SOLAR XL
It’s no secret that the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline would have dramatically escalated our climate crisis at a critical time when we must transition away from dirty fossil fuels to clean, renewable sources.
Enter solar energy and the SOLAR XL project.
Bold Nebraska teamed up with 350.org, Indigenous Environmental Network, CREDO, Oil Change International and a coalition of groups to build solar installations inside the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route to help power farms and ranches. We took a stand against Trump and Big Oil who wanted to trample property rights and risk our water all for their bottom line.
The SOLAR XL project was placed directly in the path of the Keystone XL pipeline in support of the resistance already in place along the pipeline route. That included the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Spirit Camp, the Ponca Sacred Corn planted inside the Keystone XL pipeline route along the Ponca “Trail of Tears” and the solar-topped #NoKXL Build Our Energy Barn that Bold Nebraska constructed in 2013 thanks to small donors and volunteers.
The SOLAR XL project installation work was done by BOLD friend and fellow Pipeline Fighter Jim Knopik and his family-owned rural solar installation business, North Star Solar Bears. Jim — a member of the sustainable meat producing collective North Star Neighbors, a Nebraska Farmers Union District Rep and a member of the board for the Center for Rural Affairs — didn’t stop there. He also provided tours of the 15-kilowatt solar panel system on his own cattle ranch and farm west of Fullerton in Nance County, answering visitors’ questions about net metering, cost estimates, incentive grants and tax credits.
BOLD believes in a clean energy future. We will never stop fighting pipelines that abuse eminent domain for private gain, trampling Indigenous sovereign rights and threatening our land, water, endangered species and climate.
SOLAR XL Installation #1
Near Silver Creek, Nebraska on July 29, 2017, volunteers joined Jim Knopik, proprietor of family-owned rural solar installer North Star Solar Bears, to install solar panels on the farm of Jim and Chris Carlson — who turned down an offer of $307,000 from TransCanada to build the Keystone XL pipeline across their land — and instead are building solar in the path of the pipeline on their land in Nebraska.
SOLAR XL Installation #2
Bold Nebraska and Pipeline Fighters installed solar panels in the path of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, on Diana and “Stix” Steskal’s Prairierose Farm near Atkinson, NE on Saturday, September 16, 2017.
SOLAR XL Installation #3
Ranchers Bob & Nancy Allpress became the third Nebraska family to install solar panels on their land near Naper, NE that lies directly in the path of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on August 13, 2018.
