Keystone XL pipeline protest in DC Nov. 6, 2011.
A Nebraska court has granted a victory to the owner of the Keystone XL pipeline, removing one of the last major challenges in the project's way.
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Flooding caused by last week's bomb cyclone storm has broken records in 17 places across the state of Nebraska, CNN reported Sunday. Around nine million people in 14 states along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers were under a flood watch, CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis said.
More and more Americans are retrofitting their bathrooms with high-end bidets, allowing them to enjoy cleanliness and hygiene without creating as much paper waste. Not all bidets are created equal, however, and before deciding on a particular brand, it's important to do your homework. Take a look at our comprehensive Toto bidet review, and our reviews of Tushy and Omigo, to learn more about all of their options.
Piedmont
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY3MDgyMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMjI3MjE3Nn0.QqBs95yaFQnGwAuf0t3XaSCc7pvrSEUalnl9UulrODg/img.jpg?width=980" id="a0c63" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9d10ad2b08c5d00642b44787c1b099ad" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Toto USA
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/TOTO-BT500B-01-Piedmont-Vertical/dp/B00084P3GO/ref=sr_1_3?crid=ZG6AGN0U9VQL&dchild=1&keywords=toto+piedmont+bidet&qid=1613591898&sprefix=toto+piedmo%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-3" target="_blank">Toto's Piedmont bidet</a> offers an elegant, classic design, and it also comes with built-in safeguards that prevent it from ever overflowing. It is available in several color options, and will look good with any contemporary bathroom design.</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> This is the most affordable standalone bidet in Toto's catalog. This bidet is a good option if you are remodeling your bathroom or are building a home and want to save water and paper waste from the start. Priced starting at $533, you can find it through other retailers for around $280.</p>Lloyd
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY3MDgzMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNTU0Nzk0Nn0.h9XeFBojZff_4Un8swlIoamX7xAwO1wH3RKAiiZb96k/img.jpg?width=980" id="e5d22" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="83ff9c9b3ed8f1b5e92ff99c14ad9b0c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Toto USA
<p>The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/TOTO-BT930B-01-Vertical-Cotton/dp/B0015IVUOQ/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=toto%2Blloyd%2Bbidet&qid=1613592001&sr=8-2&th=1" target="_blank">Lloyd bidet</a> has a much bolder, "skirted" design, but it also shares the Piedmont's flushing rim and integral overflow features, which keep you from ever experiencing spillage.</p><p><strong>Why buy: </strong>This is a fancier product with a more striking appearance, and is mainly suited for a larger, more formal design. It retails for a slightly higher price point: The Lloyd model starts at $780 in total, but you can find it for $526 through other retailers.</p>Clayton
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY3MDgzMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTI4MTYyNn0.xNOnfejHaWbEVHRbO1vFVdUoWbFvevja40qRVr6L4dI/img.jpg?width=980" id="df200" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0cdb567e670fb2e46f50fbc43c99158c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Toto USA
<p>The company's flagship standalone bidet is known as the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/TOTO-BT784B-01-Clayton-Vertical/dp/B0018L9JUC/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=toto+clayton+bidet&qid=1613592108&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Clayton</a>. It includes the same overflow safeguards as the other two, and of course, each of these products is backed by Toto's longstanding commitment to excellent craftsmanship.</p><p><strong>Why buy: </strong>This is the most traditional in its visual style, and, with a number of colors to choose from, it will look great in almost any bathroom design. The Clayton starts at $734, but is available through other retailers for around $426.</p>Toto Washlet C200
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY3MDgzNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MTY3OTY1M30.3coYAuyqJLBcw8hQszI8Shbcfyr6nn9V0ek-kXv2kgQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="61762" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b7c91d2511149e271c7f0139f1580788" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Toto USA
<p>This electronic smart bidet seat fits onto your existing toilet bowl and offers a number of comfort features, including a heated seat, automatic air deodorizer, adjustable warm water, warm air dryer, self-cleaning wand, and a wireless remote control.</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> We chose the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UCIOX2Q/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&aaxitk=-XjvJQOmffOcAmiCOZvtAA&hsa_cr_id=7413316040901&pd_rd_plhdr=t&pd_rd_r=0e0e7f3d-0baf-4977-85d3-663f618a76d8&pd_rd_w=Yi3yF&pd_rd_wg=LUFHB&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_lsi3d_asin_1_img" target="_blank">Toto C200</a> as the overall best bidet in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/best-bidet-toilet-seats-2650502928.html" target="_self">our review</a> of top brands. In addition to the features mentioned, its dual action oscillating and pulsating spray and pre-mist function provide a comfortable and sanitary clean.</p>Toto Washlet S500e with EWATER+
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY3MDgzOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTgzNTIyMH0.idaacYO4MzHGTeajRkSCVHOo3TH7tehRN8TAH2s75ko/img.jpg?width=980" id="f6ed5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="87fa67b17e4c8e06f74bfbce87bf4809" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Toto USA
<p>The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/TOTO-SW3046-01-Electronic-Contemporary/dp/B078GTKSXK/ref=sr_1_2?crid=15NGPC9YFANKH&dchild=1&keywords=toto+s500e&qid=1613960063&sprefix=toto+s500e%2Caps%2C171&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Toto Washlet S500e</a> bidet seat includes the features found in the C200, plus instantaneous water heating, front and rear wash functions, two-user preset memory, and the company's <a href="https://www.totousa.com/technologies/ewater" target="_blank">EWATER+ technology</a>. This system uses electrolyzed water to keep the wand and toilet bowl clean.</p><p><strong>Why buy:</strong> This high-end Toto electric bidet seat can help you reduce water and toilet paper use, and it can help reduce the need for chemical cleaning products with its EWATER+ technology.</p>Toto Washlet A100
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY3MDg0Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MzU0OTU3MH0.g2PYzguGXvB1l7RvWBcw_xNtlpy8hsmcwui8Twr3CMA/img.jpg?width=980" id="08295" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d3d798b5d7737cddaadfd9f6fa5a84d6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="400" data-height="400" />Toto USA
<p>The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/TOTO-SW2014-01-Electronic-SoftClose/dp/B0165UFOGS/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=30E9Y1LAN9ZRW&dchild=1&keywords=toto+washlet+a100+elongated+bidet+toilet+seat&qid=1613589664&sprefix=toto+washlet+a100%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFBR1FMUTdJR1hXNUEmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAyNjIwOTkxUE1EWk5CQjg2QTZPJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0NDc1MzExSk1UMk5CQzJYVUhVJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==" target="_blank">A100</a> is an entry-level Washlet bidet attachment, but still offers numerous comfort features. It includes a heated seat with temperature control, aerated warm water with a dual action spray, and an attached arm control panel.</p><p><strong>Why buy: </strong>One of the most affordable Toto bidet options, it still lets you adjust the water temperature and pressure settings, and features rear and front cleaning functionality for a feminine wash.</p>'Historic First': Nebraska Farmers Return Land to Ponca Tribe in Effort to Block Keystone XL
By Jessica Corbett
In a move that could challenge the proposed path of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline—and acknowledges the U.S. government's long history of abusing Native Americans and forcing them off their lands—a Nebraska farm couple has returned a portion of ancestral land to the Ponca Tribe.
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By Katherine Paul
A citizen-led group in Nebraska is fighting Costco's plan to build a huge chicken factory farm operation that residents in nearby cities say would pollute their drinking water.
Residents of Devils Lake, North Dakota, along with members of the Spirit Lake Nation Tribe are battling plans to build a hog CAFO in a neighboring community. They say the operation would pollute Devils Lake and area wetlands.
By Lorne Stockman
Hearings began Monday at the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) in Lincoln for the Keystone XL pipeline. The PSC is charged with deciding whether the pipeline's route is in the interests of the state of Nebraska. If the pipeline is judged to pose unacceptable risks to land, water, wildlife, cultural resources and property values, the PSC could deny a permit to build the 36-inch pipeline carrying toxic tar sands oil through the state. No doubt TransCanada will be attempting to make its case that these risks are minimal and/or mitigable, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.
By Nicole Greenfield
In the red state of Nebraska, people know Jane Kleeb for her politics.
She's a progressive Democrat in a land of Trump voters, after all. But people also know the 44-year-old Kleeb, a Florida native who moved to Nebraska in 2007 after marrying into a family of local homesteaders, as someone who can bridge the political divide and unify the most unlikely of groups.
By Nicole Greenfield
When TransCanada began knocking on doors throughout Nebraska in 2008, most residents didn't know much about its Keystone XL pipeline or the dirty tar sands oil it would be transporting. The energy company was negotiating easements with local landowners in order to secure a route for its multibillion-dollar project—which would run north to south through the state, directly through the Ogallala Aquifer and across hundreds of Nebraskan rivers and streams. TransCanada threatened landowners with eminent domain if they didn't comply.
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By Brian Palmer
"Trump administration approves Keystone XL pipeline," the headlines blared. It was March 24, only two months after he'd taken office, when it appeared that President Trump had cleared the way for the long-contested tar sands conduit with a stroke of his pen.
As the Trump administration moves full speed ahead on boosting the oil and fossil fuel industry, opposition to increased pipeline construction is cropping up in different communities around the country.
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Hundreds of people filled a Nebraska Public Service Commission hearing Wednesday to both support and defend construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in the state.
In a long-awaited decision that has factored into President Obama's indication that he will veto the Keystone XL pipeline, the Nebraska Supreme Court delivered a split decision on a landowner lawsuit attempting to block the route through Nebraska chosen by TransCanada, the company building the pipeline.
Last February a Nebraska district court found that a law passed to allow use of eminent domain to build the pipeline was unconstitutional, a decision appealed to the state supreme court. Today, four of the state's seven justices agreed that the three landowner/plaintiffs have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the law and that the lower court was correct in finding the law unconstitutional. However, the Nebraska constitution says that a supermajority of five justices is required to find legislation unconstitutional.
LB 1161, the law the landowners were challenging, allowed the state's governor to pass along right of eminent domain in construction of the pipeline to TransCanada. Anti-pipeline activists were particularly incensed because this handed over to a foreign company the right to take Nebraska land for pipeline construction, superseding the rights of local property owners along the route.
David Domina, the landowners' attorney pointed out that a majority of the judges found that the landowners had standing and that the three that found they didn't refused to vote on the constitutionality issue.
"We had a unanimous four-justice majority declaring the statute unconstitutional," he said. "But the Constitution requires five votes. This means the three justices who we lost with on standing controlled the outcome by refusing to vote on the merits."
Susan Dunavan, one of the landowner plaintiffs, said, “I am thankful to the Nebraska Supreme Court Justices for hearing our case, but I am deeply disappointed that the Judges have ruled against Judge Stacy’s decision regarding the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of LB 1161. I am alarmed that our elected officials are allowed to pass legislation that directly violates the Nebraska State Constitution. A dangerous precedent has been set by this ruling. This ruling is in violation of our landowner rights, denies our right to due process and allows our lawmakers to continue to ignore the Constitution of the State of Nebraska.”
The decision comes on the same day the U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on approval of the pipeline again and it is sure to fuel supporters' insistence that Obama should let the project go forward. He has previously said it would be wrong to grant approval without the Nebraska route question settled, something many pipeline opponents have echoed as well. The pushback has already begin. with Lisa Murkowski, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, saying the decision "wipes out President Obama's last excuse" and the American Petroleum Institute saying he "has no more excuses to delay on deny the Keystone XL pipeline."
Sierra Club's executive director, Michael Brune feels, "The Nebraska Supreme Court’s ruling has no effect on the President’s authority to make the decision to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The President has repeatedly stated that he will reject the tar sands pipeline if it fails to meet the national interest and if it contributes to the climate crisis—and this court ruling has nothing to do with either of those things."
The argument is now likely to pivot to whether 35-5o permanent jobs should take precedence over the potential impact of the pipeline and the dirty tar sands oil it carries on the environment.
“This decision does nothing to alter the fundamental facts on Keystone," said Amanda Starbuck of Rainforest Action Network. "Not only does the pipeline present dire threats to indigenous communities, ranchers and the Ogallala aquifer, it miserably fails the administration’s own climate test. The millions of people who have joined the movement to stop this pipeline are looking to President Obama right now to choose the only option compatible with a stable climate: immediate rejection.”
“When you take a punch, you stand up and keep on fighting," said Jane Kleeb of grassroots citizens group Bold Nebraska, which has helped organize the opposition to the pipeline in the state. "We continue to stand with President Obama in his skepticism of the export pipeline and encourage him to reject Keystone XL now. The only decision that will bring peace of mind to landowners is watching the President use the power of the pen to stop this risky pipeline once and for all.”
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White House Says Obama Will Veto Keystone XL Pipeline Bill
MSNBC Shows How Keystone XL Indecision Continues Dividing Communities in Montana, Nebraska and South Dakota
Though there's no true indication that the State Department is any closer to lifting its indefinite moratorium on a Keystone XL pipeline decision, recent developments have split some communities further apart on the issue.
TransCanada Corp.'s permit from the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission expired June 29, requiring the company to re-enter the application process. Meanwhile, in Montana—another state the pipeline would have to be constructed through to reach the existing southern leg—people are "praying" for its construction for an economic boost, NBC reported.
In Nebraska, landowners are still fuming over the aggressive land grabs TransCanada attempted. A judge there has since struck down an eminent domain law.
MSNBC's The Ed Show puts all of this in perspective, showing how Montana, Nebraska and South Dakota are still divided on Keystone XL for different reasons. He was joined by Bold Nebraska's Jane Kleeb in the segment's footage from the spring and well as this week.