Environment & Agriculture
Trails advocates call for fixing flood damage from 2019 on Cowboy Trail
LINCOLN — Jason Buss and his family like to vacation on Nebraska’s Cowboy Trail, biking in the Neligh area, camping at a city park and taking in a movie at one of the state’s few drive-in movie theaters. But the “bomb cyclone” flood of 2019 pushed the Elkhorn River out of its banks, washing out […]
Right-to-repair bill for farming equipment advances out of Colorado House
Colorado farmers may soon have the ability to repair their high-tech equipment without needing scarce, expensive dealership technicians under a new bill on its way to the Colorado Senate. House Bill 23-1011 would require manufacturers of equipment such as tractors and combine harvesters to sell the tools, parts and digital information to farmers and independent […]
Oil-soaked soil from Kansas pipeline spill was sent to landfill near Omaha
LINCOLN — Thousands of cubic yards of oil-soaked soil from a pipeline leak in Kansas ended up in a landfill in the Omaha area, and an environmental watchdog wants the state to make sure it isn’t contaminating anything here. “This is a foreign corporation that is using Nebraska as a dumping ground,” said Jane Kleeb, […]
Installation of solar panels gets Lincoln condo owner in hot water
LINCOLN — Concerned about the environment, in part after studying Pope Francis’ encyclical that climate change is real and that we must care for our “common home,” Rosalind Carr took action. In October, Carr had 14 solar panels installed on the roof of her townhouse in the Cape Charles Square neighborhood of south Lincoln. It […]
Bonding bill would finish Nebraska expressways faster, supporters say
LINCOLN — A highway funding bill with Gov. Jim Pillen’s backing could help Nebraska finish a four-lane expressway system that the state has spent four decades building. But the proposal to borrow money by issuing bonds to fund highway and major road construction would end Nebraska’s decades-old, pay-as-you-go approach to major road construction. Legislative Bill […]
Nebraska committee considers harmonizing hemp regulation
LINCOLN — A legislative committee Tuesday considered proposals to harmonize Nebraska’s hemp regulation with federal standards and terminate the Nebraska Hemp Commission. Legislative Bill 263, introduced by the Agriculture Committee at the request of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, would amend the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act to align with the federal 2018 Farm Bill in […]
Food sanitation company fined $1.5 million for illegal child labor
A company responsible for cleaning meatpacking plants across the country has paid $1.5 million in civil penalties for making children as young as 13 work in dangerous conditions. The fine, announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor, followed an investigation by the agency into Packers Sanitation Services Inc. at 13 plants in eight states, […]
Center for Rural Affairs honors handful of Nebraska advocates
LINCOLN — The Center for Rural Affairs is honoring a handful of Nebraskans for their work in advocating for rural affairs. The center, based in Lyons, Nebraska, announced it is giving awards to four Nebraskans in its 50th year, with additional honorees from Kansas and South Dakota. The private nonprofit’s mission is to strengthen small […]
Kansas House committee advances bills to conserve water in Ogallala Aquifer
Members of a Kansas House committee on Thursday passed legislation meant to push officials in western Kansas to come up with ideas to conserve water in the disappearing Ogallala Aquifer. The legislation — along with a bill dedicating sales tax revenue to fund water projects — passed the House Water Committee on a voice vote with […]
New bill in Iowa House has significant restrictions for carbon dioxide pipelines
The three carbon dioxide pipelines proposed in Iowa are “economic development” projects that do not deserve the full weight of eminent domain to complete them, state Rep. Steven Holt, a Denison Republican, said Thursday. Holt unveiled a new bill that was submitted that morning — and co-sponsored by 21 of his colleagues — that would […]
Bill would create two state teams to help fight Nebraska wildfires, but at whose cost?
LINCOLN — A legislative bill would create two state wildfire response teams to help the hundreds of local volunteer and paid firefighters who fight Nebraska’s rising number of grassland, ag land and forest fires. But the bill’s hearing Thursday was dogged by questions over whether the state should hire its own wildfire response teams or […]
Nebraska joins other states to fight new WOTUS rule
LINCOLN — Nebraska on Thursday joined 24 other states in a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s new rule defining so-called Waters of the United States, or WOTUS. The multi-state coalition said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers rushed to publish the new rule, even though the Supreme Court is expected to […]