Nebraska

Chapter

P.O. Box 4664, Omaha, NE

68104
http://sierranebraska.org/
www.facebook.com/NebraskaSierraClub
February 17, 2015
The Nebraska Sierra Club called on Speaker Boehner of the US House of Representatives to
apologize to Nebraska landowners and Native Americans for calling opponents of the
Keystone XL pipeline extremists and anarchists.
It is unfortunate that Speaker Boehner has chosen to engage in cheap political demagoguery
against hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens, said Ken Winston, Nebraska
Sierra Club Policy Advocate. Even more appalling is the silence of members of the Nebraska
delegation who have failed to speak up for their own constituents. Although Speaker Boehner may
be deaf to Nebraskans, our own elected officials should speak up for the people they are supposed
to represent.
Closer to home, we are pleased that Judge Kozisek enjoined TransCanada from taking land from
Nebraska landowners last week. The fact that a foreign, for-profit corporation was using a law that
has been declared unconstitutional by every judge who has ruled on it to try to take land from
Nebraska landowners is just one more brazen attempt to circumvent our laws and democratic
processes. Such attempts to undermine the constitutional rights of Americans cannot be in the best
interests of the United States.
President Obama has all the information he needs to deny the permit. Study after study has
concluded that it violates his climate test because it will significantly increase greenhouse gas
emissions. It is clearly not in the national interest because it only benefits foreign corporations and
foreign governments while risking vital American resources, such as our Ogallala Aquifer and our
many important rivers. The reality of the risks to our resources has been demonstrated time after
time by major pipeline leaks. It is time for President Obama to deny the permit for KXL and end
this nightmare; a nightmare of threats against American landowners by a foreign corporation,
threats to our vital American resources by one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet and threats to our
childrens future from excessive greenhouse gas emissions.
Contact: Ken Winston, kwinston@inebraska.com, 402-212-3737