Greg Awtry

I read in last week’s York News-Times that the York County Commissioners will be asked to consider zoning regulations and resolutions for pipelines.

I also saw notice of a pipeline meeting in York at Chances ‘R’ on Thursday evening, put on by concerned citizens of York County.

So what’s the big deal about the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline, and as a York County resident should you be concerned?

Well, the answer to that question is; The Keystone XL pipeline is a big deal with very serious consequences and, yes, you should be concerned as it will go through the entire length of York County from north to south and come within a few miles of York’s city limits.

TransCanada will tell you that the pipe is not a big deal because we have thousands of miles of pipelines already, that it will bring “friendly” Canadian oil to the U.S. and with it thousands of jobs and much needed property tax revenues.

What they are reluctant to tell you is exactly what is being pumped through the pipe (until it leaks), that there is not one single inch of 36-inch high pressure DilBit pipeline in Nebraska, that the oil is not owned by Canada but by many foreign oil companies that have bought up the tar-sand oil production, that the number of jobs in Nebraska after construction will be about 15 and those will be in the Omaha area, and that property taxes in York County will cease after 15 years while the lifetime of the pipe is 50 years.

They also won’t tell you what a worst-case scenario would be in case of a spill, nor were they willing to tell you about the meetings they had with Nebraska law enforcement.

Not until an organization called Bold Nebraska filed a freedom of information act request for details of that meeting did we find out TransCanada was informing law enforcement of how to deal with, in one example, terrorist threats if Nebraskans interfered with pipeline construction.

TransCanada told the York News-Times that its DilBit oil floats on water, but that has been proven incorrect. They told us the oil would be “highly unlikely” to be exported and this too has been proven false. They have told us the price of gasoline will go down, but studies have shown the price of fuel in the Midwest could actually increase after construction of the “XL” as it would sell for more money once it reaches the gulf.

Now a group of York County residents is taking action, much needed action after our state leaders have bought into TransCanada’s claims while ignoring the devastating risks to our land, our water and our rights.

Ask people in Marshall, Mich., who suffered the consequences of a million gallon spill where citizens got ill and houses had to be abandoned forever, if they could go back and attend a meeting like York ‘s, I can only guess the answer would be a rousing “Yes!” The same for residents in Mayflower, Ark., who are right now dealing with the serious damages of DilBit oil spill.

If you are concerned about your family’s health, our water, our rights and what we can do to protect ourselves in York County, then you need to attend Thursday’s meeting.

City and county officials, first responders, heath care employees, you all need to be there too, or are you already fully prepared to handle a toxic DilBit spill in our area? How are you going to treat victims when this benzene-laced poison comes flowing down Beaver Creek just as it did down Talmadge Creek in Marshall?

So what is the big deal and should you be concerned? If you are only concerned about how many billions the foreign corporation TransCanada will make off the pipeline running through York County, then the answer is, no big deal, I am not concerned.

If you want to hear from local York County residents who are trying to protect all of us, then find an hour in your schedule and go to Chances ‘R’ at 6 p.m. Thursday. See for yourself if county and city officials will be there, as they too will have to deal with the risks of this pipe for decades to come.

Since Rep. Adrian Smith, Senators Johanns and Fischer and Gov. Heineman have all fallen in lockstep with TransCanada, the responsibility to protect our communities has fallen onto we the people.

Make no doubt about it, this is a big deal.

Follow Greg on Twitter, Facebook and read his Blog

It’s been nine months since the attack on the Benghazi consulate where our ambassador and three other Americans were brutally murdered and our country didn’t lift a finger to save them.
It has been nine months of trying to get answers, yet we have a White House, State Department and the CIA who refuse to give answers to Congress. How are we going to get answers from the government when the government won’t even answer questions from the government?

Now we find out the IRS has been making life difficult for people and organizations who don’t share their political views. Conservative groups whose names included language like “Tea Party“ and “Patriot” were targeted for extra scrutiny, and even though the government admits guilt, there has yet to be a single individual who has the courage to come clean and tell the American people what their government is doing and why.

Then there is Eric Holder’s Justice Department which secretly snooped on Associated Press and Fox News reporters’ phone records. Holder went so far as to personally sign off on that one, which included looking into the reporters’ parents’ phone records as well. Meanwhile Holder has told Congress he would never do such a thing, but his fingerprints and signature are all over the case.
These three scandals are just the surface skim of a government that has grown too large to manage. There can be only two answers, and both should serve as major red flags that we have serious problems, that indicate our nation is under siege.

One answer is that Obama and top government officials have been kept in the dark as bureaucratic underlings push forward an agenda oblivious to the founding principles on which our nation was built. Or, that President Obama and/or other high-ranking leaders are using government agencies as a tool to change the country into one that shifts the power even more to the federal government.

Again, these latest scandals are just symptoms. Congress plays the part of an outraged body claiming they will get to the bottom of all this, but every day they go to work they contribute to the decline of the nation by overspending to the point of no return, jeopardizing our financial future and pouring insurmountable debt onto our children and grandchildren. Their lack of oversight (until a scandal breaks) is unacceptable.

We have agencies sending unemployment checks to prisoners, social security checks to dead people, nearly 50 million people on food stamps, and now with Obamacare, for the first time in American history the government will force people to buy a product (health insurance) or they will sic the IRS on us and fine us thousands of dollars.

We have nearly 600,000 veterans on a waiting list for benefits because the department of defense can’t communicate effectively with the veterans’ services departments and the caseloads have grown too large to handle, yet we intend to hire an additional 16,000 new IRS employees to enforce Obamacare!

We have sequestration cuts that ask federal employees to take a few days of furlough to help reduce our annual deficits, and now we find out many of those who take a week’s furlough are filing for unemployment payments, that will ultimately be paid for by the government! How can this make any sense?

While our country is going broke we still send billions of taxpayers’ dollars to other countries, send military planes to unfriendly nations, and pass trade agreements that increase trade deficits sending the wealth of the U.S.A. overseas!

In spite of a growing dysfunctional government, thank goodness for the American people. Although our patience with a broken government is growing dangerously thin, we still get up and go to work, pay our taxes, raise our families, donate money and time to charities, volunteer to defend our nation at all costs, and try our best to hold the fabric of the nation together while our federal officials choose to live in a world of denial and partisan politics.

But there is hope. The Tea Party has had it right all along, and Patriots, struggling as they watch a nation in decline, are becoming more outspoken. (Tea Party and Patriots, didn’t we see this mentioned above? Oh yes, they are the one’s being targeted by the IRS!)

These groups want a government that can live within their means. They want a government that returns to the fundamental responsibilities clearly defined in the Constitution. They want national security in the form of a strong defense, an immigration policy that makes sense, and border security. They want the taxpayers’ money to be spent wisely and for the nation to balance its checkbook.

They want to pass on a country that has more promise than the one that was left to them. They want a government that works for the people, not party. They want honesty, not deception. They want accountability, not excuses.

They want to voice their opinion without fear of being targeted by a government which may disagree and they deserve a free a press that will report without bias or fear of federal overreach.
They actually believe in “of the people, by the people and for the people.” Imagine that!

Follow Greg
on Twitter, Facebook and read his Blog

“Hey Nebraskan, TransCanada here, you know, your friendly neighbor to the north.”

The Nebraskan immediately cocked his head to see from under the brim of his cowboy hat and silently wondered why this guy had to announce he was a friendly neighbor. Heck, folks around here know when a neighbor is friendly. They show up unannounced when you need help. Anyway, being a lifelong Nebraskan, he said, “Howdy, name’s Randy, but you can call me Big Red.”

“And you can call me TC,” replied the northener.

TC ordered an imported beer and Big Red just said, “Julie, a draw, and put them both on my tab please.”

Before the drinks arrived TC, an impatient sort, got right to the point. “I have been down here telling folks about a great deal we have for them. We know your economy has been in a tailspin and we have something that will really help you out!”

The beers came. Big Red paid the tab, plus an extra generous tip as he knew this was Julie’s second job and she was trying to raise a couple of kids while her husband was on deployment in Afghanistan.

TC was on a roll and didn’t pay much attention to Julie. He said, “Big Red, it’s like this. We have all this tar sand. We strip mine it. Gotta remove that dang forest to do so, but it’s worth it. Tar sand is almost like oil, and we’ll make billions if we can get it to Texas where it can be refined, then exported to other countries. And this is where you come in!”

Big Red gave TC a glance and a raised eyebrow.

TC went on, “This stuff is too thick to pump through a pipe so we add other petroleum products to make it thinner. We call this new concoction Diluted Bitmen, or DilBit for short.”

“What’s in it?” asked Big Red.

“Oh, can’t tell you that!” laughed TC. “It’s proprietary information! You wouldn’t understand, but it’s like those 11 herbs and spices in Kentucky Fried Chicken, a great big secret! But anyway, we want to put this giant 36 inch pipeline right through Nebraska. We’ll pay landowners one easy payment for an easement that lasts forever, so we
can build it right though their farm or ranch and we’ll have access to that piece of land forever.”

Big Red, “So how’s it going?”

TC, “Not bad, but you wouldn’t believe some folks around here. They are actually turning down our generous offer saying stupid things like they are afraid it will poison their water. Can you believe it, more concerned about water than money? Who they fooling? Your governor and senator tried that, but when we told them about the money we would pay in taxes and the new jobs, they quickly forgot about the dang water and are now fully on board!”

TC went on, “People say things like there is cancer causing benzene in DilBit, and that it sinks in water.”

Big Red, “Are they right?”

TC, “Well sure they are right. We didn’t admit it at first, but they found out. Just like they are going to find out we’ll take their land by eminent domain if they don’t agree to our terms. Another beer?”

Big Red held up two fingers to Julie.

TC said, “Hey, this is a great deal. A lot of other countries must think so too. They have invested billions in Canadian tar sands, especially China. They’re not fools, ya know.” He started to laugh as he added, “Not fools like they have in Washington. Those guys are so dense we found out if we call it tar sand they won’t tax us like they tax American crude, and your congressman, Smith I think his name is, says he is not in favor of taxing tar sand right now either! It’s the best tax exemption in the oil business! I have to admit; even I thought Nebraskans were
smarter than that! Anyway, you willing to help us out?”

Big Red, “What about those jobs?”

TC, “Oh, we are going to hire several thousand temporary construction jobs as we bury this thing across your aquifer, and when we leave, there will be 15 brand spanking new jobs in your state to maintain and operate
the pipeline. They won’t be out here, they will be near Omaha. Pretty good deal for Nebraska I’d say. What do you say?”

Big Red leaned back on his stool, used his thumb to raise the brim of his hat and said, “TC, who do you think you are? See that fella over there washing dishes. That’s Sam. He scraped enough together to buy this place after his family lost the farm back in the 80s. He is here at 6 in the morning flipping flapjacks and still here tonight washing up dishes. Sam employs about 15 people himself, so don’t talk to me about jobs. It makes you
look like a fool.”

Big Red added, “Let me get this straight. You are telling me you want to slice open Nebraska like a butchered hog, run a pipe full of poison right down our middle, sew us back up and tell us to go back to business as usual like nothing ever is going to happen?”

“Well let me tell you something. Right now, your city shoes are about 25 feet away from the Ogallala Aquifer. It is the water my family drinks, the water we use to raise our food and yours too, I might add. It is here by the grace of God, and we’ll do anything to protect and preserve it because it gives us life every day.”

And let me tell you this, no amount of false promises about jobs and tax money will change that. Your ‘good neighbor deal’ is only good for you. For us, it’s all risk, no reward.”

Big Red, finishing up said, “I do have a couple of different routes I could suggest. One, run the dang pipe through Canada. It’s your oil, your money and your problem. Deal with it, and leave us out of it.

“But now, I think it’s time you gathered up your fancy tax exemptions and those eminent domain letters you’ve been spreading around here like a manure truck and get the hell off our aquifer!”

TC quickly picked up his literature and maps, then paused and said, “But what about the other route you mentioned? You said something about sunshine, or where the sun don’t shine, didn’t you?

Big Red ignored TC, ordered another beer and turned toward Julie and Sam, his real friends and neighbors.

Follow
Greg on Twitter Facebook and read his Blog

There is one indisputable fact I have learned about the Keystone XL pipeline. The more one knows about the pipeline, its contents and the actual route it takes across Nebraska, the more one becomes alarmed at the sheer stupidity of this project.

Before I even begin to explain how stupid this is, I want to “pre-apologize” for the number of times I am apt to write the word “stupid” in this editorial.

Let’s begin with how stupid our federal government is. While TransCanada loves to call this a “crude oil” pipeline instead of “tar sands,” the fact is that our federal government determined tar-sand is not crude oil, as defined by the House Ways and Means Committee. Why is this important?

Crude oil is taxed at eight cents a barrel which is used to fund the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund needed to clean up oil spills. Because the House Ways and Means Committee defined tar-sand as neither crude oil nor petroleum product, the tar-sand gushing through the Keystone XL pipeline will not be taxed as is American oil! How stupid is that?

So, we found someone who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee. It is Adrian Smith, Nebraska’s Third District U.S. Representative. It would be stupid of him not to do everything in his power to make sure his committee redefined their definition of “oil” to include tar-sand so it would be taxed at the same rate as American oil, and keep the Spill Fund flush with enough money to clean up the spill when it happens in his district!

Adrian Smith refuses, saying it would be better to include it in overall tax reform. (How many times have I used the word stupid, so far?)

More stupid Keystone XL stuff:

Last week I sat through a portion of the York County Commissioner meeting and listened to extremely well informed residents try their best to explain their issues about the pipeline. I also watched a well informed TransCanada representative address the board. It was clear to everyone in the room that the people who knew the least about the pipeline were the York County Commissioners! How is this possible?

A foreign corporation is about to slice open their (our) county from stem to stern and pump Diluted Bitumen (DilBit, or tar-sand) just a few feet from our surface waters, a couple hundred feet from some residents’ homes, and directly over the aquifer we use for drinking water and irrigation! With the exception of one stupid question about how long TransCanada would pay the county property taxes, (stupid only because the commissioners should have known by now), they sat there like deer in the headlights, concerned only about ending the meeting by noon.

By noon! I would call that stupid considering TransCanada uses terms like “forever” when talking about easements, and “40 years or more” when talking about the life of the pipe. The county commissioners are talking about “noon!” I think someone has their priorities in the wrong place. The commissioners missed a golden opportunity to educate themselves from a room of people who could have helped them understand the consequences of the KXL. So they better get in the game. This is a big deal!

More stupid Keystone XL stuff:

Remember when Sen. Johanns and Gov. Heineman wrote Washington complaining the Keystone XL was crossing the Ogallala Aquifer? Then TransCanada made its own big deal out of changing the route. Johanns and Heineman applauded TransCanada and quickly leaped into their lap. Here comes another “stupid”… TransCanada’s “new” route actually crosses more miles of the aquifer than its first route!

More stupid Keystone XL stuff:

Nebraskans, can’t we all agree that it is stupid to run a 36 inch DilBit pipeline carrying hazardous material directly over and in some cases directly through the Ogallala Aquifer, easily the state’s single most valuable resource, when it is absolutely unnecessary?

I fully understand TransCanada wanting to get its customers’ oil to the Texas refineries. I understand they want to do this as cheaply as possible, which is to run the pipe on the most direct route from Alberta, Canada to Steel City, Nebraska.

What I don’t understand is TransCanada’s unwillingness to recognize that Nebraskans intend to protect the Ogallala Aquifer at all costs, and no amount of oil, property taxes or jobs can ever be traded for the very natural resource that makes life here possible.

It is just plain stupid to mix a tar-sand oil pipeline and the Ogallala Aquifer. I know it. I think you know it. I think TransCanada knows it, but doesn’t care about it. Our Governor and U.S. Senator once knew it, and our Congressman knows it, but refuses to do anything about it. And that is just plain stupid!

Finally, the last thing I have learned is that the people know a lot more about this stupid pipeline than do York County Commissioners, United States Representatives, U.S. Senators and Governors. So Nebraskans, now left with a complete leadership void, will have to fight this one ourselves.

The Holt County Supervisors just passed a resolution opposing tar sand oil pipelines. If you feel York should do the same, here is the contact info for the York County Board of Commissioners. Knock yourself out!

Tom Shellington
17 Arbor Heights
York, NE 68467
(402) 362-4382
Email: shelltw@windstream.net

Bill Bamesberger
705 Highland Road
Henderson, NE 68371
(402) 723-5740
Email: billb@mainstaycomm.net

Paul Buller
1007 Road H
York, NE 68467
(402) 362-2442
Email: No email!

Kurt Bulgrin
714 Road U
Waco, NE 68460
(402) 366-6458
Email: kurtbulgrin@hotmail.com

Jack Sikes
1329 E. Nobes Road
York, NE 68467
(402) 362-2178
Email: jsikes4171@yahoo.com

Follow Greg on Twitter, Facebook and read his Blog

A loyal York News-Times reader dropped off an interesting article the other day. It was a “report” or newsletter from a Nebraska congressman. He was writing about what a mess it is in Washington and how Congress can’t get along,

He said, “Nebraskans are eager for change, believing that changes in many policies and programs are long overdue.”

On the back of the congressman’s newsletter were poll results taken from 25,000 people who took the time to voice their opinion.

Some of the questions and answers are:

Would you favor eliminating Saturday mail delivery if it would save tax dollars? Fifty-five percent said yes.

Are you willing to accept substantial cuts in federal spending if the cuts seem to be equitably shared by all segments of society? A whopping 86 percent said yes.

Do you favor an increase in the share of the federal budget devoted to defense related items? Sixty-two percent said yes.

Would you favor mandatory registration of all privately owned handguns in the United States? Only 49 percent said yes.

In view of the continued rise in hospital care, would you support mandatory cost controls imposed by the federal government on hospitals? Fifty-three percent said yes.

Do you favor gradually raising the eligibility age for full Social Security retirement benefits? Only 31 percent said yes.

There were other stories the congressman covered in his newsletter. He spoke about the federal budget process as being the most controversial and confusing exercises in government. He writes about how we need to cut spending, but Washington is engaged in a monumental “tug of war” on budget issues.

He also discusses how we need complete and thorough tax reform, saying the nation’s economic problems can be traced to the ever-increasing tax burden on all its citizens.

So here’s my question. Are you the one in 10 who thinks Congress is doing a good job, because their job approval rating is near only 10 percent? As the congressman points out, we the people are fed up with the inability of Washington to govern, to solve the nation’s problems, and to set a course for a positive and prosperous future.

The fact is most of our problems today are the fault of Washington’s failures. Congress is very good at pointing out the problems. It is very bad at solving them.

Do you need proof? Well here’s some proof for you.

The congressman writing this newsletter was Representative Doug Bereuter. It is a four-page newsletter he sent to Nebraskans in the summer of 1981. That was 32 years ago folks. Rep Bereuter was complaining about the very same problems that exist today because all they did for the past three decades was to talk about the problems and make promises to fix them.

Bereuter was complaining about the large federal budget of $695 billion (in 1981) that it would take to run the country. Today we spend that amount in only 69 days as our federal budget is now near $4 trillion dollars a year.

And with all that extra money taken from our pockets and sent to theirs in Washington, you would think they could do something with all those dollars that would garner the respect of more than one in 10 Americans.

Can you believe that in 1981 Congress was trying to fix Social Security, cope with the post office’s financial problems, legislate gun registration, reduce federal spending, properly fund the military and struggle to balance the federal budget?

This 31-year-old newsletter could have been written yesterday, as all those issues still exist today, proving Congress is not only inept, but incapable. The time has come to stop talking and start fixing, and it must begin with the voters who need to stop listening to empty promises and start demanding that we don’t face another 32 years like the past 32.

If the current crop of Nebraska representation, Johanns, Fischer, Smith, Terry and Fortenberry can’t right the wrongs, then we need to fire them and hire someone else who can. Shame on them. Shame on us.

With all due respect to Rep. Doug Bereuter, it is obvious his newsletter written in the summer of 1981 vividly points out that Congress’ biggest problem is… Congress!

Follow Greg on Twitter, Facebook and read his Blog