In a 24-hour period beginning at 11am CT yesterday, a coalition of over 40 organizations and businesses -- from CREDO Mobile to Bold Nebraska to Patagonia -- launched a 24 hour “signature bomb” with the goal of sending the Senate over 500,000 messages opposing Keystone XL and urging Senators to block any amendments that would reverse the President's pipeline rejection. The goal was surpassed with a total number reaching over 770,000.  Those signatures are being hand-delivered to Senator Reid and Senator McConnell today.

"Congressional Republicans might make sweetheart deals with Big Oil," said Jane Kleeb, Director of BOLD Nebraska and a leader of the movement against Keystone XL. "But folks in the Heartland and across America are focused on keeping this pipeline from risking Americans water supply, our climate, and our clean energy future."

This page is intended for members of the press. We want to make sure you have folks to interview and pictures to utilize.

The action we are asking citziens to take in response of the denial, is to sign a thank you card/poster to the President, the image on the poster is Nebraskans holding signs thanking the President.

Today, the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality issued the statement below, saying they've given TransCanada an official map of the Sandhills. TransCanada promised during the Pipeline Special Session to reroute their Keystone XL pipeline around Nebraska's sensitive Sandhills. We have not yet heard TransCanada's reaction to the new map, but there are some visible differences from the map we were told they were previously using.

In reaction to the news, Jane Kleeb said, "Bold Nebraska trusts NDEQ to conduct a thorough review of the proposed new route and look out for our state's precious resources. We trust TransCanada to do what's best for their bottom line, not what's best for Nebraska. That is why we'll continue to ask citizens and landowners to participate in the review process."

The following press release was submitted by: Nebraska Sierra Club, Bold Nebraska, Nebraska Green Party, Audubon Nebraska, Nebraska League of Women Voters, Nebraska Wildlife Federation, Nebraska Interfaith Power and Light, Guardians of the Good Life

Groups are releasing a resolution from the Citizens' Special Session that makes it clear, we expect the legislature to pass a law that keeps oil pipelines away from the Sandhills and underlying Ogallala Aquifer.

The results are in: our new pipeline poll shows that Nebraskans overwhelming support a potential ballot proposition that would authorize the state to regulate oil pipeline routes, water paths, and safety plans.

An amazing 64% of voters say they would vote yes on this proposition, with support never dropping below 54% among any major demographic group.

Groups that have been working on the pipeline this past year applaud Senator Sullivan and the Unicameral for passing at least one bill on the pipeline this year.  However, we all agree with the senators who said that LB 629 is a small step in the many steps we need to take as a state to protect our land, water and economic activity.

Five state senators, ranging across party and ideological lines, signed and sent a letter to Sec. Clinton with a common-sense request: delay the pipeline permit decision until at least May 2012 so the senators can implement state laws that will protect our state's economic and natural resources.  We thank Senators Haar, Coash, Dubas, Fulton and Sullivan for seeking the time necessary to establish standards to protect our state from the risks of a foreign corporation’s tarsands pipeline.

Today Nebraska groups presented members of the press community with a recently uncovered memo that proves, yet again, Nebraska does indeed have a role, right and duty to decide on oil pipeline routes, eminent domain and several other aspects of oil pipelines.  

Nebraska elected officials have had this memo, and this proof of the states role in regulating oil pipelines, since September 2010 and yet have continued to say our state has no role in pipeline routing, eminent domain and other areas of pipeline safety regulations.

State Department Issues Statement on New Supplemental Study:
Groups Call on Elected Leaders to Take Immediate Action to Protect Land and Water

Who: Nebraska Sierra Club, Bold Nebraska, Nebraska Wildlife Federation, Nebraska Green Party, 350.org, Nebraskans for Peace, Guardians of the Good Life

A diverse contingent returned to Nebraska yesterday after lobbying their Congressional delegation, the EPA and the State Department to protect the Ogallala Aquifer.  At each meeting, the group asked for the Keystone XL pipeline to have a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) and for consideration of an alternate pipeline route that avoids the Nebraska Sandhills.  The State Department will ultimately decide if the project receives a presidential permit or not.

The group consisted of representatives from the Nebraska Sierra Club, Nebraska Wildlife Federation, Bold Nebraska, the Nebraska League of Conservation Voters, Nebraska Farmers Union and local landowners.  Affected landowners from Texas and South Dakota joined the Nebraska contingency to lobby the EPA and State Department.  Ken Winston of the Nebraska Sierra Club noted, “Any time you have people from Texas and Nebraska on the same side of an issue, you know it’s significant.”