotech crops, Roundup Ready genetically modified alfalfa, Roundup Ready genetically modified sugar beets and a new industrial biotech corn for ethanol production. These decisions are a devastating blow to our democracy and the basic rights of farmers to choose how they want to grow food on their land and the rights of consumers who increasingly choose organic and sustainably grown food for its positive health and environmental impacts. Please tell the President it’s time to stand up to Monsanto and reject GMO crops. AGENCY SCIENTISTS OPPOSE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON . . . The following quotes are from Fish and Wildlife Service scientists themselves: “The environmental impact of escaped GE salmon is of great concern.” – Gregory Moyer, Regional Geneticist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; “…approval of the proposal is premature, given the unknowns and uncertainties regarding the possible ecological and environmental effects of these fish.” – Jeff Adams, Branch Chief, Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and “…I do think the chance of escapement is huge” – Deborah Burger, Manager, Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Ask the President to stop the GE salmon approval process. BUY FRESH. BUY LOCAL . . . . Farmers, gardeners, and craftspeople meet through The Nebraska Food Cooperative, an on-line, year-round farmers’ market and local food distribution service offering the best in local freshness. For ordering and pickup schedules, refer to the calendar here. Click here for products and prices from North Star Neighbors, a Cooperative member that doesn’t therapeutically medicate or unduly confine animals. Click here for Tomato Tomäto, Omaha’s year-round indoor Farmer’s Market at 156th & West Center. Shop for fresh foods grown in or very near your own community at Open Harvest, Lincoln’s member-owned natural foods retail cooperative at 1618 South Street. Buying local grows family farming, grows the local economy, and is thousands of miles fresher. HELP NEBRASKA GREENS WITH GOODSEARCH . . . Each time you search the Internet (or shop online at a participating store), a donation can be made to Nebraska Green Party at no cost to you! To help NGP in this way, enter Nebraska Green Party where it says WHO DO YOU GOODSEARCH FOR? here. Bookmark the GoodSearch Homepage, or make it your own Home Page. Enter the url you want in the GoodSearch search box. Each time you do, one penny will be donated to Nebraska Greens. THANK YOU for your support! We are no longer the alternative; we are the imperative. –Rosa Clemente STOP THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of June 26, 2011

June 26, 2011Green Notesgreenone

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

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

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

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

LINCOLN FARMERS MARKETS . . . Farmers markets are now open in Lincoln. The Haymarket Farmers Market is open every Saturday, 8:00am to noon, in the Haymarket District at 7th & P Streets. Expect to find more than 120 vendors with fresh produce, flowers, baked goods and handmade items plus a performance showcase featuring local folk, jazz, blues and classical music. The Market continues through October 15th. Every Sunday, from 10:00am to 2:00pm, the Old Cheney Road Farmers Market at 5500 Old Cheney Road features in-season heirloom and traditional produce, artisan breads and cheeses, homemade baked goods, wild-crafted and traditional jams, jelly, honey, meats, fish, eggs, and bedding plants. The Piedmont Farmers Market is open Saturdays, 8:00am to noon, at 1265 South Cotner, through mid-September. Saturday Farmers Markets at the FARM, 11855 Yankee Hill Road, 9:00am to noon, run until October 29th. Community CROPS, 1551 South 2nd Street, has garden pick-up 4:00 to 6:00pm Monday and Thursday, May 23 through October 20. A Thursday market from 4:00 to 8:00pm at Fallbrook Town Square Park on the corner of Fallbrook Blvd. between NW Sixth and Seventh Streets will be open through October 13th. Other markets have now started, and more will start in July. Find out what’s new this year, check an interactive map of Lincoln’s Farmers Markets, Farms and Community Supported Agriculture programs, and learn more about markets, CSAs, and local farms at the Buy Fresh, Buy Local Facebook page.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

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

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

OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film is “Enlighten Up,” a documentary that takes a “whimsical, skeptical, and ultimately thoughtful look at the mysteries of yoga.” View a 2:15 minute trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

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

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

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . This past week, CommonDreams published a Call to Action signed by eleven leading American and Canadian environmental activists. Quoting “Environmental Leaders Call for Civil Disobedience to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline,” by Naomi Klein, Wendell Berry, Maude Barlow, Bill McKibben and Others, “The tar sands have wrecked huge parts of Alberta, disrupting ways of life in indigenous communities—First Nations communities in Canada, and tribes along the pipeline route in the U.S. have demanded the destruction cease. The pipeline crosses crucial areas like the Oglalla Aquifer where a spill would be disastrous—and though the pipeline companies insist they are using ‘state of the art’ technologies that should leak only once every 7 years, the precursor pipeline and its pumping stations have leaked a dozen times in the past year. These local impacts alone would be cause enough to block such a plan. But the Keystone Pipeline would also be a fifteen hundred mile fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the continent, a way to make it easier and faster to trigger the final overheating of our planet, the one place to which we are all indigenous. …Given all that, you’d suspect that there’s no way the Obama administration would ever permit this pipeline. But in the last few months the president has signed pieces of paper opening much of Alaska to oil drilling, and permitting coal-mining on federal land in Wyoming that will produce as much CO2 as 300 power plants operating at full bore. And Secretary of State Clinton has already said she’s ‘inclined’ to recommend the pipeline go forward.
Winning this battle won’t save the climate. But losing it will mean the chances of runaway climate change go way up—that we’ll endure an endless future of the floods and droughts we’ve seen this year. And we’re fighting for the political future too—for the premise that we should make decisions based on science and reason, not political connection. You have to start somewhere, and this is where we choose to begin.” The letter is signed by eleven leading American and Canadian environmental activists. Read more, and sign up to join the Action in Washington DC, here.
POLITICO covered the call to action here. The letter is also here, followed by interviews with McKibben and Berry.
SAVE THE DATES: Nebraska XL pipeline opposition groups have started planning a STATEWIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS to coincide with the Washington DC Action August 5th through August 7th. In towns across the state, in venues from churches to bars, during the first weekend of August artists will use the themes of Water, the Sand Hills, and stopping the XL pipeline to create a statewide Festival. Arts include dance, theater, cooking, poetry, music, sculpture, origami, flower arrangement, film, photography and more. AnyOne can organize an event anywhere. Nebraska writer Mary Pipher is coordinating poetry events. Phone Mary at 402.484.5548 for details about what poets are planning.
“Keystone XL Pipeline Bill Passes House Committee,” by Tony Iallonardo for the National Wildlife Federation begins “Higher Oil Prices for Consumers Sought by Industry. After passing through subcommittee last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation, H.R. 1938, today that forces the Obama administration to make a decision on the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline by November. The committee has passed numerous pro-polluter bills that are unlikely to get traction on the other side of Capitol Hill. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), whose state is among those on the proposed pipeline’s path, has predicted it will not move in the Senate.” From an official NWF statement, “If we let oil companies build this pipeline, they will manipulate oil supplies to increase gas prices at the pump in 15 states throughout the Midwest. Changing the rules robs Americans of a full and fair debate and puts Big Oil ahead of consumers and ahead of pipeline safety.”
Quoting another early news article, from The Guardian, “…Congress took a first step on Wednesday to fast-track a controversial Alberta tar sands pipeline, ordering Barack Obama to reach a decision on the project by 1 November. The bill, voted through a panel of the house energy and power subcommittee, would compel Obama to over-rule demands for a further review of the project from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and disregard local opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline from landowners along its 1,700-mile route. Republicans in Congress are planning further action to push ahead on the pipeline next week, environmentalists said. Tony Iallonardo is quoted saying “The fossil fuel industry now has the ability to write and pass legislation that defies common sense. With tar sands pipelines bursting frequently in the US, the last thing that should be moving is legislation that would enable future oil disasters in the midwest.”
An AP article by Rob Gillies, “China eyes Canada oil, US’s energy nest egg,” June 25, 2011, begins “In the northern reaches of Alberta lies a vast reserve of oil that the U.S. views as a pillar of its future energy needs. China, with a growing appetite for oil that may one day surpass that of the U.S., is ready to spend the dollars for a big piece of it.”
From “Heineman Remains Silent on Pipeline,” by Ben Gotschall, “…a Congressional Research Service (CRS) memo requested by Nebraska Republican Congressman Lee Terry has shown that, although the State Dept. wields the power of approving or denying a permit for the pipeline to cross the US/Canadian border, it is ultimately up to the states (i.e. Nebraska) to determine siting of the pipeline route. This means that Gov. Heineman has the legal authority and duty to get the pipeline out of the Sand Hills. …Sadly, Gov. Heineman still chooses to sit back and remain silent in the same invertebrate fashion he has displayed in the past. While it would be easy to write off his lack of initiative as typical partisan accommodation of big oil companies, the pipeline is a nonpartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans are concerned about the route of the pipeline, and members of the Nebraska legislature have shown that other state leaders can and will take action to protect our citizens.
The highest-ranking elected official in our state has chosen to opt out and avoid responsibility. This is not leadership. This is outright neglect of duty, and we need to let Governor Heineman know that his inaction is not what Nebraska citizens expect from a leader with such an important role and with so much at stake–our land, water, economic activity and the cultural heritage that makes our state strong. E-mail or call Gov. Heineman at 402.471.2244, and tell him to get serious about his duty to protect our land and water by rerouting the pipeline now.”
A SolveClimateNews article “Nebraska Water Scientists Warn of Oil Pipeline’s Risk, Call for More Study,” reports “A single study by the U.S. Geological Survey in Minnesota is the sole source for what scientists know about crude oil behavior in aquifers.” View a satellite image of Nebraska’s Sand Hills at page 1 of 4. The Art Hovey Lincoln Journal Star coverage “Keystone XL spokesman, UNL water experts on different tracks,” was published June 21st.
An interesting interview with Daniel Clune, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State — the official at the US State Department responsible for managing the review process of TransCanada’s application to build the pipeline, was published June 20th.
We know TransCanada is meeting with County boards across Nebraska along the proposed route. “Commissioners to hear from pipeline company” by Melanie Wilkinson for the York News Times, reports TransCanada representatives will meet with York County Commissioners on Tuesday, June 28th, at 2:00pm, for an “update” on the XL project. A number of local York County landowners would be impacted if the project is approved.
Residents of one Canadian town are engaged in a David and Goliath-style battle over the dirtiest oil project ever known. A 20 minute documentary on Alberta tar sands, “To the Last Drop,” is here.
The new Audubon Magazine features an article by Ted Williams. Quoting “Tarred and Feathered,” …In the United States the pipeline will chew up important wildlife habitat with roads and powerlines to pumping stations and with the excavation itself. But a much bigger threat is leaking DilBit, which could pollute the aquifer for great distances, rendering water unfit for use by wildlife and humans. The state of Nebraska can require that Keystone XL be moved east or west, safely away from its Sandhills. Maintaining the current route simply so TransCanada can save money is, as the Times reported, unnecessary and risky. …Because the unstable, porous soil makes crop growing difficult, something like 85 percent of the Sandhills has never come under the plow. As a result they support by far the most intact native ecosystems on the Great Plains, including short-grass, mixed-grass, and tallgrass prairies. Found here are at least 720 plant species, many of which, like the federally endangered blowout penstemon, are tolerant of—in fact, dependent upon—wind and shifting sand. And 314 species of vertebrates are known to breed in this internationally recognized ecoregion.” The article quotes Nebraska Sierra’s Ken Winston and Mitch Paine, Nebraska Audubon‘s Marian Langan, Nebraska landowners Randy Thompson, Cindy Myers, and others.
A June 18th canada.com article by Sheldon Alberts features BOLD Nebraska’s Jane Kleeb, Randy Thompson, and other Nebraska landowners. “Thompson’s perception of TransCanada has been sealed over three stressful years. He says the company has shown contempt for both landowners and Nebraska’s resources by refusing to alter Keystone XL’s route. “We can find another source of energy, but we have no alternative to our source of water. We are just a bunch of damn fools if we put our aquifer at risk,” he says. “We’re not just going to roll over and play dead for these guys.” Click here to view a 5:32 minute video of Randy, and learn about the “I Stand With Randy” campaign here.
The Keystone Pipeline: Triple Trouble, by Bruce Johansen writing for Nebraskans For Peace, June 17th begins “The proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would carry about 830,000 barrels a day at full capacity, has been catching a lot of grief locally because it could spill oil that might ruin our underground water supply. That much is true. But the environmental cost of the pipeline does not stop there. The oil that will be transported is refined from tar sands, mainly from Alberta, which combine all the worst attributes of fossil fuels: spill potential, the carbon footprint of coal, and the environmental damage of coal strip mining. Tar sands are, briefly stated, a triple environmental atrocity—enough to send a thinking person to a bicycle. …In other words, tar sands’ huge demand for water and energy, as well as its damage to the boreal forests of Canada, is beside the point—-which is profit. One wonders how much damage will have to be done before people realize that our appetite for fossil fuels is condemning coming generations to a hot, miserable, barren future.”
A new Sierra Action Alert to call President Obama at 202.456.1111 outlines talking points for asking him to reject the dirty and dangerous XL tar sands pipeline. And readers can sign a letter asking Dole and Chiquita not to use toxic tar sands oil for transporting their bananas here.
Quoting “Piping in some common sense,” a LJS Local View by Lincoln’s National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore, “…For the sake of my family, myself and my state, I challenge the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline. …I don’t wish to offend anyone, but the conclusion I come away with every time is this: I cannot believe this is something we’re considering for even a minute. …If you care, let your voice be heard. Write and call Gov. Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns. Let them know that trading our environmental heritage in order to cater to greed and increase the wealth of a select few will not be tolerated. Nebraska is better than this.”
Contact information for Nebraska’s Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln), FaceBook; Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); Senator Ben Nelson, 720 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.6551; Senator Mike Johanns, 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.4224. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems.
Petitions still open to signatures requesting the denial of a permit to TransCanada include “Stop the TransCanada Pipeline” to Secretary Clinton, Governor Heineman, and President Obama; “Protect Nebraska; Say NO to Tar Sands;” “Protect Nebraska’s Economic Activity, Put the Brakes on the Pipeline;” “Protect Your Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” and a Brave New Foundation petition to Clinton, “Say No to the Kochs and Yes to Protecting Americans.” Please sign them all, and add personal comments of concern for our ecosystem if you wish. “Time’s Running Out to Stop the Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline — Take Action Now,” by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, June 3, 2011 also links a new petition to Secretary Clinton.
A new 6:31 minute YouTube video “Stop the Megaloads Now!” films this country’s scenic natural environments and contrasts the images of beauty with the “biggest, dirtiest, most ecologically destructive extraction operation on Earth” that has turned Alberta, Canada into a “raped and stinking tar pit.” Please watch to see how Exxon will treat Idaho and Montana’s scenic highways when destruction equipment starts rolling for tar sands extraction there. The 2011 Earth First Round River Rendezvous, July 5th through the 12th, will focus on tar sands and the proposed XL pipeline. “Fight the Power!”
The Keystone XL Pipeline Story in the United States, is a new 40-minute documentary being produced in association with the National Wildlife Federation to explore environmental, social and political impacts of the $13 billion XL pipeline construction. From the website, “This film will uncover the realities behind building this 1,980-mile pipeline through the heartland of America. It will discuss the ramifications of the growing US reliance on Canadian oil, as well as the sacrifices on people, wildlife and the environment as a result of the transport and refinement of this very polluting tar sands oil.” Pending funding, principal photography is scheduled to begin on June 20, 2011. To learn more about this project and become a supporting financial contributor, click here.
Comprehensive Green Notes covering international, national and local opposition to the XL pipeline since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.)
What more can you do? Sign all the petitions linked above. Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. Click here to learn about planning your own “I Stand With Randy” event August 5th through the 7th.
E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.“

STOP FRACKING NOW . . . “We, the undersigned, call on Congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act this year. It’s time to hold the oil and gas production industry to the same standards as any other industry to ensure the safe protection of America’s drinking water.” Sign Petition and view 6:20 minute Colbert Report interview with Tom Ridge.

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

STOP THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of June 19, 2011

June 19, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. This week’s XL pipeline news is in CD 3 Green Notes below.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

LES OPEN HOUSE ON POWER LINE . . . Property owners, residents and businesses who may be affected by the rebuilding of a high-voltage transmission line from 57th and Garland to 84th and Leighton are invited to an open house Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 4:00 to 7:00pm, at Mickle Middle School cafeteria, 2500 North 67th Street, Lincoln. For more information about the Leighton Area Reliability Project, click here or call 402.467.7607.

LINCOLN GREEN DRINKS . . . NEW TIME AND PLACE! Lincoln Green Drinks will try something new this month. Green Drinks social networking meet-ups are active in 814 cities worldwide. The new Lincoln meeting time and place will be 7:00am to 9:00am, Wednesday, June 22, 2011, at The Mill, on the NE corner of 8th & P Street in the Haymarket. Simply ask at the front–meeting will be in the back. Walk, cycle, bus, or carpool if possible. Everyone interested in, work on, or studying environmental issues is welcome.

POETS ORGANIZING FOR STATEWIDE FESTIVAL . . . The Keystone XL pipeline opposition coalition is planning a statewide festival of the arts in towns across Nebraska, in venues from churches to bars, during the first weekend of August. Arts include dance, theater, cooking, poetry, music, sculpture, origami, flower arrangement, film and photography. Themes will include the Sand Hills, water, and stopping the pipeline. AnyOne can organize an event anywhere. Nebraska writer Mary Pipher is coordinating poetry events. Phone Mary at 402.484.5548 for details about the first organizing meeting for poets on Thursday, June 23rd. We are hoping for 1000 events statewide!

JUNE 24TH JPA MEETING . . . The new group Watchdogs of Lincoln Government has been monitoring Joint Public Agency meetings following progress on the new Haymarket arena. Watchdog Bob Olson is quoted in “Railroad demand frustrates arena board.” The article begins, “A private citizen said what others in the room likely were thinking about the city’s lack of power as construction begins on the West Haymarket arena.” “JPA will pay BNSF another $3.4 million for construction delay,” reports details of the first additional cost demanded by BNSF. “White elephant,” a letter to the editor by Marc Schniederjans, published June 3rd, also says what Greens and No2Arena coalition members said all along: “For those of us who easily could see that the Lincoln arena project would be a constant drain on taxes, it comes as no surprise that before the project has really begun, it’s already costing millions of extra dollars.” The next JPA meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 24, 2011, 3:30pm in room 112, City Council Chambers of the County City Building, 555 South 9th Street, Lincoln. If you wish to attend the JPA meeting, it would be a good idea to double check the time by calling 402.441.7386 to confirm it has not been changed.

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 “Money Driven Medicine,” a documentary about the economics underlying, and often undermining, our $2.6 trillion healthcare system. View a 3:11 minute trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

SAVE DEMOCRACY NOW! . . . Thanks in large part to Frances Mendenhall, current news from Democracy Now! is aired in Omaha Monday through Friday, 9:30pm, on Cox Channel 22. Cox is now renegotiating its contract with Omaha, and it wants to eliminate local public access, which would also eliminate Democracy Now! The decision will be made by the City Council in about two months. Thursday, June 23, 2011, 7:00pm, there will be a Meeting to Save Democracy Now! at 3715 Hamilton. Help plan a short campaign of support for keeping public access in Omaha. Phone Frances at 402.208.3717 if you have any questions.

BICYCLE OMAHA . . . Thursday, June 23, 2011, 7:00 to 8:30pm, Omaha’s new Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator Carlos Morales, and Matt Martin, Executive Director of the Community Bicycle Project will speak at the Sierra Club June meeting, First United Methodist Church, 69th & Cass. (Enter north door Education Wing.) Find more information about “Bicycling in Omaha” here.

GLBT PRIDE FESTIVAL . . . Saturday, June 25, 2011, Heartland Pride, will host this year’s Omaha and Council Bluffs’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Cultural Festival, UNITED IN PRIDE, at 10th and Pacific Streets in Downtown Omaha. As in years past, the CommUNITY Pride Parade will also take place along 10th Street, 11:00 to noon, starting at 10th at Farnam. Vendors will be open from 12pm-8pm. There is no admission charge to the Festival Grounds until after 5:00pm. For more information, e-mail info [at] heartlandpride [dot] org.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

PUBLIC HEARING ON URANIUM MINING . . . Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 7:00pm, there will be a public hearing with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality for citizen input on the Crow Butte Resources, Inc. application for an expansion of uranium mining. The hearing will be at Crawford Public High School, 908 5th Street, Crawford, Nebraska. An exemption for mining in an aquifer is requested on the basis that the underlying aquifer is already so contaminated that it cannot be remediated for drinking water. CBR does have a legal obligation to restore the aquifer to drinking water quality; the exemption is to allow Crow Butte Resources to not only walk away from that obligation, but to make water quality even worse. Click here [pdf] for more information from the previous public hearing. To see the full DEQ website on the exemption, click here.

PUBLIC HEARING ON CARBON CONCENTRATIONS . . . Thursday, June 23, 2011, 7:00pm, there will be a public hearing on reducing atmospheric carbon concentrations to 350ppm by 2100. The hearing will take place at a regular meeting of the Environmental Quality Council, Buffalo Barracks, Fort Robinson State Park, 3200 Highway 20, Crawford, Nebraska. For more information on this meeting, including the agenda, click here.

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Guardian.co.uk reported early news that a Congressional panel approved a bill to fast-track the Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska’s fragile Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer. By Suzanne Goldenberg, it was published June 15, 2011. The legislation would force President Obama to make a decision on the proposed pipeline by November 1. “More than 100,000 people wrote to the State Department this month to express their views on the project. Nebraska state legislators and members of Congress have also written letters of concern. Meanwhile the EPA issued a letter last week criticizing the State Department for failing to fully take into account the risks of a pipeline accident, or of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the import of more fossil fuels.” The Wall Street Journal report is here.
Quoting “Nebraska Water Scientists Warn of Oil Pipeline’s Risk, Call for More Study,” by Elizabeth McGowan in SolveClimateNews, June 15, 2011: “A single study by the U.S. Geological Survey in Minnesota is the sole source for what scientists know about crude oil behavior in aquifers. …The two scientists complimented the State Department for making it clear that in Nebraska, 64 percent of the groundwater wells are within one mile of the Keystone XL route. That figure drops to just 10 percent in each of the other states—Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Gates and Woldt say their research indicates that a similarly high percentage of Nebraska’s wetlands are along the proposed pipeline route.” Thanks to Ken Winston of Nebraska Sierra for his work with these scientists. Ken’s letter on behalf of Sierra to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton points out many facts about the unique Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer, requesting additional time for further study and action in the 2012 legislative session.
BOLD Nebraska published “Heineman Remains Silent on Pipeline,” by Ben Gotschall, June 14, 2011. It begins “Six months ago, Gov. Dave Heineman showed his disrespect for the people of this state and a lack of leadership regarding the Keystone XL pipeline when he accused concerned citizens of “mouthing off” and encouraged them to “talk to [their] president,” about the pipeline. Since then, a Congressional Research Service (CRS) memo requested by Nebraska Republican Congressman Lee Terry has shown that, although the State Dept. wields the power of approving or denying a permit for the pipeline to cross the US/Canadian border, it is ultimately up to the states (i.e. Nebraska) to determine siting of the pipeline route. This means, that Gov. Heineman has the legal authority and duty to get the pipeline out of the Sand Hills. …Sadly, Gov. Heineman still chooses to sit back and remain silent in the same invertebrate fashion he has displayed in the past. While it would be easy to write off his lack of initiative as typical partisan accommodation of big oil companies, the pipeline is a nonpartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans are concerned about the route of the pipeline, and members of the Nebraska legislature have shown that other state leaders can and will take action to protect our citizens.
The highest-ranking elected official in our state has chosen to opt out and avoid responsibility. This is not leadership. This is outright neglect of duty, and we need to let Governor Heineman know that his inaction is not what Nebraska citizens expect from a leader with such an important role and with so much at stake–our land, water, economic activity and the cultural heritage that makes our state strong. E-mail or call Gov. Heineman at 402.471.2244, and tell him to get serious about his duty to protect our land and water by rerouting the pipeline now.”
A June 18th canada.com article by Sheldon Alberts features BOLD Nebraska’s Jane Kleeb, Merrick County rancher Randy Thompson, and other Nebraska landowners. “Thompson’s perception of TransCanada has been sealed over three stressful years. He says the company has shown contempt for both landowners and Nebraska’s resources by refusing to alter Keystone XL’s route. “We can find another source of energy, but we have no alternative to our source of water. We are just a bunch of damn fools if we put our aquifer at risk,” he says. “We’re not just going to roll over and play dead for these guys.”
The Keystone Pipeline: Triple Trouble, by Bruce Johansen writing for Nebraskans For Peace, June 17th begins “The proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would carry about 830,000 barrels a day at full capacity, has been catching a lot of grief locally because it could spill oil that might ruin our underground water supply. That much is true. But the environmental cost of the pipeline does not stop there. The oil that will be transported is refined from tar sands, mainly from Alberta, which combine all the worst attributes of fossil fuels: spill potential, the carbon footprint of coal, and the environmental damage of coal strip mining. Tar sands are, briefly stated, a triple environmental atrocity—enough to send a thinking person to a bicycle. …In other words, tar sands’ huge demand for water and energy, as well as its damage to the boreal forests of Canada, is beside the point—-which is profit. One wonders how much damage will have to be done before people realize that our appetite for fossil fuels is condemning coming generations to a hot, miserable, barren future. ”
A new Sierra Action Alert to call President Obama at 202.456.1111 outlines talking points for asking him to reject the dirty and dangerous XL tar sands pipeline. And readers can sign a letter asking Dole and Chiquita not to use toxic tar sands oil for transporting their bananas here.
Quoting “Piping in some common sense,” a LJS Local View by Lincoln’s National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore, “…For the sake of my family, myself and my state, I challenge the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline. …I don’t wish to offend anyone, but the conclusion I come away with every time is this: I cannot believe this is something we’re considering for even a minute. …If you care, let your voice be heard. Write and call Gov. Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns. Let them know that trading our environmental heritage in order to cater to greed and increase the wealth of a select few will not be tolerated. Nebraska is better than this.”
Contact information for Nebraska’s Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln), FaceBook; Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); Senator Ben Nelson, 720 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.6551; Senator Mike Johanns, 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.4224. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems.
Petitions still open to signatures requesting the denial of a permit to TransCanada include “Stop the TransCanada Pipeline” to Secretary Clinton, Governor Heineman, and President Obama; “Protect Nebraska; Say NO to Tar Sands;” “Protect Nebraska’s Economic Activity, Put the Brakes on the Pipeline;” “Protect Your Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” and a Brave New Foundation petition to Clinton, “Say No to the Kochs and Yes to Protecting Americans.” Please sign them all, and add personal comments of concern for our ecosystem if you wish. “Time’s Running Out to Stop the Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline — Take Action Now,” by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, June 3, 2011 also links a new petition to Secretary Clinton.
Also urging readers to contact the Nebraska delegation,”Plain foolishness,” by Jim Elsener, says “If people think they gotta have oil, try living without water. A little horse sense will tell you it’s just plain foolishness to run the sands oil Keystone XL Pipeline through the Sand Hills and over the Ogallala Aquifer. Just this May the first Keystone Pipeline in North Dakota leaked more than 400 barrels of oil. And overall, Keystone has suffered 11 leaks in as many months. I urge people to write their representatives in Congress and let them know this is one foolish idea.” And on June 15th, Eleanor Hamersky’s letter thanking Sartore for his Local View says “We all must educate ourselves on the hazards involved to our Ogallala Aquifer water supply by the route of the proposed Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline.”
“Why deadline on pipeline?” by Fern Adams, published June 13th, begins “I do not understand Rep. Lee Terry and Sen. Mike Johanns. Why is there a need to have a decision made on the Keystone XL pipeline by November? There are many unanswered questions: How many successful cleanup jobs has TransCanada done in aquifers similar to the Ogallala? What effect would cleanup and drawdown of the water table have on irrigation wells? How much experience does TransCanada have with 36-inch pipelines carrying tar sands? How much experience does the company have with planting and maintaining pipelines through sand hills?” And a June 12th letter by Dianne Petersen comments on TransCanada’s push polls asking misleading questions about gas prices and unemployment. “Do we need lower gas prices and more jobs? Yes, but having to mislead people to garner support proves the tactics are dishonest, so what else isn’t quite above-board in the dealings of pipeline supporters?”
On Thursday, June 9th, Democracy Now! covered a planned 92-mile natural gas pipeline in Puerto Rico that would cut across much of the island, bringing up similar issues as are being faced in Nebraska. “Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño has made the $450 million project a central goal of his administration and insists it is a safe and environmentally friendly way to lower utility bills. Called Vía Verde (Green Way), the pipeline has been dubbed Vía de la Muerte (Death Route) by critics who say it will expose people living near it to deadly explosions and cause irreversible damage to the island’s environmental and cultural resources.”
“Faith Groups Call on Obama to Stop Dirty Oil Sands Pipeline,” from the Missionary Oblates Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creating, June 2, 2011, reports “The Oblate JPIC Office has joined 45 other faith-based groups in asking the Obama Administration to deny the presidential permit needed by TransCanada Corporation to construct a pipeline to carry dirty oil sands from Alberta, Canada to Houston, TX.”
A new 6:31 minute YouTube video “Stop the Megaloads Now!” films this country’s scenic natural environments and contrasts the images of beauty with the “biggest, dirtiest, most ecologically destructive extraction operation on Earth” that has turned Alberta, Canada into a “raped and stinking tar pit.” Please watch to see how Exxon will treat Idaho and Montana’s scenic highways when destruction equipment starts rolling for tar sands extraction there. “Fight the Power!”
The Keystone XL Pipeline Story in the United States, is a new 40-minute documentary being produced in association with the National Wildlife Federation to explore environmental, social and political impacts of the $13 billion XL pipeline construction. From the website, “This film will uncover the realities behind building this 1,980-mile pipeline through the heartland of America. It will discuss the ramifications of the growing US reliance on Canadian oil, as well as the sacrifices on people, wildlife and the environment as a result of the transport and refinement of this very polluting tar sands oil.” Pending funding, principal photography is scheduled to begin on June 20, 2011. To learn more about this project and become a supporting financial contributor, click here.
Comprehensive Green Notes covering international, national and local opposition to the XL pipeline since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.)
What can you do now that the legislative session has ended and the official Department of State comment period has expired? Sign all the petitions linked above. Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.“

STOP FRACKING NOW . . . “We, the undersigned, call on Congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act this year. It’s time to hold the oil and gas production industry to the same standards as any other industry to ensure the safe protection of America’s drinking water.” Sign Petition and view 6:20 minute Colbert Report interview with Tom Ridge.

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

STOP THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of June 12, 2011

June 12, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. This week’s XL pipeline news is in CD 3 Green Notes below.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

NIOBRARA: JEWEL OF THE NORTH . . . “Niobrara: Jewel of the North,” a 42-minute educational documentary, tells the story of Nebraska’s Niobrara River during the four seasons–from its headwaters in eastern Wyoming, through the National Scenic River stretch near Valentine, and on to its mouth at the Missouri River. Broadcasts continue on NET2 (channel 12.2 in Lincoln), Thursday, June 16, 7:00pm, and Sunday, June 19, 2011, 1:00pm. The film is now also available online here.

ANNUAL WRITERS CONFERENCE . . . The Nebraska Summer Writers Conference began this weekend for registrants, and related events for the public begin Monday, June 13, 2011 at 6:00pm in the Nebraska Union Auditorium. For a schedule of free events, click here.

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

JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION . . . The 2011 Juneteenth Celebration will be 11:00am to 5:00pm, Saturday, June 18th, at Pentzer Park, North 27th & Potter, Lincoln.

BACKYARD HABITAT TOUR . . . The Wachiska Audubon 22nd Annual Backyard Habitat Tour will be Sunday, June 19, 2011, 11:00am to 4:00pm. Descriptive brochures and maps will be available at all the garden locations. For more details, and a list of featured yards on the tour this year, click here.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film is “The One Percent,” an 80-minute documentary on the growing “wealth gap” in America. Watch the trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

BENSON SUMMERFEST 2011 . . . The 2011 Benson SummerFest is Saturday, June 18th, on Maple Street between 59th & 63rd, in Omaha. A schedule of the day’s events, starting with a morning pancake feed, includes an auto show, art and crafts fair, beer garden and main stage entertainment from noon to 8:30pm. SummerFest After Dark starts at 9:00pm in five venues hosting 25 bands. Lemon Fresh Day will play on the Main Stage from 7:00 to 8:30.

BUTTERFLIES . . . Reservations are required for “Butterflies: Taking Science to the Backyard,” on Saturday, June 18, 2911, 9:00am to 1:00pm, at Camp Brewster, 1313 Bellevue Blvd., two blocks east of the Learning Center, Bellevue. Bring a sack lunch or snack to the free event. To rsvp, call Laci Prucinsky, 402.731.3140 ext.230, or e-mail lprucinsky [at]fontenelleforest [dot] org.

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . The US State Department comment period on the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline through Nebraska’s Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer ended at midnight, Monday, June 6 2011.
The letter opposition groups including Nebraska Green Party submitted to Secretary Clinton before the official State Department comment period ended is linked here. 3,431 Nebraskans submitted comments through the BOLD Nebraska website, and together, “over 265,000 Americans submitted comments urging Secretary Clinton to deny the permit to TransCanada” for Keystone XL. The Nebraska Sierra Club letter to Secretary Clinton is here.
Also on Monday, a statement from the Nebraska Wildlife Federation said the State Department’s Environmental Impact Study on the XL pipeline “falls well short of what is required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. It fails to recognize the significant harm the project will do to wildlife, wetlands, rivers, groundwater and the Nebraska Sand Hills, and fails to require TransCanada to put in place measures to deal with that harm.”
Tuesday, June 7th, Lincoln Journal Star reported on the quick two day turn-around from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s warning that continued operation of Keystone I without corrective action “would be hazardous to life, property and the environment,” to allowing TransCanada to resume pumping operations. “Pipeline regulator defends quick turn-around on Keystone,” is here.
Wednesday, June 8th, LJS reported the Environmental Protection Agency’s response to the State Department’s Environmental Impact Study in “EPA lining up with Keystone XL critics,” by Art Hovey. “As the U.S. State Department moves toward a final decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline by the end of the year, the Environmental Protection Agency has yet to be persuaded the project has gotten proper scrutiny. The EPA announced Tuesday that it had placed the TransCanada project in a category headed “Environmental Objections” and said what the State Department has done so far with an environmental impact statement is based on insufficient information.” Quoting a nine-page letter dated June 6, 2011 to State from the EPA: “While the SDEIS has made progress in responding to EPA’s comments on the DElS and providing information necessary for making an informed decision, EPA believes additional analysis is necessary 10 fully respond to our earlier comments and to ensure a full evaluation of the potential impacts of proposed Project, and to identify potential means to mitigate those impacts.” Also on June 6th, the State Department did announce there will be scheduled field hearings along the pipeline route.
LJS published two Editorials on June 8th, both calling on readers to take advantage of this new public hearing opportunity. “Last chance on pipeline,” begins “Nebraskans have been granted a new opportunity — perhaps the last — to present their views on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. We hope they take full advantage. This probably is the last chance Nebraskans have to try to change the pipeline plan before heavy equipment starts ripping through the Sandhills. Credit the State Department for scheduling a meeting that will allow Nebraskans to deliver their message in person, face to face.” In “Take time to get it right,” LJS editorializes “Three cheers for the five state lawmakers (Sens. Colby Coash, Annette Dubas, Tony Fulton, Ken Haar and Kate Sullivan) who asked the State Department to delay a decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline until May 2012 to give the state time to strengthen its safeguards. A raspberry for Rep. Lee Terry who wants Congress to set a Nov. 1 deadline for a decision. And a raised eyebrow for US Senator Mike Johanns, who signed on as a cosponsor to an energy policy bill that had a pipeline deadline tucked away in its provisions.”
Also on Wednesday, US Senator Ben Nelson made his strongest statement on the pipeline yet. Thursday’s Omaha World-Herald, “Nelson: Pipeline a state issue,” reported he said responsibility for the in-state path of a controversial oil pipeline sits squarely with Nebraska state government.“ The location is the state’s responsibility and authority, and I hope the state doesn’t just acquiesce and by silence not exercise its responsibilities, because it has responsibilities and they should do something affirmatively — either yes or no – on the location. Not a maybe, not sitting back in their hallowed offices watching others work on this — they need to be engaged. …the location issue is essentially up to … the governor, the Legislature and others in state government,” Nelson said. In support of that position, he pointed to a report by the Congressional Research Service which found that “state laws establish the primary siting authority for oil pipelines.”
Quoting “Piping in some common sense,” a LJS Local View by Lincoln’s National Geographic contributing photographer Joel Sartore, “…For the sake of my family, myself and my state, I challenge the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline. …I don’t wish to offend anyone, but the conclusion I come away with every time is this: I cannot believe this is something we’re considering for even a minute. …If you care, let your voice be heard. Write and call Gov. Dave Heineman, Congressmen Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith and Lee Terry, and Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns. Let them know that trading our environmental heritage in order to cater to greed and increase the wealth of a select few will not be tolerated. Nebraska is better than this.”
Contact information for Nebraska’s Congressional Representatives is as follows: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, CD-1, 1517 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515, 202.225.4806, 402.438.1598 (Lincoln), FaceBook; Rep. Lee Terry, CD-2, 1524 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.4155, 402.397.9944 (Omaha); Rep. Adrian Smith, CD-3, 503 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20515, 202.225.6435, 888.ADRIAN7 (Toll Free); Senator Ben Nelson, 720 Hart Senate Office Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.6551; Senator Mike Johanns, 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202.224.4224. Contact Governor Dave Heineman, at linked e-mail or PO Box 94848, State Capitol Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68509, 402.471.2244. Please contact them all if you oppose the environmental devastation that XL would cause Nebraska’s ecosystems.
Petitions still open to signatures requesting the denial of a permit to TransCanada include “Stop the TransCanada Pipeline” to Secretary Clinton, Governor Heineman, and President Obama; “Protect Nebraska; Say NO to Tar Sands;” “Protect Nebraska’s Economic Activity, Put the Brakes on the Pipeline;” “Protect Your Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” and a Brave New Foundation petition to Clinton, “Say No to the Kochs and Yes to Protecting Americans.” Please sign them all, and add personal comments of concern for our ecosystems if you wish. “Time’s Running Out to Stop the Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline — Take Action Now,” by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, June 3, 2011 also links a new petition to Secretary Clinton. Please sign all the petitions if you haven’t already.
Also urging readers to contact the Nebraska delegation, a June 8th letter to the editor of LJS, “Plain foolishness,” by Jim Elsener, says “If people think they gotta have oil, try living without water. A little horse sense will tell you it’s just plain foolishness to run the sands oil Keystone XL Pipeline through the Sand Hills and over the Ogallala Aquifer. Just this May the first Keystone Pipeline in North Dakota leaked more than 400 barrels of oil. And overall, Keystone has suffered 11 leaks in as many months. I urge people to write their representatives in Congress and let them know this is one foolish idea.” A Sunday June 12th letter by Dianne Petersen comments on TransCanada’s push polls asking misleading questions about gas prices and unemployment. “Do we need lower gas prices and more jobs? Yes, but having to mislead people to garner support proves the tactics are dishonest, so what else isn’t quite above-board in the dealings of pipeline supporters?”
On Thursday, June 9th, Democracy Now! covered a planned Puerto Rico Pipeline that poses a similar threat to the environment and public health: “President Barack Obama is due to visit Puerto Rico next week in what will be the first official US presidential visit to the territory in 50 years. His trip comes as controversy grows over a proposed 92-mile natural gas pipeline that would cut across much of the island. Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño has made the $450 million project a central goal of his administration and insists it is a safe and environmentally friendly way to lower utility bills. Called Vía Verde (Green Way), the pipeline has been dubbed Vía de la Muerte (Death Route) by critics who say it will expose people living near it to deadly explosions and cause irreversible damage to the island’s environmental and cultural resources. We speak with Dr. Arturo Massol, a biology professor and director of the Scientific and Technical Commission of Casa Pueblo, a community-based organization in Puerto Rico that is leading opposition against the pipeline project. He calls for development of infrastructure that can harness the island’s solar and wind power to meet its energy needs.” [“Safe and environmentally friendly.” Sound familiar?] Video is here.
“Faith Groups Call on Obama to Stop Dirty Oil Sands Pipeline,” from the Missionary Oblates Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creating, June 2, 2011, reports “The Oblate JPIC Office has joined 45 other faith-based groups in asking the Obama Administration to deny the presidential permit needed by TransCanada Corporation to construct a pipeline to carry dirty oil sands from Alberta, Canada to Houston, TX.”
A new 6:31 minute YouTube video “Stop the Megaloads Now!” films this country’s scenic natural environments and contrasts the images of beauty with the “biggest, dirtiest, most ecologically destructive extraction operation on Earth” that has turned Alberta, Canada into a “raped and stinking tar pit.” Please watch to see how Exxon will treat Idaho and Montana’s scenic highways when destruction equipment starts rolling for tar sands extraction there. “Fight the Power!”
The Keystone XL Pipeline Story in the United States, is a new 40-minute documentary being produced in association with the National Wildlife Federation to explore environmental, social and political impacts of the $13 billion XL pipeline construction. From the website, “This film will uncover the realities behind building this 1,980-mile pipeline through the heartland of America. It will discuss the ramifications of the growing US reliance on Canadian oil, as well as the sacrifices on people, wildlife and the environment as a result of the transport and refinement of this very polluting tar sands oil.” Pending funding, principal photography is scheduled to begin on June 20, 2011. To learn more about this project and become a supporting financial contributor, click here.
TransCanada representatives are making the rounds to county meetings all along the pipeline route. On June 1st, they held a media event covered by Art Hovey for Lincoln Journal Star. “Keystone XL proponents rally round the cause” mentions the presence of opposition activists. Americans for Prosperity, heavily financed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, kicked off XL pep rally events in Nebraska last week. Coalition protesters where present in opposition at the Omaha Walnut Grove Park rally. Former state senator Mike Friend was a high profile presence. His lobbying work for AFG has not been properly registered, prompting Common Cause Nebraska to file a complaint covered by LJS June 11th, here.
Meanwhile, “the Domina Law Group is investigating a class-action lawsuit against the XL pipeline, saying the company may be abusing eminent domain laws to bully Nebraska landowners into making way for the pipeline. Environmental groups are hoping that if even a few landowners can block the pipeline from running over their turf, they can force the pipeline to be re-routed.” “Keystone Facing Potential Legal Hurdle,” was reported at POLITICO.
A new Nebraska Sierra 9:45 minute YouTube video of pipeline opponents speaking at the May 12, 2011 Citizen Hearing in the capitol rotunda is now posted online. Many letters to the Lincoln Journal Star have been published in the year since the public started realizing the threat posed by TransCanada. Letters linked in Green Notes since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.) Comprehensive news coverage related to the XL pipeline is also linked in archives.
Save the Date: Thursday, June 23, 2011. The XL opposition coalition is planning a statewide festival of the arts in towns across the state, in venues from churches to bars, during the first weekend of August. Arts include dance, theater, cooking, poetry, music, sculpture, origami, flower arrangement, film and photography. Themes will include the Sand Hills, water, and stopping the pipeline. AnyOne can organize an event anywhere. Nebraska writer Mary Pipher is coordinating poetry events. Phone Mary at 402.484.5548 for details about the first organizing meeting for poets on Thursday, June 23rd. We are hoping for 1000 events statewide!
What can you do now that the legislative session has ended and the official Department of State comment period has expired? Sign all the petitions linked above. Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Let’s change the world together. Help make Nebraska the first state to successfully oppose a pipeline project.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.”

STOP FRACKING NOW . . . “We, the undersigned, call on Congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act this year. It’s time to hold the oil and gas production industry to the same standards as any other industry to ensure the safe protection of America’s drinking water.” Sign Petition and view 6:20 minute Colbert Report interview with Tom Ridge.

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

STOP THE PIPELINE

Green Notes Week of June 5, 2011

June 5, 2011Green Notesgreenone

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRANSCANADA XL PIPELINE UPDATE. Breaking News that Keystone I was shut down by the US Department of Transportation on Friday led to a brief Lincoln Jouranal Star article on Sunday that TransCanada had “passed the safety test” and the pipeline could re-start sending toxic tar sands oil through out region. We await the DOT re-start Order for confirmation. There has never been a successful pipeline opposition campaign in the US. Please help save our Nebraska land and water from more corporate exploitation, and join Nebraska’s opposition efforts. The Department of State public comment period ends at midnight, Monday, June 6, 2011. This week, Nebraska’s Joel Sartore wrote a Local View for the LJS, “Piping in some common sense.” Published June 5th, the internationally regarded National Geographic photographer and speaker says “For the sake of my family, myself and my state, I challenge the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline.” Join him in commenting at links in CD 3 Green Notes below, if you haven’t done so yet.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

NIOBRARA: JEWEL OF THE NORTH . . . “Niobrara: Jewel of the North,” a 42-minute educational documentary, tells the story of Nebraska’s Niobrara River during the four seasons–from its headwaters in eastern Wyoming, through the National Scenic River stretch near Valentine, and on to its mouth at the Missouri River. It will be broadcast for the first time on NET2 (channel 12.2 in Lincoln) on the following schedule: Thursday, June 9, 8:00pm, Sunday, June 12, 2:00pm, Thursday, June 16, 7:00pm, and Sunday, June 19, 1:00pm. After June 9th, the film will be available online here.

LANDSCAPING FOR WILDLIFE . . . Thursday, June 9, 2011, 7:00pm, Dave Titterington, founder of the Wild Bird Habitat Stores, will present “Landscaping for Wildlife” at the Wachiska Audubon monthly meeting, Union College Dick Administration Building lower level auditorium, 3800 South 48th Street, Lincoln. For more information, click here, phone 402.486.4846, or e-mail wachiskaoffice [at] inebraska [dot] com.

WATCHDOGS OF LINCOLN GOVERNMENT . . . The new group Watchdogs of Lincoln Government has been monitoring Joint Public Agency meetings following progress on the new Haymarket arena. Watchdog Bob Olson is quoted in “Railroad demand frustrates arena board.” The article begins, “A private citizen said what others in the room likely were thinking about the city’s lack of power as construction begins on the West Haymarket arena.” “JPA will pay BNSF another $3.4 million for construction delay,” reports details of the first additional cost demanded by BNSF. “White elephant,” a letter to the editor by Marc Schniederjans, published June 3rd, also says what Greens and No2Arena coalition members said all along: “For those of us who easily could see that the Lincoln arena project would be a constant drain on taxes, it comes as no surprise that before the project has really begun, it’s already costing millions of extra dollars.” The next Watchdogs group meeting will be Saturday, June 11, 2011, 10:00am, at Gere Library, 2400 South 56th Street (56th & Normal Blvd.) in Lincoln. CPA Ron Ecklund will demonstrate how to access and read the City budget online.

LINCOLN FARMERS MARKETS . . . Farmers markets are now open in Lincoln. The Haymarket Farmers Market is open every Saturday, 8:00am to noon, in the Haymarket District at 7th & P Streets. Expect to find more than 120 vendors with fresh produce, flowers, baked goods and handmade items plus a performance showcase featuring local folk, jazz, blues and classical music. The Market continues through October 15th. Every Sunday, from 10:00am to 2:00pm, the Old Cheney Road Farmers Market at 5500 Old Cheney Road features in-season heirloom and traditional produce, artisan breads and cheeses, homemade baked goods, wild-crafted and traditional jams, jelly, honey, meats, fish, eggs, and bedding plants. The Piedmont Farmers Market is open Saturdays, 8:00am to noon, at 1265 South Cotner, through mid-September. Saturday Farmers Markets at the FARM, 11855 Yankee Hill Road, 9:00am to noon, run until October 29th. Community CROPS, 1551 South 2nd Street, has garden pick-up 4:00 to 6:00pm Monday and Thursday, May 23 through October 20. Other markets have now started, and more will start in July. Find out what’s new this year, check an interactive map of Lincoln’s Farmers Markets, Farms and Community Supported Agriculture programs, and learn more about markets, CSAs, and local farms at the Buy Fresh, Buy Local Facebook page.

Omaha area: Congressional District 2

OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film is “Restrepo,” a feature-length documentary that chronicles the deployment of a platoon of US soldiers in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. Watch the trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

PROGRESSIVE OMAHA MEETING . . . The next Progressive Omaha meeting will be Saturday, June 11, 2011, 6:00 to 9:00pm, at 4924 Chicago in Dundee (NE corner of 50th & Chicago). Curtis Bryant, a founding member of Progressive Omaha, will speak about a way to make Omaha more livable and progressive: transportation reform. There will be a potluck supper between 6:00 and 7:00; then the discussion until 8:00; followed by business and social time until 9:00pm. Contact Karen Abrams, kabrams123 [at] cox [dot] net for more information.

RIDE OAK CREEK TRAIL . . . Sunday, June 12, 2011, there will be a 26 mile round trip Sierra Club Bike Outing along the Oak Creek Trail between Valparaiso and Brainard, Nebraska. This former Union Pacific rail winds its way through wooded, rolling hills and offers “highland” vistas along the way. A description of the trail is here. A trail map is here. [pdf] Bikers will leave from Wohlner’s Grocery Store, Stinson Park, 72nd and Center, at 8:30am sharp. The drive to the trailhead will take about 1.5 hours. For more information, or to rsvp, contact Bob Goetschkes, bobbygoetschkes [at] hotmail [dot] com, or phone 402.614.4788 (Home) or 402.326.1775 (Cell).

Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3

KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . This was Friday’s BREAKING NEW: “First Ever US Department Of Transportation Order Shuts Down Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline for Corrective Action.” Published in Wildlife Promise, June 3, 2011, the article begins “As the State Department likely wraps up a comment period on the second round of environmental review for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline on Monday, the US Department of Transportation today issued a first-ever “Corrective Action Order” for the leak-prone one year old Keystone pipeline. The order requires TransCanada to meet 14 conditions before the pipeline can restart and raises serious doubts about TransCanada’s ability to build safe tar sands pipelines.” At the National Wildlife Federation blog DOT says, “After evaluating the foregoing preliminary findings of fact, I find that the continued operation of the pipeline without corrective measures would be hazardous to life, property and the environment” The Order to TransCanada from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is here.
The Lincoln Journal Star front page headline Saturday, June 4, 2011, proclaimed “Pipeline remains closed.” It reported “A federal safety regulator Friday ordered operations on the Keystone petroleum pipeline — the TransCanada line that crosses eastern Nebraska — to remain shut down until the federal agency “is confident that all immediate safety concerns have been addressed.” The Order to TransCanada from Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is here.
Martha Stoddard’s Omaha World Herald article “Keystone pipeline shut down,” quotes Sierra’s Ken Winston saying the order calls into question promises TransCanada has made about its ability to operate a pipeline properly.
The DOT Order followed the closing of Keystone I after the twelfth leak in less than one year. Quoting Anthony Swift on the Natural Resources Defense Council staff blog, June 1st, “The first Keystone tar sands pipeline, constructed less than a year ago, has sprung its twelfth leak, spilling up to 2,100 gallons of raw tar sands crude oil in Kansas on May 29th when a pipeline fitting around a pressure transmitter failed. This comes just three weeks after a broken pipe fitting on Keystone resulted in a 60’ geyser of tar sands crude, spewing 21,000 gallons in North Dakota. Surely this appalling record of spills should send a message to the State Department as it goes through the permitting process for a second tar sands pipeline – Keystone XL – by the same company that we need better pipeline safety assessments and regulations in place before building another tar sands pipeline through sensitive U.S. lands and waters. We have an agency that handles pipeline safety – the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). They should be making the assessment of the safety of diluted bitumen pipelines a priority.” The DOT stepped up days later. Now there is a brief LJS article indicating TransCanada has already “passed the safety test” and can restart Keystone I. Until we see the Department of Transportation re-start Order, this is being regarded as unconfirmed. Quoting BOLD Nebraska’s Jane Kleeb, “to us this all seems very fast–too fast for any level of comfort of safety.”
The deadline for comments to the State Department on the proposed XL tar sands pipeline through Nebraska’s Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer, on the official Comments Page is Monday, June 6, 2011, at midnight. If you haven’t commented yet, please invite Secretary of State Clinton to visit the Sand Hills, see our unique ecosystem, and meet the people who will be most effected by XL pipeline construction. Ask her to stand up to Big Oil and NOT grant a permit to TransCanda. Remind her that the “European Union may blacklist tar sands because of higher greenhouse gas emissions.”
Petitions still open to signatures requesting the denial of a permit to TransCanada include “Stop the TransCanada Pipeline” to Secretary Clinton, Governor Heineman, and President Obama; “Protect Nebraska; Say NO to Tar Sands;” “Protect Nebraska’s Economic Activity, Put the Brakes on the Pipeline;” “Protect Your Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” and a Brave New Foundation petition to Clinton, “Say No to the Kochs and Yes to Protecting Americans.” Please sign them all, and add personal comments of concern for our ecosystem if you wish. “Time’s Running Out to Stop the Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline — Take Action Now,” by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, June 3, 2011 also links a new petition to Secretary Clinton.
TransCanada representatives are making the rounds to county meetings all along the pipeline route. On June 1st, they held a media event covered by Art Hovey for Lincoln Journal Star. “Keystone XL proponents rally round the cause” mentions the presence of opposition activists, who happen to be Greens. Quoting, “Although all the panel members were pro-pipeline, two protesters took up positions outside the room during the panelists’ remarks. John Carlini of Lincoln carried a sign that said “No Dirty Oil Over Our Aquifer.” Shari Schwartz, also of Lincoln, stood nearby with one that said “Nebraska Can’t Afford An Oil Spill.” Carlini is quoted in the article. The next XL pep rally will be Wednesday, June 8th, at Walnut Grove Park, 15050 Q Street, in Omaha–for those who want to hear propaganda, ask questions, and learn about what the Canadian company plans to do next.
Meanwhile, “the Domina Law Group is investigating a class-action lawsuit against the XL pipeline, saying the company may be abusing eminent domain laws to bully Nebraska landowners into making way for the pipeline. Environmental groups are hoping that if even a few landowners can block the pipeline from running over their turf, they can force the pipeline to be re-routed.” Keystone Facing Potential Legal Hurdle, was reported at POLITICO.
A new Nebraska Sierra 9:45 minute YouTube video of pipeline opponents speaking at the May 12, 2011 Citizen Hearing in the capitol rotunda was posted online this past week. Many letters to the Lincoln Journal Star have been published in the year since the public started realizing the threat posed by TransCanada. Letters linked in Green Notes since May 30, 2010 are in archives here. (Scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Notes.) Comprehensive news coverage related to the XL pipeline is also linked in archives.
What can you do now that the legislative session has ended and the official Department of State comment period expires June 6th? Keep writing letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Keep the issue alive in conversations at the kitchen table, in cafes, churches, and clubs around Nebraska. E-mail actions [at] boldnebraska [dot] org for yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts. More actions EveryOne can take are listed here.
Be a community educator and organizer. Let’s change the world together.
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for oil.“

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.

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

STOP THE PIPELINE