Update: a group of pipeline advocates brought 91 ears of corn to represent the 91 oil spills that could happen if the pipeline gets built, see pictures here. While Rep. Terry’s bill to rush the pipeline through did pass the House, it is dead on arrival in the Senate. This bill was reckless and a waste of tax payer dollars.

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Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) has it bad for TransCanada.  In fact, he may as well change his name from Lee Terry to Lee TransCanada.  

Rep. Lee TransCanada wants to rush the pipeline right through the Sandhills and Ogallala Aquifer.  Rather than base the decision on science, he rushed a bill (HR 1938) through the House Energy and Commerce Committee that says Sec. Clinton must make a decision by Nov. 1st, even if the studies have not been finalized. 

The bill now heads to the full House for a vote supposedly this Tuesday (July 26th). Rep. Fortenberry has signaled he will vote “NO” on the bill. Senator Johanns has said he does not agree with the bill. So why is Lee loving TransCanada and pushing this bill? 

Rep. Lee TransCanada is bought and paid for by big oil. Even if the bill passes the House, the bill is going nowhere. It has no chance of passing the Senate. The State Department said on a call last week that the bill is unnecessary because they will make a decision by December. So, this bill has a lot to say about who Lee Terry stands up for and it’s not Randy, its TransCanada and their big oil buddies.

As a side note this is the FIRST bill Terry has authored that has gotten out of committee other than re-naming a post office…that is just sad and shows he does not listen to Nebraskans’ concerns for safe pipelines and clean water.

Nebraska and national groups sent a joint letter to Rep. Terry and we hope you join us in taking action to stop this risky pipeline bill.

TAKE ACTION

Email, Tweet or write on Terry’s Facebook wall letting him know his pipeline bill is reckless and he needs to pull it now.

You can also post your opposition to the pipeline on his new “Lee Listens” site, http://www.leelistens.com

Tweet This: It’s time to stand w/ Randy @leeterryne, your reckless #pipeline bill shows us you stand with TransCanada and big oil https://boldnebraska.org/lee-transcanada

Jeff Koterba What's the Delay

More on Rep. Lee TransCanada and AFP, the Lovers of Koch


Rep. TransCanada recently spoke at poorly attended rally hosted by the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity.  There, he opined on the need to make our country energy independent (which we agree on) and how President Obama is to blame for our high gas prices (which we disagree on).

Josh Dorner recently wrote a post for ThinkProgress that explains how high gas prices have nothing to do with Obama.  Our pain at the pump is the result of high volatility in the oil speculation markets.  You know who’s made a killing in oil speculation?  The Koch brothers. They’re also heavily invested in the Canadian tar sands and fund astroturf groups like AFP.

But showing up at an AFP rally isn’t the only evidence we have against Congressman TransCanada.  We were just as disturbed by his presence as we were by his actual speech.  He tried to paint some half-brained picture of TransCanada’s Keystone XL being a choice between Venezuelan oil and Canadian oil that are essentially the same thing.

Well, we know that’s 100% wrong.  Comparing the Venezuelan crude with Canadadian tar sands is like comparing American football with international football (aka “soccer”).  Sure, they’ve got the same name, but they’re totally different games.

The Keystone XL will carry tar sands oil that has to be heavily diluted with chemicals so that it can flow through pipes.  It’s highly corrosive which means the pipeline is much more likely to leak than traditional crude pipelines.  We’ve seen the proof of that this summer with the first Keystone pipeline having 12 leaks in less than 1 year.

What’s more, we’ve heard this “Venezuela vs. Canada” rhetoric from someone else: a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute.  API is a mouthpiece for TransCanada and the Koch brothers.  We wish we were shocked to hear Rep. TransCanada parroting special interest lobbyists, but he’s done it before.

Instead of listening to citizens like Randy Thompson, Nebraska’s congressman from the Second District has become the spokesman for TransCanada.  Instead taking our concerns to DC, he’s telling us what TransCanada and the Koch Brothers want.

Building a dirty tar sands pipeline won’t bring down gas prices.  As proof, we’d like to point out that less that a week after this absurd astroturf event, gas prices tumbled across the country. The only way to make America truly energy independent is to invest in domestic sources of energy.

Another bonus to investing in clean energy?  JOBS.  Clean energy investments create 16.7 jobs for every $1 million in spending while fossil fuels only generate 5.3 for the same cost.  The Center for American Progress found that Nebraska could see a net increase of $930 million in investment revenue and 11,000 jobs based on its share of a total of $150 billion in clean energy investments across the country.  Compare that to the 1,200 jobs the Keystone XL would bring to Nebraska, only 120-200 of which would go to Nebraskans, and the $150 million in property taxes TransCanada would pay to our state.

We know where Lee Terry stands: with TransCanada and their cronies at AFP.

(Cartoon above was originally printed in the Omaha World-Herald on June 5.)