Bold Nebraska submitted comments to the Nebraska Public Service Commission request for public comment as they create the rules and regulations around oil pipeline route certification. We also submitted a legal/policy “green paper” from the Domina Law Group outlining the legal authority the state of Nebraska has when it comes to oil pipelines and eminent domain.
Our recommendations include guidelines for definitions of public utilities, common carriers, and high consequence areas, as well as criteria for emergency response plans and public transparency.
Domina Law Group “Green Paper”
PSC proposed rules + regulations for oil pipelines (reminder, this does not yet apply to TransCanada’s pipeline, but if the lawsuit is successful these rules will apply)
We’d like to say a big thank you to all the people who helped us by offering opinions, advice, and stories of personal experience. There are far too many of you to list, but just know that if you came to one of our citizen meetings and spoke, wrote us a letter, sent us an email or called us, your words and ideas helped shape our words and ideas.
Attend the Hearing:
The PSC will hold a meeting on June 18th at 10:00 AM at the Commission Hearing Room, 1200 N Street, in Lincoln.
This is a critical meeting for people to attend, participate in the process, observe how the PSC is handling things, and provide input and comments.
The PSC process got even more critical given the lawsuit that was just filed by citizens because if the lawsuit wins, then the PSC process will govern TransCanada’s Keystone XL route and eminent domain procedure.
We are glad to be working with the PSC, and consider it a huge improvement over the old way of letting pipeline companies do whatever they wanted without any oversight, guidelines or penalties for wrongdoing.
Please consider attending the workshop and submitting written comments. As we saw during the State Department hearings last September, public input can have a big impact, and Nebraskans set a prime example of how citizen leadership can get results.
We will continue to work hard to ensure Nebraska’s laws and leaders are responsible to the needs of the citizens.
Submit Your Own Comments and Ideas:
We also want to remind everyone that the PSC process is still ongoing. We encourage Nebraskans to send comments to:
Nebraska Public Service Commission
PO Box 94927
Lincoln, NE 68509-4927
You can also send commnets via email: rose.price@nebraska.gov AND angela.melton@nebraska.gov.
