The Senate voted down an amendment that would have given immediate approval to the Keystone XL export pipeline. Jane Kleeb, our Executive Director, made the following statement:

"Today's vote is an official record of who sides with Nebraskans, our land and water and who sides with TransCanada and their Big Oil allies.

Update: At 1:30pm CT, March 8, the debate and votes begin on the various Keystone XL amendments. Some will do great things like demand TransCanada uses American steel and not imported steel from India and ensure the oil stays in the United States. Other amendments will reverse the President's denial and approve the KXL pipeline for immediate construction.

Watch the US Senate floor debate at 1:30pm CT, click here.

Editor's note: This piece was originally published last night on http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com and was written by Brenda Norrell of Censored News.

Lakotas Alex White Plume, Debra White Plume, Andrew Ironshell, Sam Long Black Cat and Don Iron Shell, were arrested at a blockade of tarsands pipeline trucks.

Senator Janssen and Schilz are still pushing their voter suppression bill, LB 239. The bill not only will decrease the vote, it will cost taxpayers and local counties hundreds of thousands of dollars for a problem that doesn't even exist in our state. 

Senator Schilz has prioritized the voter ID bill which means it could come up for floor debate as early as Monday. You might also have seen Senator Janssen's misleading Facebook ads pushing his bill. It's time for us to make sure our state senators hear from us loud and clear that we need them to defend our right to vote. 

Editor's Note: This article written by Madeline Ostrander originally appeared online at YesMagazine.org. It is also the cover story for the 2012 Spring edition of YES! Magazine.

In modern life, a David versus Goliath conflict rarely ends as neatly as the story—especially when the Goliath is a $7 billion energy project backed by major oil-industry multinationals.

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."

**Update: At 6:54pm on Monday, groups hit the 500,000 Americans telling the US Senate no pipeline riders! Best news yet is the 500,000th person was a Nebraskan. More on that person soon! We are blowing by that goal and now hoping for 600,000, sign the petition and pass it around!**

Congressional Republicans' attempts to revive the Keystone XL pipeline are driving massive public opposition. Almost 40 environmental, labor and progressive organizations have banded together to collect 500,000 signatures in 24 hours on a petition opposing the pipeline that will be delivered to Senate leaders.

Sign the Petition

Bold is joining almost 40 national and state advocacy organizations and businesses that are planning a massive online day of action on Monday to oppose efforts to overturn President's Obama's decision and resurrect the Keystone XL pipeline.

Update 2/14: After lots of calls and grassroots actions, Sen. Schumer has confirmed he will oppose any KXL ammendments! "Senator Schumer will be voting against the proposed amendment that includes Keystone XL and is working with Majority Leader Reid to defeat the amendment." --Martin Brennan, state director, Sen. Schumer

We need the Senate to stand strong against back door deals to ramrod Keystone XL through. With critical bills like transportation and another extension of the payroll tax cut coming up, we cannot afford political games that put our land and water at risk.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to advance Rep. Lee Terry’s bill that would require Federal Energy Regulator Commission (FERC) to approve the (already denied) Keystone XL pipeline in 30 days. In short, it’s awful. We never thought we would say this, but we actually miss the days when Lee Terry did nothing on Capitol Hill, except of course naming a post office and drinking with lobbyists.

Even FERC, the agency that Terry tosses the pipeline decision to instead of the president, hates the bill. They testified that they have no experience with oil pipelines, let alone tar sands pipelines. Additionally, the bill doesn’t give them any real authority and leaves them no time to build a defensible decision (read: we won’t be able to defend this when people sue us).