Read today's news from around the state and country. Each day in the Roundup we cover politics, always with a side of bold humor. We think politics should be fun, informative and encourage us all to take action.

York and Polk County landowners and citizens have organized themselves into a new group called The Good Life Alliance. Their goal is to stop the pipeline and along the way they want to pull together with other Nebraskans to get in place common sense zoning regulations, oil spill response plans and resolutions on tarsands pipelines near our water supplies.

Bold Nebraska and our partner groups like the Farmers Union and NEAT are proud of citizens taking action to get the proper regulations in place. Elected officials should welcome the new energy happening in county courthouse up and down the proposed pipeline route.

The latest cartoon from Neal Obermeyer parodies the popular support for Keystone XL here in the U.S.

The "Pipeline Posse" is organizing a Horseback Trail Ride and campout in Holt County, Nebraska on Saturday and Sunday, June 22-23.

In a victory for citizens, landowners and property rights advocates, TransCanada today released a press statement that said it "has begun the process of de-registering certain easements that it has acquired for its original Keystone XL Pipeline route in Nebraska."  The holding of these easements has been a controversial topic among pipeline landowners ever since President Obama denied the permit for the pipeline and the route was abandoned.  Many farmers and ranchers felt that they had been coerced into signing the easements under duress, faced with TransCanada's arbitrary deadlines and threats of eminent domain.  Others worried that the permanent, perpetual easements on their property for an abandoned pipeline route would be re-sold to other (possibly foreign) corporations for other purposes.

NEAT, Bold Nebraska and landowners have been a huge part in shaping the dialogue around this issue. We have consistently told the media and discussed in community meetings our review of Rescission Lawsuits (challenging the old easements and forcing TransCanada to release and void the easements) and all of these combined efforts have led to TransCanada’s recent announcement.

For interested parties: We will close out the RFP application process at midnight on Friday, June 14^th, 2013.  We will then review the RFP responses and will notify applicants by email of the decision by end of business day on Friday, June 21^st.

Bold Nebraska Request for Proposal on Summer Heat Wind, Solar Building Projects

The lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Keystone XL pipeline route in Nebraska is moving forward with a decision by Lancaster County District Court Judge Stephanie Stacy.

Three landowners sued Governor Heineman and the State of Nebraska in 2012 arguing LB 1161 violated the Nebraska State Constitution that makes it clear common carriers are regulated by the Public Service Commission. LB 1161 took that authority away from the PSC and instead gave the Department of Environmental Quality, an arm of the Governor's office, authority to review the route and gave Gov. Heineman exclusive authority to approve a pipeline route thus giving TransCanada immediate eminent domain powers. LB 1161 further violates the state's constitution by offering no due process for eminent domain or an avenue to challenge the routing process.

"TransCanada and some of our elected officials like Lee Terry continue to say everything is fine in Nebraska and that everyone is fine with the route, our citizen lawsuit was filed to ensure they are held accountable for an unconstitutional law and a flawed routing process," said Randy Thompson, Nebraska landowner and plaintiff.

The lawsuit is on firm ground and was strengthened this week with Judge Stacy's ruling. The State of Nebraska, through Attn. Gen. Bruning, attempted to have the case dismissed two separate times with the citizens winning each challenge.

Judge Stacy also allowed the citizens' request to add an additional claim to the lawsuit arguing if Governor Heineman acted under an unconstitutional law then any acts flowing from Governor's approval of the Keystone XL route are also unconstitutional. This means, if the citizens win the lawsuit, the route and eminent domain process for TransCanada are thrown out and TransCanada must go through the PSC to get their route approved and they don't have eminent domain powers in Nebraska until the PSC process is completed and PSC approval occurs.

"A foreign corporation should not be able to write new rules for their project in our state," said Susan Dunavan, landowner and plaintiff. "We have faith in the judicial branch of our government will side with our state's constitution and ensure the laws we put forth protect our basic property rights and due process."

There is a July 19th Court Hearing at 3pm in Lincoln where a schedule for the trial will be determined.

Bold Nebraska maintains a website with updates on the lawsuit including the recent ruling from Judge Stacy at: http://boldnebraska.org/lawsuit

Additional Information at Domina Law Group: http://www.dominalaw.com/transcanada

Read today's news from around the state and country. Each day in the Roundup we cover politics, always with a side of bold humor. We think politics should be fun, informative and encourage us all to take action.

Environmental leaders hosted a press conference in Washington, DC today, to call for an investigation by the State Department Investigator General of the flawed Keystone XL review process. We also submitted a petition started by Bold Nebraska's own Chelsea Johnson, with over 2,000 signers demanding that Sec. Kerry halt the Keystone XL review process and investigate conflicts of interest in the State Dept. environmental impact report.