Uncertainty following Nebraska court ruling on KXL

News

From Domina Law Group:

David Domina: “Since last Friday, I’ve seen hundreds, maybe thousands, of news stories saying that a hurdle to TransCanada’s construction was removed. Any thoughtful reading of the Supreme Court’s opinion clearly discloses that’s not the case. Nebraska landowners have not had a fifth judge, as is required by our state constitution, vote on the validity of Nebraska’s statute. What we do know is that every Nebraska judge who has cast a vote on that question has been with the property owners.”

Watch the full video explainer on YouTube.

#NOKXL Rally at Rep. Ashford’s Office Tuesday

Action Alerts

From BOLD Nebraska:

Rep. Brad Ashford says we need to build the Keystone Pipeline and get on to bigger questions about the environment. Here in Nebraska, you would think that protecting the Ogallala Aquifer and the Sandhills would be the biggest environmental concern of our elected officials.

If you agree, come join Omaha Pipeline Fighters supported by Bold Nebraska at noon tomorrow in front of Brad Ashford’s Omaha office to express your disappointment over his vote to support the Keystone Pipeline:

  • WHAT: #NOKXL Rally at Rep. Brad Ashford’s Office
  • WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m
  • WHERE: 7126 Pacific Street (next to Clancy’s Pub)

Click here to RSVP so the organizers know you’re coming.

Keystone XL job gains: A sick joke

News,

From The New York Times:

It should come as no surprise that the very first move of the new Republican Senate is an attempt to push President Obama into approving the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Canadian tar sands. After all, debts must be paid, and the oil and gas industry — which gave 87 percent of its 2014 campaign contributions to the G.O.P. — expects to be rewarded for its support.

But why is this environmentally troubling project an urgent priority in a time of plunging world oil prices? Well, the party line, from people like Mitch McConnell, the new Senate majority leader, is that it’s all about jobs.

Read the full article.

After Nebraska Supreme Court ruling, Keystone XL is up to Obama

News

From BOLD Nebraska:

In a split decision, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled on Friday to allow LB 1161 to stand. Four of the seven justices sided with landowners, but we needed five to win — as a “supermajority” of concurring justices is required when constitutional issues are raised.

The Nebraska Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that stated the Unicameral and Governor used an illegal routing process for the Keystone XL pipeline.

TransCanada is left with a risky route to defend. The decision is now in Pres. Obama’s hands. This is a bad day for property rights in Nebraska. Private, foreign corporations now know they can buy their way through our state.

This ruling does clear the way for the State Department to complete their analysis and for federal agencies to weigh in on risks to water and climate.

We are confident the President will stand with farmers, ranchers and tribal communities and reject Keystone XL once and for all.

Read more, including legal analysis, from BOLD Nebraska.

Read the Nebraska Supreme Court ruling.

Tell Rep. Ashford to Vote NO on KXL

Action Alerts,

From BOLD Nebraska:

Nebraskans saw an opportunity to change the status quo in November when they elected Brad Ashford to represent them in Washington, giving the boot to Republican Rep. Lee Terry — who had served as the top cheerleader for the Keystone XL pipeline in Congress.

Farmers and ranchers who live in the proposed path of Keystone XL have shared with us the many trite “form letters” they have received from Rep. Terry, Senators Deb Fischer and Mike Johanns, and the rest of Nebraska’s all-Republican Congressional delegation, demonstrating that their very real and valid concerns about protecting our land and water from the risky Keystone XL pipeline fell on deaf ears of their elected representatives.

We now call on Rep. Ashford to provide leadership and bring common sense to Nebraska’s Congressional delegation, and vote against the bill to fast-track Keystone XL.

Read more and sign the petition.

Legal analysis: Nebraska and Oklahoma take Colorado to the Supreme Court over legalized marijuana

News,

From Patients for Medical Cannabis:

Earlier this month, the Attorneys General of Nebraska and Oklahoma filed a lawsuit on behalf of their respective states, naming the state of Colorado as the defendant. Nebraska and Oklahoma allege that Colorado’s legalization of marijuana undermines their ability to maintain their own prohibitions of marijuana because Colorado takes inadequate measures to prevent legal intrastate marijuana from crossing state borders, where it enters the illegal market. Taking advantage of a provision of the Constitution covering cases “in which a State shall be Party,” Nebraska and Oklahoma filed their complaint in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Nebraska and Oklahoma v. Colorado raises a number of important procedural and substantive questions, including these: Does Colorado’s marijuana legalization violate federal law or does it merely fail to enforce federal law? And given the essential role that the federal marijuana prohibition plays in the plaintiff states’ case, should the lawsuit be dismissed on the ground that their real complaint lies with the federal government, not Colorado?

Read full analysis.

On Nebraska’s Farmland, Keystone XL Pipeline Debate Is Personal

News,

From NPR:

Drive down gravel Road 22 in Nebraska’s York County, past weathered farmhouses and corn cut to stubble in rich, black loam soil, and you’ll find a small barn by the side of the road.

Built of native ponderosa pine, the barn is topped with solar panels. A windmill spins furiously out front.

Known as the Energy Barn, it’s a symbol of renewable energy, standing smack on the proposed route of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline — a project of the energy giant TransCanada.

Pipeline opponents built the barn two summers ago. And at first, says Jenni Harrington, one of those opponents, “I think a lot of the neighbors didn’t like the barn. They thought it was like poking TransCanada in the eye.

“It took me aback because I was like, ‘Well, what do you think they’re doing, walking on our land and saying, ‘Hey, we’re gonna put a pipeline through it’?”

Read or listen to the two-part radio story.

Nebraska’s Lonely Progressives

News,

From The New York Times:

When I travel to the East or West Coasts, people sometimes ask me, “Why do you live in Nebraska?” Or even, “Have you considered moving?” Outsiders often believe Nebraska is a nondescript state with little to recommend it in culture, politics or landscape. But I reply that Nebraska is my home and that I love its people and its geography. To me there is nothing more beautiful than the muddy Platte River or the vast undulating Sand Hills. Of course, our state can be blistering in the summer, arctic in the winter. It’s a windswept, spare place designed to toughen up its inhabitants.

I also explain that Nebraska needs progressives.

Read the full story.

LES adds wind, solar farms in major push to renewable energy

News,

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Friday was more than a banner day for the Lincoln Electric System. It was equivalent to a seismic shift in the way Lincoln residents will get their power over the next 25 years. Adding power from two wind farms and a solar energy project will increase the utility’s renewable generation portfolio to 48 percent by 2016.

LES will add 173 megawatts of power generated from a wind farm in north-central Kansas and one in northeast Nebraska in 2016 and add a 5-megawatt solar energy farm along Interstate 80 near 75th and West Holdrege streets near the Lincoln airport. The solar farm’s footprint — equivalent to slightly more than 30 acres of land, or about 25 football fields — will be visible to motorists much like the two wind turbines on the east edge of Lincoln.

Read the full story.

Nebraska Report: The Militarization of Our Schools

News

From the November/December 2014 Nebraska Report by Nebraskans for Peace, written by Kevin Haake and Barbara van den Berg of Alternatives to the Military–Lincoln:

One doesn’t need to look very hard to find references to the military in our society. Indeed, the military’s presence is seemingly everywhere: from retail stores’ sales campaigns, sponsorship of running events, football camps, national and local sporting events and television advertisements, to university “welcome-back-to campus” events, and even community festivals, such as Lincoln’s “Rib Fest.” This pervasive culture has also made its way into the corridors, classrooms, study halls and lunch rooms of our schools.

Read the full article.