Posted In: News, Pipeline, Health
10 Things You Can Do to Ensure Local Control of Pipeline Decisions and Protect Our Resources
(Download the Action Guide as a PDF)
Nebraska groups and citizens are taking action and speaking out to protect our resources from the risky TransCanada pipeline. Groups involved include Audubon Nebraska, Bold Nebraska, Guardians of the Good Life, Nebraska Farmers Union, Nebraska Green Party, Nebraska League of Conservation Voters, Nebraska Sierra Club, Nebraska Wildlife Federation, Nebraskans for Peace and the local chapter of 350.org.
Consider testifying at the hearing on the new pipeline bills, for more info click here.
1. Stay connected to www.boldnebraska.org
Bold Nebraska’s site is a hub for all the work being done on the pipeline. Check out the resource page with maps, sample letters, fact sheets, talking points and a great deal of excellent information from state and national partner groups. We post upcoming events and other groups’ websites for more information. Click here to sign up for our email list.
2. Write “Thank You” Letters
Write “Thank You” letters to State Senators Fulton, Haar and Dubas as well as US Senators Johanns and Nelson to thank them for their efforts to protect the our state’s resources. All of these elected officials have taken extra steps on behalf of landowners, and some are working on bills that will put state laws in place to protect our resources. Click here for elected officials' addresses, emails and sample letters.
3. Write “Do More” Letters
Write "Do More" letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President Obama and Governor Dave Heineman to tell them all they need to do more to protect Nebraska. Make sure they know that most Nebraskans do not support this pipeline and that we all want further study and more community input before the US Department of State or our state government make any more decisions. Click here for elected officials' addresses, emails and sample letters.
4. Start a Community Petition Drive
Over 800 Nebraskans have already signed the petition. You can circulate a petition to your friends or go to local events and get other Nebraskans to join the efforts to protect our resources. Our combined voices will slow down the approval process and allow for further study and community discussion. Click here to download the paper-version petition. You can also circulate the online-petition via email, Facebook and Twitter with this link http://tinyurl.com/protectnebraska.
5. Host a fundraising event
The event could be a church potluck, a concert, an auction or a party. Contact info@boldnebraska.org to get a speaker for your event from one of the groups working on the pipeline. Send all monies to Bold Nebraska at 1141 H Street, 3rd Floor, Lincoln, NE 68508, include a note that the funds are for the pipeline.
6. Organize education and discussion events in your community
Bold Nebraska and other groups in our state will help you with materials. These could be at the Rotary, VFW, Kiwanis or Elks Clubs, the Firehouse, schools, churches, and local libraries or in private homes. Contact info@boldnebraska.org to get a speaker for your event from one of the groups working on the pipeline.
7. Order t-shirts, bumper stickers, yard signs, buttons and information sheets
Bold Nebraska has materials that you can distribute to your friends, family and neighbors. Email info@boldnebraska.org for prices.
8. Donate money
Groups want to continue our grassroots work as well as do more ads in the media. Your donations will help us promote the efforts to protect Nebraska’s resources and pay for media to tell the facts about the dangers of the pipeline. TransCanada is spending millions to promote their pipeline.
9. Discuss the pipeline issues
Talk with your fellow concerned citizens and develop your own action plans. Start a conversation online. Write a letter to the editor. We are not alone, we are not without power and the situation is not hopeless. If we Nebraskans all work together we can influence the decisions that affect our lives.
10. Connect online and spread the word
New media is powerful and a great tool you can use to help spread the word about the opposition to the pipeline. Help your friends know how they can take action. Use Facebook to share events and news from Bold Nebraska’s Facebook page. Follow @littlebirdNE on Twitter for facts about the pipeline and news.
Comments
January 24th 2011
Lee - Nebraska has thousands of miles of safe pipelines. I admire you, but I think that, for political organizing purposes, you illogically linked the Nebraska issue to the B-B spill in the Gulf. Land-based and water-based are not the same thing at all. Look to the science.
January 24th 2011
Malinda Frevert - NE may have thousands of miles of pipelines, but how many of those are oil? The only oil pipeline we know of running across the Cornhusker state is the 1st Keystone. We have not mentioned the BP spill in months. And considering the water table often rises above the ground in the Sandhills, TransCanada can't argue the KXL wouldn't run through our state's most important water source. The sad news is that there are few scientific studies on the delicate ecosystem in the Sandhills. We really on science where we can, but there are some very big holes we can't fill and that TransCanada has not tried to fill.
February 8th 2011
shelly nielsen - the science shows that even digging a fencepost in the fragile ecosystem of the sand hills disrupts it.
February 8th 2011
suz - they are pitting neighbor against neighbor to sign up. if they are so desperate to attain eminant domain by lying, being rude and tacky, what does that say about TransCanada as a whole?!
February 22nd 2011
Delores - why don't they find another route or solution? Why is it always business versus the environment? I think its time we think of the environment first both for us and our future generations. I love Nebraska and feel proud to be a citizen. I don't feel the need to help the oil company with their profits at the risk of our beautiful state and pure aquifer. It's time we start looking for alternatives.
May 11th 2011
Leonard - One thing I havn't seen anything written about is, when this sands oil gets to the gulf, is it staying in the US/Canada market, or is it being refined and shipped overseas? If the oil companies are sending overseas, and we're taking the chance locally for a spill, that's not eithically or maorally right
May 12th 2011
Malinda Frevert - Leonard, the oil is being sent to the Gulf refineries. After it's been processed, it will be sold on the international market like all oil. So there's NO guarantee it'll stay in the US.
June 28th 2011
Mike - Is this more of an environmental issue or more of a NIMBY issue? You say find another route, does that mean you assume no other states have resources or let alone private landowners. No one is thinking logically about the problems. A spill is a tragic thing no matter what the volume but in reality a large volume could not be spilled due to the way the pipeline can be sectioned off.Everyone is so concerned about groundwater but you fail to mention the thousand of LUST sites within the state or the fact that we're all culpable as active consumers of a product. The "find a new route approach" is not a solution it's basically saying I shop at Wal-Mart but be damned if I'll let them build one next to my house. The state already played russian roulette with the Nuclear Wast Pact and I assume we're still paying for that as well. I assume your all for subsidies for ethanol? No logic can be found on this website.
June 28th 2011
Jane Kleeb - Hi again Mike, we believe in America being energy independent. It is one of the main reasons we oppose the TransCanada pipeline. We do believe in ethanol subsidies. We do not believe in oil subsidies since that industry is doing just fine on their own and have been subsidized for far too long. We do not think a permit should be granted for the pipeline, however if it is, we think it must be re-routed out of the Sandhills.
July 1st 2011
Mike - How can you logically be for subsidies for ethanol. While I fully support NE agriculture (have many family and friends in the business and very happy for their success) it's become obvious that ethanol as a whole is doing nothing to make us energy dependent and on a per unit basis requires more input than output it produces. It requires a massive amount of water which comes out of the aquifer you claim your trying to protect. Your claim about oil subsidies is incorrect. They are not subsidies they are tax deferments which are received across the whole gamut of industry. GE, by the way, paid zero and no one seems to notice or take offense to that. The oil and natural gas industry is the second largest contributor to income tax after only us, the private individuals as a group. If you want to end subsidies/tax deferments cut them across the board. Interest credit, ag subsidies, child credit etc all have to go. Government's role is not to chose winners and losers by punishing success. Is your little group a blatant lobby organization as your biased stances have no objectivity or are they based on factual conclusion, You should focus more on fact and not emotional rational. I look forward to your response.