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Bold Alliance The Bold Alliance are "small and mighty" groups in rural states fighting Big Oil & eminent domain, promoting clean energy and building a political base.

The Bold Alliance grew out of Bold Nebraska’s successful fight against the Keystone XL pipeline, and is building a coalition of "small and mighty" groups in rural states to fight Big Oil, protect landowners against the abuse of eminent domain, and work for clean energy solutions while building a political base of voters who care about the land and water. Bold efforts are currently underway in Nebraska, Iowa, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

“Today, Iowa landowners released the results of a Property Rights Candidate Survey to help voters understand which candi...
10/16/2026

“Today, Iowa landowners released the results of a Property Rights Candidate Survey to help voters understand which candidates support property rights, which candidates don’t, and which candidates didn’t care enough to complete the survey about one of the top issues in the state,” the Iowa Easement Team reports.

“The survey, sent to candidates for US Senate, US House, Governor, State Legislature and some county-level races, consisted of 5 simple questions about their beliefs on eminent domain for carbon pipelines, property rights, and how they will govern, if elected.

Landowners received responses from 66 candidates, including Gubernatorial candidates Zach Lahn and Rob Sand, US Senate Candidate Josh Turek, 40 State House Candidates, and 9 State Senate.

“I am happy to see so many candidates on our side, but what stands out most are those that didn’t fill it out, and won’t go on the record. Eminent domain, carbon pipelines and property rights are one of the biggest issues in the state. Their silence speaks volumes - especially those who have voted against us in the past.” said Pat Mennenga, Bremer County Landowner.

“There are lots of candidates out there claiming to support property rights, but I think just about everyone could say that. The devil is in the details. Do they support eminent domain for carbon pipelines, what have they done to help so far, and are they willing to stand up to leadership if they are elected? That’s what Iowans and landowners have been demanding for over 5 years.” said Don Johannsen, Cherokee County Landowner.

“The Governor’s race is so important because they can direct the legislature to put our eminent domain bill on their desk and sign it, unlike Governor Reynolds in 2025. This Governor also has the opportunity to appoint two new Iowa Utilities Commissioners (IUC) – who we believe were Governor Reynolds’ and Summit’s political appointments – midway through the Summit hearing process.

The next Governor must meet with us about who should be appointed to the IUC and should make those appointments before the hearings on the Ida and Floyd dockets take place in February and March, respectively,” said Kathy Carter, Floyd County Landowner.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 15, 2026 Iowa Landowners Announce Results of Candidate Survey on Property Rights  Many Iowa candidates support removing the power of eminent domain for carbon pipelines; concerns remain about candidates who didn’t respond to the survey Des Moines, IA.

“Emma Schmit, an organizer with Bold Alliance, told the Dispatch that if the names and party affiliations of the candida...
10/16/2026

“Emma Schmit, an organizer with Bold Alliance, told the Dispatch that if the names and party affiliations of the candidates were hidden from the responses, readers “wouldn’t really be able to tell what party they were from.” “Everybody that answered gave very similar responses of ‘No, this is unconstitutional; No, I don’t think this pipeline should go through,’ and so it just goes to show that there was really, I think, bipartisan support, and it’s really just a matter of right versus wrong,” Schmit told the Dispatch…

Fewer than 70 candidates on the upcoming Iowa ballot responded to a questionnaire about eminent domain and CO2 pipelines.

Bold issued the following statement after a North Dakota District Court today ruled for landowners and counties in a cas...
10/09/2026

Bold issued the following statement after a North Dakota District Court today ruled for landowners and counties in a case challenging the approval of a permit for Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed CO2 pipeline by the North Dakota Public Service Commission:

“Landowners and counties across North Dakota have spent years defending their rights from being usurped by an out-of-state pipeline company. The court’s decision is an encouraging step in ensuring landowners and communities, not pipeline interests, are protected,” said Emma Schmit, Bold Alliance Organizing Director.

Burleigh County South Central Judicial District Judge Jackson J. Lofgren’s ruling overturned the PSC on four significant issues:

+ reversed the PSC’s determination that the state’s pipeline permitting law automatically superseded and preempted county land use and zoning ordinances with direction to reevaluate them in accordance with law;

+ ordered the PSC to reconsider the confidentiality of Summit’s CO2 plume dispersion model;

+ reversed the PSC’s finding that Summit adequately addressed an alternative route south of Bismarck; and

+ directed the PSC to reconsider whether the pipeline project would produce minimal adverse effects on the welfare of the citizens of North Dakota.

As a consequence, PSC will need to reopen its administrative evidentiary hearing to reconsider the foregoing matters, a process that could extend well into 2027.

It is unclear how Summit will respond, given South Dakota’s prohibition on the use of eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines that has blocked Summit’s route between Iowa and North Dakota, and the impact of a related North Dakota court decision that found the state’s carbon storage law unconstitutional. Today’s decision is a further headwind for Summit’s beleaguered CO2 pipeline project.

Bold’s Easement Teams in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota have been organizing landowner opposition to the Summit CO2 pipeline for years. Bold’s Easement Teams are helping fund attorneys who have represented landowners at agency hearings that resulted in pipeline permit rejections in North Dakota and South Dakota, and the most-contested project in the history at the Iowa Utilities Commission, where landowners with the Iowa Easement Team also continue to challenge Summit’s pipeline route approval in the courts.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 9, 2026   Court Sides With N.D. Landowners, Counties Challenging Summit Carbon Pipeline, Reverses Permit and Remands to Public Service Commission Court orders N.D. PSC to […]

In case you missed it: Watch the webinar recording of "Nebraska Landowners Meeting: Summit CO2 Pipeline - Know Your Righ...
10/08/2026

In case you missed it: Watch the webinar recording of "Nebraska Landowners Meeting: Summit CO2 Pipeline - Know Your Rights"

Have you heard about the dangerous Summit Carbon pipeline proposed across the state of Nebraska? WHAT: Landowners Meeting: Know Your Rights! WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 7, 6:00 p.m. CT Summit Carbon Solutions would have to use eminent domain to route a dangerous pipeline carrying carbon dioxide (CO2)

More than 110 national, state, and local organizations including Bold Alliance joined a letter urging Congressional lead...
09/15/2026

More than 110 national, state, and local organizations including Bold Alliance joined a letter urging Congressional leaders to reject the inclusion of protest criminalization language in legislation reauthorizing the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) pipeline safety programs.

The letter comes as Congressional leaders prepare to negotiate a final pipeline safety reauthorization package by reconciling differing pipeline safety bills that have passed through the Senate and through House Committees.

As currently drafted, the House versions of the bill risk creating a new tool to criminalize First Amendment rights to free speech, assembly, and the press, while redirecting attention away from the pipeline industry’s own problematic safety record. As detailed in the letter, existing state and federal legislation can appropriately address incidents of pipeline tampering — the problem that the legislation claims to address — while the proposed text presents risk for misuse against First Amendment free speech activity by individuals and organizations protesting at pipeline sites.

The letter comes as the Trump administration is pushing an aggressive agenda of prosecuting political opponents and using erroneous and excessive charges in response to protest and free speech actions.

“People are increasingly opposing pipelines because of their serious threats to the health and safety of communities. With the Trump administration rolling back common-sense safety regulations, people have all the more to oppose. Instead of pushing policies that will give overzealous prosecutors a road map for jailing pipeline opponents, Congress needs to reject these attacks on freedom of speech and require the administration to enforce basic safety standards that communities are demanding,” said Jim Walsh, Policy Director, Food & Water Watch.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 15, 2026 Over 110 Groups to Congress: Don’t Criminalize Protest in Pipeline Safety Bill More than 110 national, state, and local organizations including Bold Alliance joined […]

Airplane Banner Over Osborn-Ricketts Senate Debate Reads: “Billionaire Ricketts Supports Data Centers”Plane flyover spon...
09/02/2026

Airplane Banner Over Osborn-Ricketts Senate Debate Reads: “Billionaire Ricketts Supports Data Centers”

Plane flyover sponsored by local group Bold Nebraska

Grand Island, NE – Attendees of the Nebraska State Fair and scheduled U.S. Senate debate this evening between independent candidate Dan Osborn and incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts will be greeted overhead by a plane flying a banner that reads: “Billionaire Ricketts Supports Data Centers.”

While Ricketts, whose billionaire parents have subsidized his entire political career, has called data centers “a matter of national security” citing Chinese communist boogeymen, Dan Osborn signed onto a candidate “AI Pact” which calls for advocating for mandatory safety reviews for AI models, supporting policies that would create an AI dividend for workers, and ensuring that consumers and companies can sue over harms caused by models – by networking with AI safety groups and other political organizations working on AI legislation.

“Pete Ricketts doesn't care about our communities and is willing to sell us out to Big Tech,” said Bold Nebraska founder and director Jane Kleeb. "Ricketts uses the bogeyman of China and yet, before Trump’s trade wars, they were a country we sold massive amounts of corn and soybeans to. Rather than creating a bogeyman as an excuse to run roughshod over communities, Ricketts should be proposing laws that have teeth, accountability and guardrails. Policies like ending eminent domain for private gain, closed loop systems, community benefits agreements and funding for first responders. These are all common sense solutions the Senate can act on but instead Ricketts kicks the can.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 1, 2026 Airplane Banner Over Osborn-Ricketts Senate Debate Reads: “Billionaire Ricketts Supports Data Centers” Plane flyover sponsored by local group Bold Nebraska Grand Island, NE – Attendees of the Nebraska State Fair and scheduled U.S. Senate debate this evening...

“The Keystone XL pipeline could be back on the agenda, more than a decade after the controversial project put Nebraska a...
08/24/2026

“The Keystone XL pipeline could be back on the agenda, more than a decade after the controversial project put Nebraska at the center of a national debate over energy, property rights and environmental protection,” KETV reports.

“...For some Nebraskans who supported Keystone XL, Trump’s comments bring back memories of a fight that once dominated state politics…

“Jim Smith, a former Nebraska state senator and early supporter of the pipeline. described the Keystone XL debate as a “decade of kind of political warfare" but told KETV it was and still is a smart plan with few downsides…

“We might be talking about something here that’s not even realistic from a business standpoint, given what we’ve seen happen with these permits,” Rep. Mike Flood told KETV…

“Jane Kleeb, current chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and founder of the Bold Alliance, which organized opposition to the pipeline, said the project would face resistance again…

“Randy Thompson, a retired rancher and farmer, also opposes a potential revival. Thompson told KETV he was concerned about what the pipeline could mean for his family’s farm and other Nebraska landowners…

"They have no regard for the property rights of farmers and ranchers. We’re going to give a foreign company the use of eminent domain against Nebraska landowners.”

The Keystone XL pipeline could be back on the agenda, more than a decade after the controversial project put Nebraska at the center of a national debate over energy, property rights and environmental protection. This week, President Donald Trump floated the possibility of reviving the pipeline as pa...

“Jane Kleeb, the founder and executive director of Bold Nebraska, the grassroots organization that organized landowner o...
08/19/2026

“Jane Kleeb, the founder and executive director of Bold Nebraska, the grassroots organization that organized landowner opposition to defeat the Keystone XL pipeline project, responded on Tuesday to a statement from President Trump announcing a “deal” with Canada that the project “may be awoken from the grave!”, the Pipeline Fighters Hub reports.

“It’s never being built. Americans don’t want a foreign export pipeline using eminent domain on farmers and ranchers. We’ve killed Keystone XL three times. We will do it again. Trump should focus on infrastructure that will actually bring costs down,” said Jane Kleeb, Founder and Executive Director at Bold Alliance.

Kleeb also spoke out back in April, when developers South Bow and Bridger jointly announced plans to revive parts of the defunct Keystone XL pipeline route with a new proposal: “You can rename it, rebrand it, repackage it — Keystone XL will never be built. For 13 years, a foreign oil corporation used the power of eminent domain to bully American landowners to take their land, all for Big Oil’s private gain. We refused to back down. We took them to court and fought to return those easements to farmers and ranchers. Keystone XL has no route, no easements, and no support in Nebraska.”

An op-ed co-authored by Bold Alliance attorney and energy policy advisor Paul Blackburn, and longtime pipeline fighter and advocate Kenny Bruno published in April further lays out the reasons why this project will never be built: “Keystone XL By Any Other Name Will Be Just As Crudely Sour.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 18, 2026   “It’s never being built”: Bold Founder Jane Kleeb Responds to Trump Statement on Keystone XL Pipeline Hastings, NE — Jane Kleeb, the founder and […]

McCook Gazette: Nebraska advocate urges opposition to Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed CO2 pipeline, citing safety, lan...
08/14/2026

McCook Gazette: Nebraska advocate urges opposition to Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed CO2 pipeline, citing safety, landowner and taxpayer concerns

Shelli Meyer, Nebraska Director, Bold Alliance and Education Fund, 8/13/26

“Fellow Nebraskans: are you aware of the carbon dioxide pipeline targeting our communities in our southern counties? An out-of-state corporation, Summit Carbon Solutions, is proposing to route a highly pressurized pipeline transporting CO2, a known asphyxiant, through Southern Nebraska. Why? Because the federal government is offering billions of our tax dollars to them for injecting the toxic, CO2 waste underground,” Shelli Meyer writes for the McCook Gazette.

“Not only is this a bad deal for taxpayers, it’s a bad deal for the landowners and communities who have to absorb the risks for the company’s private reward. From the potential of a pipeline rupture like the one in Satartia, MS that sent nearly 50 people to the hospital and required the evacuation of hundreds more, to declining yields and property values, and the threat of eminent domain, this proposed pipeline seems to offer everyda Nebraskans nothing but grief.

This land feeds and fuels America, let’s not destroy it for the profit of Summit and its billionaire investors.”

A Nebraska advocate urges opposition to Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed CO2 pipeline, citing safety, landowner and taxpayer concerns.

Address

208 S. Burlington Avenue , Ste 103, Box 325
Hastings, NE
68901

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Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
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