Forum on 'Enbridge Tar Sands Invasion' set for April 13

Jane Kleeb, leader of the group Bold Nebraska, will address Midwest tar sands pipeline issues at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on April 13.

Former state Rep. Spencer Black and landowner Mark Borchardt also will speak at the “The Enbridge Tar Sands Invasion” community forum set for 6 p.m.

Kleeb played a crucial role in stopping the Keystone XL pipeline, which was rejected by President Obama last November.

The pipeline, proposed by Canadian company TransCanada, would have transported 830,000 barrels a day of tar sands oil from the boreal forests of Alberta to the Gulf Coast.

Kleeb, according to a news release, built a diverse coalition of ranchers, tribal members, environmentalists and others to push the federal government to reject the pipeline.

Now, Kleeb is bringing her campaign to Wisconsin, according to the release from 350 Madison and the Sierra Club.

The groups said the timing could not be better: Wisconsin already has the Line 61 pipeline, which cuts through the heart of the state.

Enbridge, the Canadian company that owns Line 61, is now proposing to add another pipeline through Wisconsin, variously called the Line 61 “twin” or Line 66. Together, the two pipelines could transport three times as much oil as the failed Keystone project would have carried.

At the forum, Black will discuss the risks the pipelines pose in Wisconsin. The pipelines cross some of Wisconsin’s most important waterways, including the St. Croix River, the Wisconsin River, and the Rock River. Moreover, expanding tar sands oil pipelines will exacerbate climate change at a time when we need to be moving quickly toward a clean energy economy.

The Enbridge expansion would require widening the existing pipeline corridor. Recent law changes in Wisconsin have made it easier for pipeline companies to take land through eminent domain.

Borchardt will speak about how Wisconsin landowners are coming together to fight Enbridge’s expansion. Nebraska’s experience proved that when a group of property owners refuse to let a foreign corporation seize land that has been in their families for generations, they can effectively block the expansion of pipelines.

The event will be at the Lowell Center, 610 Langdon St.

Click here for more information or tickets to the free event.

Hearing in Enbridge case on April 11

A hearing was set to take place April 11 in Dane County Circuit Court on Enbridge Energy Company’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of landowners who live adjacent to the company’s Line 61 Waterloo pump station.

The landowners are suing for injunctive relief to enforce the spill cleanup requirement imposed on Enbridge by Dane County’s Zoning and Land Regulation Committee.

Oral argument was scheduled for 1:30 in Courtroom 5D at the county courthouse before Judge Richard Niess, according to 350 Madison.