The Ogallala Aquifer is crucial to Nebraska and to the whole countryJane Kleeb is the chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and is also a Bold Nebraska activist. Her letter urging all the Democratic Party presidential candidates to take the NoKXL Pledge yesterday was on behalf of Bold Nebraska. This is the pledge:
• If elected, I pledge to take executive action on Day One to stop any construction on the Keystone XL pipeline-- no matter what-- and revoke the existing presidential permits issued unilaterally by President Trump for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, sending both projects back to relevant federal agencies to undergo legitimate environmental review and Tribal consultations.• I pledge to direct all federal agencies (State Dept., FERC, Army Corps) to submit these two projects, as well as all new pipeline and energy infrastructure projects to a true climate test, and reject permits for any project that would exacerbate our climate crisis.• I pledge to protect the property rights of farmers and ranchers from eminent domain abuse, and to honor the treaties the U.S. Government has signed with sovereign Tribal Nations.
"Presidential candidates, she wrote, "are asked many questions about what they'll do if they are elected. Many of those questions focus on reforming vast structural problems-- which in most cases will also require a separate effort launched by Congress. But we have a question for the Democratic presidential candidates that a newly elected President will have full authority over on Day One in office: Will you reverse President Trump’s reckless, unilateral action to approve a permit and stop the Keystone XL pipeline?"
President Trump took an unprecedented and unilateral action in March 2019 to approve a single pipeline with the stroke of a pen, on an "Executive Memorandum" granting a permit for TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL tarsands export pipeline project.U.S. Presidents are not empowered to write up proclamations that give Big Oil a free ride, and bypass our nation's bedrock environmental laws written to protect our water, land, clean air and a livable climate.While Bold and other landowner, environmental and Indigenous groups have filed new challenges to Trump's illegal KXL pipeline permit in federal court, we are asking the 2020 Democratic presidential contenders to pledge now to revoke Trump's unprecedented, unilaterally issued permit for KXL.If a Democratic president is elected, we ask they pledge to take executive action on Day One in office to revoke Trump's issuance of pipeline permits-by-presidential-fiat for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, and immediately restore a true "climate test" for further review by federal agencies (Army Corps, FERC) of these projects-- and all new energy projects-- like Enbridge's Line 3 tarsands pipeline, fracked gas pipelines in Appalachia, and vast expansion plans for LNG exports.We further ask candidates to end eminent domain abuse, and to honor our treaties with sovereign Tribal Nations.The President of the United States should stand with the sovereign rights of Tribal Nations, the property rights of farmers and ranchers in rural communities opposed to the pipeline, and everyday Americans who care about a livable planet for our grandchildren who have been fighting together to stop KXL for nearly ten years.
This morning, Jane told me that Elizabeth Warren and Jay Inslee signed the pledge immediately and that so far, no one had refused. The pledge is for presidential candidates but Jane is thinking about one for candidates running for Congress. Mark Gamba is the progressive mayor of Milwaukie, Oregon, running for a congressional seat occupied by reactionary Blue Dog Kurt Schrader and he would, no doubt, be a Day One signer. "It is unconscionable that eminent domain is used to steal private property for the profits of oil and gas companies," he told us just now. "Eminent domain is meant to be used for the public good-- a new public road, a new city hall etc. Not a pipeline that won't even provide much in the way of taxes since the American oil and gas companies pay a fraction of what they should pay, and many of those pipelines serve one foreign corporation moving their product for shipment to another foreign corporation. When I'm elected I will work to pass a bill making this behavior illegal."