“I Stand with Randy” could certainly be the name of another local high school band, but instead is the new slogan demonstrating solidarity with fellow Nebraskans who are opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline. “I Stand with Randy” is also a weekend of statewide music, art, and public demonstrations Aug. 5-7.

 

Events have been coordinated by Bold Nebraska, but organized by concerned citizens who oppose TransCanada’s current proposal to run an oil pipeline through the Nebraska Sand Hills and Ogallala aquifer. Randy Thompson, for whom the event is named, is a Nebraska landowner who has been threatened with eminent domain by TransCanada. The oil production giant is seeking to transport oil from the Alberta tar sands through his ground in Merrick County. But Randy is not having any of that mess on his farm.  

 

??Nebraskan author Loren Eiseley, writing in his 1957 book, the Immense Journey, famously began his chapter "The Flow of the River," with “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water." Eiseley wrote that water offers "the real shape" of life. That water "touches the past and prepares the future."  

 

Our water is at once, both ourselves, and our history.

In many ways, to Nebraskans these words are both intuitive and corporeal. Our good life here has been gifted from the resource of good water. It is this water that we use to irrigate our crops and grow our livelihoods here in the southeast part of the state. In the west, the water flows up to the surface creating a mixed grass oasis on a sea of sand. As I reflect on the current proposal by TransCanada to place the Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska’s Sand Hills region and the Ogallala aquifer, I keep in mind Eiseley's insight.  

 

A solution to the routing of the pipeline seems obvious. Nebraskan photographer Joel Sartore wrote in the Lincoln Journal Star some weeks ago that a compromise to the proposed route could simply “follow the same pipe detour that has previously been used to go around the Sand Hills.” The previous pipeline runs east of the Sand Hills and much of the aquifer. That may be indeed one solution for Nebraskans, but remember that this pipeline runs through several other states, all of which have their own indigenous opposition. Additionally, there is a strong argument to be made against the building the entire pipeline based on the reality of the destructive and carbon emission intense extraction of the oil sand from the Alberta boreal forest.  

 

What is important to comprehend is that this pipeline is more complex than just Nebraska and our water. It is intertwined with geo-politics and geology, national economies and corporate profits, constitutional law, liberty, agriculture, carbon emissions and climate change.  

 

But this complexity will not be our excuse for inaction. As Nebraskans, we accept challenges, we care for each other, we work hard, we celebrate nature, and we expect honesty. Something about the XL pipeline has called many of us to question whether these shared virtues are being upheld by all players and parties. Is this project of oil and energy willing to honor and protect our resources and communities, as we have tried to do? These reasonable questions are why now is the time for calculated civic participation to stop the pipeline.  

 

Stopping the Keystone XL pipeline from gutting a route through some of Nebraska’s best water resources should be an invitation to all of us to get active around this issue. This includes visual artists, musicians, poets, athletes and farmers. Not just activists and those immediately affected along the pipeline route. After the devastation brought by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill and recent oil pipeline ruptures on the Yellowstone and Kalamazoo rivers, it seems obvious that defense of our water resources against unreasonable oil pollution should be a top priority. As a point of precaution, we must decide whether some places should be left free of the scar and stain of oil.  

 

Please, friends, “Stand with Randy” and show up this weekend to celebrate our opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. There are events being held all over the state. Participate in one near you. Or better yet, get some friends and family together and have your own. If you become inspired, stay active, because the outcome of the Keystone XL pipeline is far from decided 

 

?Find an event or create an event at standwithrandy.com or visit boldnebraska.org for more details.? Read our story about the pipeline issue here.

 

Brad Kindler first played drums in Seasickbob and Boycaught, then in RC Dub and the Roots Love Band, then washtub bass in the Red Beer Band and Triggertown, and now plays a little of both in Kill County. He is also an activist and community organizer in Lincoln.