There’s one question we are asking every Nebraskan, including all of our elected officials, this summer: Do you stand with Randy or do you stand with TransCanada?  

Click here to see the list of "I Stand with Randy" events.

Click here to get an "I Stand with Randy" facebook profile image and more...

Buy an "I Stand with Randy" t-shirt.

Attend the event at Gov. Heineman's mansion on Friday, August 5, 9pm. Bring a flashlight and a friend to circle Heineman's mansion

We are calling on all Nebraskans to attend an event August 5-7 to show that you stand with Randy.

If we were talking face-to-face, you’d probably ask, “Who the heck is Randy?”  Well, we’d love to introduce you.  

Randy Thompson is a landowner from Merrick County who has put up with TransCanada’s bullying for the last three years, and now he’s asking you to lend a hand protecting our land and water.  You see, there is no reason to rush the risky TransCanada pipeline, but that is exactly what some elected officials, including Rep. Terry, are doing.

Until TransCanada approached Randy about running a risky tarsands pipeline through his family's land, he wasn’t really involved in politics.  He didn't write letters to the editor or ask for meetings with Senators.  But when his land, family and legacy was threatened, he put his boot down.

Randy is a Nebraska farmer and stockman who’s always got the right story to keep the pipeline fight in perspective.  This is one of our favorites: Randy was chatting with his barber when she dropped the comb she was using and went to replace it with a new one.  Randy told her not to, but she explained that state health regulations prevented her from using a comb that had been on the floor.  The fact that Nebraska’s barbers have more regulations than TransCanada outraged Randy and us.

Whenever we get frustrated in this fight, we think of Randy.  He cracks jokes about the politicians who have sold out to a foreign company.  He speaks with an sense of honesty and integrity that’s rare nowadays.  He’s held his ground every time TransCanada comes tromping around or when certain politicians try and wriggle out of his critical eye.

So Nebraskans, tell us, who do you stand with?  Do you stand with TransCanada?  Or do you stand with Randy?

If you stand with Randy, we ask that you show it.  It can be as simple as changing your profile pic to the "I Stand with Randy" image.

We are keeping tabs on elected officials and where they stand.  If you have ideas on other elected officials, send them our way.  We must keep elected officials accountable to Nebraskans, to Randy.

Randy submitted testimony to Congress and his words keep us all motivated to keep pushing, to keep standing our ground because if we don’t, then who will?

We all have shared concerns that a pipeline of this magnitude and inherent risks could endanger our livelihoods and way of life. Most all of these family operations have been built through decades of hard work and love for the land on which we live. Our families have invested too much blood, sweat, and tears to simply sit back and let a foreign corporation take a portion of our hard earned land for their private use and gain.

When a company like TransCanada comes along and tries to bully and intimidate us into signing unwanted easement agreements it only serves to make us more determined, and we plant our feet a little firmer in the sand.

I do not consider myself to be an environmentalist in the true sense of the word, instead, as with most Nebraska farmers and ranchers I consider myself to be a conservationist. We need to be conservationist and stewards of the land because if we’re not, the land won’t return to us what we need to survive. The government has recognized a need to conserve our water, our soils, and other natural resources, and it has spent billions of dollars sponsoring various conservation programs in order to achieve that goal.

Submerging a giant risky oil pipeline into our land and water resources certainly seems contrary to those  goals. The damage to the fragile Nebraska Sandhills during the construction phase of this pipeline could literally undo decades of conservation work, ranchers in that area of Nebraska have tried many different methods over the years to keep their sandy soils from blowing away, the pipeline represents a devastating set back to those efforts.

We Nebraskans may be a little independent and hardheaded but we’re not uninformed. We  have witnessed the results of other pipeline spills and associated problems throughout  this country, and that’s why we are wary of this proposed project.