News Clippings for April 10, 2015

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Two California Bars Give Discounts on Drinks with No Ice

Video only on link

http://www.kdlt.com/news/local-news/trending-tonight-sticky-prank-teachers-caught-cheating-noice-

discount/32145324

Dawson County grasslands target for multi-year Environmental Trust Grant

Posted: Friday, April 3, 2015 11:46 am

By LORI POTTER Hub Staff Writer

http://www.theindependent.com/news/regional/kearney/dawson-county-grasslands-target-for-multi-year-

environmental-trust-grant/article_5d008f35-c58b-5ee6-8e23-e66ca8033e85.html

BOLD Nebraska Group Targets Fracking Wastewater

Posted: Friday, April 3, 2015 10:04 pm

By Rita Brhel P&D Correspondent

http://www.yankton.net/neighbors/article_447f5568-da77-11e4-b08c-07472aa66b84.html

Unitarian Church open house showcases green features

April 04, 2015 3:40 pm • By Dennis Buckley

Lincoln Journal Star

http://journalstar.com/niche/neighborhood-extra/news/unitarian-church-open-house-showcases-green-

features/article_939bb5cc-f83c-5c69-a6d1-52ed7c65dde6.html

Kearney officials seek paint can crusher funds from NRD for new waste recycling facility

Posted: Friday, April 3, 2015 1:15 pm

By LORI POTTER Hub Staff Writer

http://www.theindependent.com/news/regional/kearney/kearney-officials-seek-paint-can-crusher-funds-

from-nrd-for/article_306ca393-2707-534c-b686-ecb92d0f8197.html

Cover Crop and Soil Health Workshop Set for April 14 in Gibbon

Posted: Apr 03, 2015 8:50 AM CDTUpdated: Apr 03, 2015 8:50 AM CDT

NTV

http://www.nebraska.tv/story/28714487/cover-crop-and-soil-health-workshop-set-for-april-14-in-gibbon

Watch Viral Video: Nebraska Man Asks Oil and Gas Commission One Simple Question: ‘Would You

Drink It?’

Cole Mellino | March 31, 2015 8:28 am / Eco Watch website

Video went viral.

http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/31/nebraska-oil-and-gas-commission-fracking-fluid/

University of Nebraska regent cited for water pollution

Posted: Saturday, April 4, 2015 1:09 pm | Updated: 1:32 pm, Sat Apr 4, 2015.

Associated Press

http://www.theindependent.com/news/state/university-of-nebraska-regent-cited-for-water-

pollution/article_b5b7d9dc-4110-5768-87c0-24e7edbaef4f.html

Pittman-Robertson a story of conservation success

BY JEFF RAWLINSON / NEBRASKA GAME AND PARKS COMMISSION

April 5, 2015

http://journalstar.com/sports/local/outdoors/pittman-robertson-a-story-of-conservation-

success/article_78d6707a-edc2-530a-9743-f7e1a62f1ac1.html

Water forum targets pumping in Colorado

By TIM UNRUH Special to The Hays Daily News

Apr 4, 2015

http://www.hdnews.net/news/local/water-forum-targets-pumping-in-colorado/article_1d8952b2-cbd8-

5fa5-9d81-4ac22e4b4602.html

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First annual NRD 5K Run to benefit youth

April 06, 2015 3:15 pm • By Larry Peirce

Columbus Telegraph

http://columbustelegram.com/banner-press/news/first-annual-nrd-k-run-to-benefit-

youth/article_56111f0c-e7c2-5f21-8382-715b24ebfad8.html

NRD hosts run at Lake Wanahoo

April 06, 2015 11:00 am • By the Lincoln Journal Star

http://journalstar.com/lifestyles/recreation/nrd-hosts-run-at-lake-wanahoo/article_8c30215a-f372-5066-

8cf3-39d05380930a.html

NRD is finalist for grant to reclaim/preserve Loess Canyons

Written by gothenburgtimesWednesday, 08 April 2015 21:03

http://www.gothenburgtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8797:nrd-is-

finalist-for-grant-to-reclaimpreserve-loess-canyons&catid=5:agribusiness&Itemid=7

Augmentation pumping from Lincoln County project complete PDF Print E-mail

NRD board adopts new chemigation, meter rules

By Russ Pankonin

The Imperial Republican

http://www.imperialrepublican.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7898:augmentati

on-pumping-from-lincoln-county-project-complete&catid=41:agbusiness&Itemid=53

PLATTE LINES A column of current items of interest from the South Platte NRD

Sun Telegraph

http://www.suntelegraph.com/story/2015/04/06/community/platte-lines-a-column-of-current-items-of-

interest-from-the-south-platte-nrd/6716.html

Platte lines: Setting allocations an important and complex process

April 9, 2015 | Vol. 107 No. 14

Pine Bluffs Post

http://www.pinebluffspost.com/story/2015/04/09/news/platte-lines-setting-allocations-an-important-and-

complex-process/3499.html

Platte River program says it's not to blame for area flooding

22 hours ago • By The Associated Press

Lincoln Journal Star

http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/platte-river-program-says-it-s-not-to-blame-

for/article_a551a291-be88-500c-9685-1ffd29ac67c4.html

Youth camp scholarships offered

By The North Platte Bulletin - 4/7/2015

http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=29808&pageID=

29

J-2 project progress report now part of CNPPID board meeting agendas

Posted: Tuesday, April 7, 2015 11:57 am | Updated: 11:58 am, Tue Apr 7, 2015.

By LORI POTTER Hub Staff Writer

http://www.kearneyhub.com/news/local/j--project-progress-report-now-part-of-cnppid-

board/article_25670fb8-dd47-11e4-90b9-3358c665b021.html

Increased flooding expected to affect the central U.S. in future

By Thomas Simpson

On April 8, 2015

Daily Helmsman

http://www.dailyhelmsman.com/news/view.php/864173/Increased-flooding-expected-to-affect-th

Native plants fit the climate, diversify a landscape and create a sense of place

POSTED: SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2015 12:15 AM

By Lexie Heinle / World-Herald staff writer

http://www.omaha.com/living/native-plants-fit-the-climate-diversify-a-landscape-and-

create/article_49498f19-8fa2-50f3-b570-ab0604ae8faf.html

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Officials: Missouri River will see 80 percent of normal runoff because of less mountain snow

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

first Posted: April 07, 2015 - 6:02 pm

Last Updated: April 07, 2015 - 6:05 pm

http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/e6cf4bbea8c64208afe46dccdd7f053e/NE--Missouri-River-

Releases/

Well fight doesn’t block oil and gas nominee, despite Sierra Club's opposition

POSTED: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2015 11:30 PM

By David Hendee / World-Herald staff writer

http://www.omaha.com/news/legislature/well-fight-doesn-t-block-oil-and-gas-nominee-

despite/article_974ad949-b9da-5792-991c-734157c9bf5c.html

Rate hikes jolt Nebraska's power edge

Nebraska loses its longtime spot among the top 10 low- cost electricity states.

By Henry J. Cordes / World-Herald staff writer

Sunday, April 5, 2015

http://dataomaha.com/bigstory/news/rate-hikes-jolt-nebraskas-power-edge

NRD eyes groundwater rules

Posted: Friday, April 10, 2015 8:20 am

Special to the Daily News

http://norfolkdailynews.com/news/nrd-eyes-groundwater-rules/article_5f4763e2-df84-11e4-88b5-

e3c8088352a6.html

Wellfield pumps can rest for now

Andy Raun, April 10, 2015

araun@hastingstribune.com

http://www.hastingstribune.com/april/news0410ncorpe.php

LRNRD capping irrigation at 13 inches per acre

Posted: Friday, April 10, 2015 11:43 am

By LORI POTTER Hub Staff Writer

http://www.theindependent.com/news/regional/kearney/lrnrd-capping-irrigation-at-inches-per-

acre/article_10012159-4bd2-5499-b132-4c61c3a2d4e6.html

Two California Bars Give Discounts on Drinks with No Ice

Video only on link

http://www.kdlt.com/news/local-news/trending-tonight-sticky-prank-teachers-caught-cheating-noice-

discount/32145324

Dawson County grasslands target for multi-year Environmental Trust Grant Posted: Friday, April 3, 2015 11:46 am By LORI POTTER Hub Staff Writer

GRAND ISLAND — A grassland conservation project focused on removing cedar trees from thousands of pasture acres in southwest

Dawson County has been approved for a Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund grant.

Central Platte Natural Resources District Range Management Specialist David Carr told the NRD board Thursday that he received a letter

from environmental trust officials saying the project has been approved for $259,045 for each of three years, or about $777,000 total.

“We want to set this up so we can get at least 2,000 acres a year burned, with a footprint of 4,000 acres,” Carr said. The acres that aren’t

burned will be cleared other ways.

He expects that about $30,000 each year will be used for prescribed burning, with $40,000 to hand clear cedars that will be put into piles

as firebreaks and the balance for cutting cedars in pastures.

Project partners are the CPNRD, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Nebraska Game and

Parks Commission.

Carr said they will work with landowners in the target area who need funds to match federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program

grants and with others who may have been just below the ranking for EQIP funds but have pastures vital to creating the areas of

continuous acres.

He told the Hub the first project probably will be done next fall.

In another Hub Territory issue, the board’s Western Projects Chairman Jim Bendfeldt of Kearney said the committee met with Gibbon

officials and their engineer from Olsson Associates to look at problems getting water to drain away from the city and to the Platte River.

He said Jesse Mintken, GIS and groundwater specialist with the NRD, was asked to do more study on the problem. There also will be

additional meetings with Gibbon, Buffalo County and NRD officials, plus other interested parties, to seek a solution.

NRCS District Conservationist James Huntwork of Grand Island reviewed a proposal for EQIP funds earmarked for a special Ogallala

Aquifer Initiative. In Nebraska, the eligible areas are designated as overappropriated, have significant groundwater declines or are within

NRDs’ groundwater quality management areas.

That includes much of the Central Platte NRD.

Huntwork explained that such funding previously was sought on a state basis, with competition then project by project. Now, proposals

must be submitted by each NRD.

The CPNRD proposal, dated March 27, includes background about the district, how money from the initiative has been used in the past

and would continue to be used, and six priorities that represent previously approved projects such as retiring irrigated acres in areas with

critical groundwater declines and in overappropriated parts of the Platte Basin.

Huntwork said $1 million a year is being requested from the Ogallala Aquifer Initiative for each year of the current farm bill.

“The competition is going to be stiff,” he said. “I think we had seven other proposals just from Nebraska.” In other business, the

board:

- Approved a $1,200 request for seeding along a new segment of the Johnson Lake Hike-Bike Trail.

- Approved by consensus a plan to include $3,000 in the fiscal year 2016 budget to help pay the costs for a two-part video by NET

Nebraska about the history, mission and success of the NRDs. Each of the 23 NRDs has been asked to contribute $3,000, which also will

pay for development of related classroom materials.

- Was told that a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling expanding Medicare costs may put in jeopardy a bill to put more money into the Natural

Resources Development Fund to finish water projects already approved and in progress. That includes CPNRD’s Prairie-Silver-Moores

drainage project in and around Grand Island.

- Created a six-member subcommittee of the Eastern and Western Projects committees to continue studying options to get more

landowner “buy-in” to maintain areas within CPNRD vegetation snagging and clearing projects.

- Was told by CPNRD Biologist Mark Czaplewski that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has added the northern long- eared bat to the

threatened species list because of declining numbers due to a fungus. That affects the eastern three- fourths of Nebraska that is on the

fringe of the bats’ range.

BOLD Nebraska Group Targets Fracking Wastewater Posted: Friday, April 3, 2015 10:04 pm

By Rita Brhel P&D Correspondent | 0 comments

The controversy surrounding the Keystone XL may have made BOLD Nebraska a household name here in the state, but there is a

lot more to this grassroots activist group than its stance against TransCanada’s claim to eminent domain.

BOLD Nebraska was formed in 2010 by Jane Kleeb, a former MTV journalist and farmer from Ayr, Nebraska, in response to the

Keystone XL Pipeline and has since grown to cover other issues with the potential to affect landowner rights, such as the latest

news of an out-of-state oil company applying to export its fracking wastewater for disposal in Nebraska.

On March 24, the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in Sidney, Neb., held a hearing on an application from Terex

Energy of Broomfield, Colo., to haul an estimated 10,000 barrels of wastewater per day - approximately 80 tanker truckloads - from

oil and gas production in Colorado and Wyoming across state lines to be disposed in the Spotted Tail Creek Field, a former oil well

on a ranch in Sioux County in the Panhandle of Nebraska.

“The well would be by far the largest of its kind in Nebraska, dwarfing any of the other existing injection wells in the state,” according

to BOLD Nebraska’s petition calling for signatures against approving Terex’s application. “Wastewater from the fracking process

would be pumped down directly through the Ogallala Aquifer, posing a perilous danger to the precious underground water source

that provides drinking water for millions of people and 30 percent of irrigation for our agricultural economy.”

According to the Terex application, the proposed disposal site is in the vicinity of the Ogallala Aquifer, although there are no known

faults that would allow contact between the proposed wastewater site and the aquifer.

The hearing was well attended by the public, most of whom were opposed to approval of the application. A video of the testimony of

James Osborn of Ainsworth, Neb., went viral on the Internet showing him pouring three glasses of water for the commissioners

before then pouring a brown, liquid concoction he claimed was fracking wastewater into each cup, and then offering it to the

commissioners.

Osborn identified himself as someone who works in the fracking field.

“Everything about Nebraska runs on water,” he testified. “There is no doubt that there will be contamination. There will be spills.”

Fracking, more formally known as hydraulic fracturing, is the process of injecting large amounts of water, mixed with sand and

chemicals, underground to crack shale rock to release pockets of oil and natural gas. After the process, the water mixture used

needs to be disposed of. Approximately 10 gallons of wastewater is created for every 1 gallon of oil extracted.

Because fracking wastewater is difficult to treat, it is typically stored in pits or underground. However, even treated fracking

wastewater has been found to still contain chemicals that are harmful to human health and therefore is handled in the similar

precaution as radioactive waste, leading to several states banning fracking wastewater disposal. According to BOLD Nebraska,

fracking wastewater is often radioactive in itself.

“What’s worse, when it spills, wastewater is particularly damaging to agricultural land, where the effects can last decades or even

generations,” continued BOLD Nebraska’s petition. “The outline of a New Mexico wastewater spill from the early 1980s is still

visible on Google Earth satellite photos.”

BOLD Nebraska named various cases, including in North Dakota and California, where spills of fracking wastewater have occurred,

with devastating results. In fact, the California spill contaminated underground aquifers used for drinking water with nearly 3 billion

gallons of wastewater.

“In Nebraska, if the well casing were to fail on Terex’s proposed injection well, it would be impossible to clean up a toxic wastewater

spill inside the Ogallala Aquifer,” continued BOLD Nebraska’s petition. “Nebraska has almost no standards to regulate disposal of

fracking waste, which is the reason out of state corporations want to dump their wastewater in our state.”

The primary public concern heard at the Commission meeting was of potential groundwater contamination. A secondary concern

was increased traffic from trucking the wastewater to the disposal site. More than 100 people were prepared to testify in opposition

to the application at the hearing, although only half spoke to the commissioners due to available space in the meeting room.

However, according to the Commission, Nebraska already has 130 wastewater disposal wells, including several currently in use for

fracking projects in Wyoming. The Commission has not heard any reports of current wastewater disposal sites contaminating

drinking water. In addition, per the Commission, the disposal well named in Terex’s application is deemed as an excellent

candidate, because it is relatively new and has four layers of concrete protection to guard the environment from possible

contamination.

Among the opposition was Sen. John Stinner (District 48) of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, who sent a letter with Sen. Ken Haar (District

21) of Malcolm, Nebraska, to the commissioners in Stinner’s stead. In the letter that Haar read, Stinner urged the commissioners to

delay decision on the application until all of the potential environmental impacts have been fully considered.

“This well is located in an environmentally sensitive area in Nebraska,” Stinner’s letter read. “As a Commission, you have not been

presented with a case that involved the great volume of produced water proposed to be injected into the subterranean in Nebraska

as will be done by this proposal. It is incumbent upon the Commission to perform due diligence that this application will not have a

long-term adverse impact on the precious water supply in Western Nebraska.”

As the letter continued, Stinner mentioned concerns about the Commission’s lack of funding to monitor groundwater safety or to

clean up any spills that may occur in the future, and also touched on the potential public safety issues from the increased Terex

truck traffic to haul the wastewater, not to mention the estimated $6.5 million damage to roadways over the long term.

On Jan. 21, Stinner had introduced LB512 to the Nebraska Legislature, which is currently pending in the Natural Resources

Committee. The bill would authorize funding to the Commission to monitor and regulate out-of-state wastewater disposal in

Nebraska. BOLD Nebraska has sent out a request to its supporters to contact Sen. Ken Schilz (District 47) of Ogallala, Neb.,

chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, to pause the fracking well permit process until a study can be done on fracking

wastewater’s impact on resources.

The Commission didn’t take any immediate action on the application on March 24, but a decision is mandated within 30 days of the

hearing date, which can then be appealed by the applicant or interveners if desired.

Unitarian Church open house showcases

green features April 04, 2015 3:40 pm • By Dennis Buckley

0

A tour of the newly-renovated Unitarian Church of Lincoln, 6300 A St., is scheduled for 1 to 3 p.m. next Saturday, April

11. It is open to Nebraska Interfaith Power and Light, the Eastridge Neighborhood Association, and the public. A short

program will begin at 1:30 p.m.

“Come for the program, if you’re interested in hearing about the religious basis for the earth-friendly choices,” said Linda

Brown, Green Sanctuary Committee member at Unitarian Church.

Brester Construction managed the year-long project which includes a new office wing, a completely reconfigured church

school and green-energy features throughout.

Highlights include a new geothermal heating and air-conditioning system with 15 wells 300 feet deep, located under the

parking lot; 58 photovoltaic solar panels on the south-facing roof, which are generating electricity; as well as LED lighting,

energy-efficient windows and insulation.

In addition, a storm-water detention pond will be constructed this spring to collect and slowly release rainwater to protect the

property of the church’s downhill neighbors. Half the cost of the project will be covered in the form of a grant from the Lower

Platte South Natural Resource District.

Kearney officials seek paint can crusher funds from NRD for new waste recycling facility Posted: Friday, April 3, 2015 1:15 pm By LORI POTTER Hub Staff Writer

GRAND ISLAND — Paint and paint-related items make up about 90 percent of items left at Kearney’s three drop-off locations for

household hazardous waste, so city Sanitation Division officials want to buy equipment to ensure those containers can be recycled.

Sanitation Supervisor Steve Hart and Household Hazardous Waste Coordinator Shauna Petzold asked the Central Platte Natural

Resources District directors Thursday for $12,261 to purchase a TeeMark Can Crusher that, according to the company’s literature,

can open, empty and crush up to 240 paint cans per hour.

The crushed cans are considered empty and can be recycled. “Now, the cans just go to the landfill,” Hart said.

The machine is on the equipment list for a new larger Kearney Household Hazardous Waste facility for which the city council is

expected to approve plans and open bids on April 14.

A handout Hart and Petzold provided to the CPNRD staff and directors says the city has received a $220,000 grant from the

Nebraska Environmental Trust for the 3,000 square-foot facility near the Kearney Area

Recycling Center at 3007 E. 39th St., with the city providing $300,000.

The schedule calls for a grand opening on Nov. 15, which is America Recycles Day.

The Sanitation Division operates as an enterprise fund, with no tax dollars used. Hart said revenues come from residential and

commercial trash collection fees, sales of recycled items, and grants.

When asked by Director Mick Reynolds of Wood River if the city’s department serves a broader area, Hart explained that the drop-

off sites — at 1919 15th Ave. near the Public Works Building, the Kearney Area Recycling Center at 3007 E. 39th St. and the landfill

at 6711 W. 56th St. — are not staffed. That means anyone coming to Kearney can drop off household hazardous waste materials.

“We can’t accept commercial,” he said. “That’s a whole different criteria. ... But we do get (household) things from counties away

from Kearney.”

Hart and Petzold also described special initiatives to collect and properly recycle household batteries, electronics and oil.

Reynolds asked about ag chemical containers. Hart said Kearney has participated in pesticide container recycling through a

University of Nebraska-Lincoln program for about 20 years, but no other ag chemical containers are accepted.

He was asked if other groups or organizations have been asked to help fund equipment for Kearney’s new facility. “It’s keeping

things out of the environment, out of the groundwater, so we thought this was a good group to start with,” Hart said.

The NRD board decided to have its Programs Committee review the funding request for the paint can crusher and make a

recommendation to the full board at its April 23 meeting.

Cover Crop and Soil Health Workshop Set for April 14 in Gibbon Posted: Apr 03, 2015 8:50 AM CDTUpdated: Apr 03, 2015 8:50 AM CDT

A Cover Crop and Soil Health Workshop to be held on April 14 will discus how cover crops affect how much water soaks into the soil.

The workshop is geared toward farmers and the crop insurance agents and consultants who help them. The agenda includes a look at how cover crops affect water infiltration, their use of soil moisture, promoting healthy soil structure, and the effect of tillage vs. long-term no till in regards to how much rain soaks into the soil.

Speakers will include Ray Ward of Ward Labs, Dean Krull with Central Platte NRD/UNL, Dan Gillespie- Farmer/NRCS, Rich Russell of Arrow Seed, Keith Berns of Green Cover Seed, Lon Bohn & Don Blaschko- Farmers of B+B Partners, and other area farmers.

The session will go from 9 a.m. to noon at the Don Blaschko home in Gibbon. The workshop is open to the first 50 people who register as seating is limited.

Lunch is free and sponsored by the Central Platte Natural Resources District, Arrow Seed of Broken Bow, and Green Cover Seed of Bladen.

Register by emailing Beth Hiatt at beth.hiatt@ne.usda.gov or call 308-237-3118 Ext. 116.

Watch Viral Video: Nebraska Man Asks Oil and Gas

Commission One Simple Question: ‘Would You Drink It?’

Cole Mellino | March 31, 2015 8:28 am | Comments

The Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission had a public hearing last week in

Sidney, Nebraska about a fracking wastewater storage well proposed by Terex Energy

Corp., which wants to store its fracking wastewater from other states in Nebraska.

According to Bold Nebraska, the project would move “80 truckloads carrying 10,000

barrels per day of pollution destined to be dumped into a disposal well in Sioux

County.” The advocacy group uploaded videos of the public hearing to their site.

The issue is unsurprisingly very contentious for Nebraskans and obviously a deeply

personal issue for the first speaker at the hearing, James Osborn. He says he has

experience in the oil and gas field, having built pipelines all over the country, and his

brother and two nephews have worked in the fracking industry.

But Osborn is very concerned about Nebraska’s precious water supply: “Everything in

Nebraska runs on water. Period.” To make his point, he pulls out three plastic cups and

fills them with water. Then he tops them off with a healthy dose of a mysterious brown

sludge—allegedly fracking fluid—and says, “You told me this morning when I was in

here … that you would drink this water, so would you drink it?”

University of Nebraska regent cited for water pollution Posted: Saturday, April 4, 2015 1:09 pm | Updated: 1:32 pm, Sat Apr 4, 2015. Associated Press |

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality has issued a notice of violation to University of

Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen, one of the largest swine producers in the state.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/1NPR6gm ) that the violation notice was dated March 20. It says the violations

included discharging wastewater from a truck wash east of Humphrey into an earthen storage pit for livestock waste. The notice

says the pit isn't designed or permitted for wastewater treatment.

The department says it found the violations during a March 2 inspection. Pillen has been cited for both unauthorized discharge of

processed wastewater and unauthorized use of a livestock waste control facility.

Pillen did not immediately return phone messages left Saturday by The Associated Press at his office and Columbus home.

Information from: Lincoln Journal Star,http://www.journalstar.com

Pittman-Robertson a story of conservation

success

23 hours ago • BY JEFF RAWLINSON / NEBRASKA GAME AND PARKS COMMISSION

0

How the funding for the greatest conservation model in the world came together to provide us the hunting,

fishing and shooting sports opportunities we enjoy today was just plain brilliant.

No other nation has such coordinated and easy access to hunting, fishing and shooting sports like we do in the

United States. We went from the brink of ecological disaster in beginning the 20th century to wildlife abounding

in every state. Critters that were uncommon 75 years ago are now common today. This remarkable story took

people with vision and passion. And it took money.

By the early 20th century, we had all but destroyed our wildlife and natural resources in America. We had begun

to realize we needed trained game wardens and biologists if we were to save and restore the remaining wildlife.

Thanks to President Theodore Roosevelt, conservation of wild things and wild places was at the political forefront,

but the states needed money if anything was to be done.

Compounding this need was that they would have to find this money during the Great Depression. Hunters,

anglers, and rod and gun clubs across the country were demanding something be done.

In 1937, the country was limping from the Depression and conservation needed funding badly. Hunters, anglers

and shooting sports enthusiasts lobbied hard for Congress to take an existing 10 percent excise tax on firearms

and ammunition and divert the funds to state fish and wildlife agencies. Congress wanted to simply repeal the

tax.

This concept was brought to light by Carl Shoemaker, a former director of the Oregon Fish and Game

Commission. The idea of keeping a tax on the books during those times was not popular, but Shoemaker drafted

the legislation. The idea was sound: Move the existing 10 percent tax on firearms and ammunition to the new bill

and allow the state fish and wildlife agencies to use the funds for conservation.

Shoemaker enlisted the help of Sen. Key Pittman of Nevada, who introduced the bill. To gain House support,

Shoemaker met with Rep. A. Willis Robertson of Virginia. During their lunch in the Senate dining room, Robertson

took a look at the draft and wrote down 29 words that were to be added.

These words read, “and which shall include a prohibition against the diversion of license fees paid by hunters for

any other purpose than the administration of said state fish and game department." These words have kept the

funding for fish and wildlife management from being diverted from their intended purpose.

The bill was placed in the House Agriculture Committee, where it was handed to Rep. Scott Lucas of Illinois.

Shoemaker’s savvy helped Lucas make the Pittman-Robertson bill a major priority. President Franklin Roosevelt

signed the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act on Sept. 2, 1937.

NGPC/NEBRASKALAND MAGAZINE

Thanks to hunters, anglers and shooting sports enthusiasts, the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act paved

the way for conservation of wild places and wild things in America.

In 1950, the Dingell-Johnson Act was passed to allow for taxes on fishing tackle. In the 1970s, the act was

expanded to include handguns and archery equipment. Today, the combined acts have collected more than $12

billion for fish and wildlife conservation efforts.

The concept is pretty simple. Every time you purchase a new rifle, handgun, shotgun, bow, arrows or ammunition,

10 percent of that sale goes to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where the funds are redistributed back to the

state fish and wildlife agency for conservation efforts.

Perhaps no other effort shows the profound effect of the Pittman-Robertson act in Nebraska than the

reintroduction of wild turkey. Once extinct in Nebraska, the wild turkey is one of the most sought- after game

species in the state.

Today, the annual economic impact of hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing and state parks is $2.4 billion to the

Nebraska economy. Add the $330 million impact from the shooting sports, and it is easy to see how critical this

effort has been to the well-being of every citizen of the state.

How different would the state of wildlife in Nebraska be if Shoemaker had chosen any other senator to have

lunch with that day?

Water forum targets pumping in Colorado By TIM UNRUH Special to The Hays Daily News Apr 4, 2015

ST. FRANCIS — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and a few water-conscious underlings plan to discuss with locals Tuesday in St. Francis how water is being used in a three- state region.

Water from the Ogallala Aquifer, the huge underground driver of farm economies in portions of several states, is being mined to satisfy federal streamflow requirements on the Republican River. Rep. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland, wonders about the wisdom of taking a resource that developed over centuries to enhance a river, losing some of the resource to seepage and evaporation. “It makes no sense,” he said. “Here we are, trying to get a new vision out to preserve water for 50 years, and we have Colorado across the line, pumping from the Ogallala to replace surface water.” The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Cheyenne County 4-H Building in St. Francis. Billinger aims to gather input on the pumping project and “possible ways to preserve the Ogallala for future users.” Two similar augmentation projects just ceased in two areas of western Nebraska. The Republican River Water Conservation District in northeast Colorado is pumping from eight irrigation wells into a pipeline that dumps into the north fork of the Republican. The district delivers 7,000 acre feet of water to the river from November through December, and from January through mid-April will pump another 7,000 acre-feet, said Deb Daniel, manager of the district based in Wray, Colo. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover an acre of land 1 foot deep, or 325,851 gallons. “The only way we can supply enough water to be in compact compliance is by delivering water to the stream,” she said. Another effort to comply consisted of draining Bonny Reservoir northeast of Burlington during 2011 and 2012. It was the only lake in the region. Evaporation and seepage from the lake were working against Colorado’s compliance, Daniel said. The pumping project is nothing new to the area. Two projects in Nebraska involved enhancing Republican River flows. The Rock Creek project of the Upper Republican Natural Resources District ceased in February 2013 after just less than two years of pumping from 10 wells that once irrigated some 3,200 acres. The wells sent 13,000 gallons a minute into Rock Creek, which dumps into the Republican. The district bought the land in 2011 and built a pumping system for roughly $21 million. The Lincoln project, officially known as the Nebraska Cooperative Republican Platte Enhancement Project, involved four natural resource districts and operated from March 2014 through late March, retiring nearly 16,000 acres from irrigation. The cost to date is approximately $100 million, said Kyle Shepherd, of North Platte, Neb., the N-Corpe manager. Those projects combined “prevented the shutdown of approximately 300,000 irrigated acres in Nebraska and reduced the amount of time surface water users in Nebraska had water administered away from them,” said Nate Jenkins, assistant manager of the Upper Republican NRD. “Agreements were reached that will allow that water to aid Kansas users at times when they need it,” he said.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that awarded Nebraska 10,000 acre feet of credit each year will result in Nebraska pumping less, Jenkins said. The Colorado project involved the water rights from 53 irrigation wells, ending irrigation on 10,000 acres of land. Currently, eight wells are pumping into the river system and another seven will be attached, Daniel said. The output from those 15 wells will equal the combined appropriation allowed from the 53 wells, she said. Only the amount of water that would have been consumed by crops on those acres — consumptive use — from those wells is allowed to be sent down the river. The Republican River Water Conservation District in Colorado spent $58 million to purchase the water rights and build a pipeline, Daniel said. Billinger argues the pumping project benefits the north fork of the Republican, which doesn’t enter Kansas until it reaches Jewell County, in the north-central part of the state. The south fork dips into Kansas through Cheyenne County and flows back into Nebraska. Among Billinger’s options is to influence Colorado to stop pumping water from the Ogallala to replace surface water.

The Kansas lawmaker also would advocate for Colorado putting water back in Bonny Reservoir, earmarking storage for Kansas, and enhancing the region’s fishing and other recreation opportunities. Given the demands for compliance, Colorado’s Daniel said the district “didn’t have any choice.” Billinger is after long-term solutions from water conservation programs. “It needs to resonate in the area. It has to be something that local irrigators and users bring themselves,” he said. “I don’t think it’s something that can be mandated from Topeka. All of the stakeholders need to get together and work on viable options. That’s the reason we’re having that meeting next week.” Representatives from Daniel’s district are planning to attend the meeting. NRD officials from Nebraska also are interested in what’s said at the meeting, Jenkins said, and some might attend. Accompanying Brownback will be Kansas Agriculture Secretary Jackie McClaskey, Chief Water Engineer David Barfield and Kansas Water Office Director Tracy Streeter. Meanwhile, Billinger, who owns a farm, will continue to hope for moisture. “If you get rainfall,” he said, “it makes a good farmer out of all of us.”

First annual NRD 5K Run to benefit youth April 06, 2015 3:15 pm • By Larry Peirce

Run-a-Hoo at Wanahoo! It’s time to lace up your shoes and join the Natural Resources Districts for the first annual 5K Run

and 1 Mile Fun Run/Walk fundraiser on Saturday, April 11, 2015 at Lake Wanahoo near Wahoo! The run starts at 8:30 AM.

The Natural Resources Districts are excited to raise money for children who love the outdoors and are excited to learn about

how to better conserve Nebraska’s natural resources. Each dollar raised goes to support several programs the NRD’s

Foundation sponsors. This includes programs like Future Farmers of America (FFA) which encourages our youth to invest in

natural resources and agriculture now and in the future and Adventure Camp about the Environment (ACE Camp) where

middle-school aged children learn about the state’s wildlife, soil and water.

The Natural Resources Districts have high hopes for this year’s run and many more in the future. This is a great way to

showcase the different NRD recreation areas every year, so everyone gets a chance to see our amazing parks, lakes, hiking

trails, and camping and fishing sites!

The Natural Resources Districts are proud to protect the lives, property and future of Nebraska. We hope the public comes

out to support our youth and spends a day enjoying Lake Wanahoo!

Again, the 5K Run and 1 Mile Fun Run/Walk fundraiser kicks off at 8:30 AM. It’s Saturday, April 11th at Lake Wanahoo

near Wahoo. You can sign up at http://getmeregistered.com/RunaHoo. Media is welcome to attend!

NRD hosts run at Lake Wanahoo April 06, 2015 11:00 am • By the Lincoln Journal Star

Nebaska natural resources districts are hosting Run-a-Hoo, a 5K run and 1-mile fun run/walk to raise money for kids who

love the outdoors and want to learn more about conservation.

The fundraiser is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Lake Wanahoo near Wahoo. Money raised will go to support programs

sponsored by the NRD Foundation, including FFA and Adventure Camp about the Environment, or ACE Camp, where

middle-school aged kids learn about wildlife, soil and water.

Register for $35 for the 5K and $20 for the 1-mile at getmeregistered.com/RunaHoo.

NRD is finalist for grant to reclaim/preserve Loess Canyons

David Carr, range management specialist, announced that the Nebraska Environmental Trust board selected the Central Platte

NRD’s grant request as a finalist to reclaim and preserve up to 12,000 acres of crucial habitat in the Loess Canyons in the western

part of the District.

The goal is to remove Eastern Red Cedar seed source through mechanical tree clearing, prescribed burning and grazing

deferment.

The Loess canyons lie south of Gothenburg extending east to Cozad and west to Maxwell, Carr said Monday. The grant focus area

is from the western Dawson county line to south of Cozad in the cedar infested pastures. Other cedar infested pastures within

Central Platte NRD will be eligible for the program as well.

Carr’s announcement was made at the Central Platte NRD’s recent board of directors meeting. Partners in the project include the

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission. The funding recommendation is

$259,245 per year for three years.

Other board action:

Cease & Desist—A Cease & Desist hearing date was scheduled for Thursday, April 23, 2015, at 1:00 p.m. for a Dawson County

landowner who is out of compliance with the CPNRD’s Rules and Regulations.

Water Transfer Project—The board approved participating with the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NDNR) in the

development of a platform model for water transfer options. The NDNR will provide the funding for the project.

Johnson Lake Seeding—The board approved a request to purchase seed in the amount of $1,200 to seed the Hike & Bike trail

at Johnson Lake.

Eastern & Western Joint Meeting—A subcommittee of the Eastern and Western Projects was formed for continued discussion

on snagging and clearing agreements.

Scholarships—The board approved 10 college scholarships in the amount of $1,000 for students who are majoring in a natural

resources field. The recipients include: Central City—Isabella Gomez, Mitchel Herbig; Grand Island— Mitchell Baker, Holly

Green, Elizabeth Lutz; Wood River—Carson Schultz; Gibbon—Brett Bendfeldt; Kearney— Maranda Kegley, Isaac Richter;

Gothenburg—McKinley Harms.

NARD Video—The board approved $3,000 to be included in the Fiscal 2016 budget for a video to air on Nebraska Educational

Television (NET) that would tell the history and functions of Natural Resources Districts. The Nebraska Association of

Resources Districts is coordinating the video.

NRCS—James Huntwork, USDA-NRCS district liaison, reported on the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)-

Ogallala Aquifer Initiative (OAI) proposal for CPNRD. For FY 2015, the OAI will refocus its efforts to target geographic focus

areas to support local plans and strategies to address groundwater management. Huntwork said $8 million has been made

available to fund proposals submitted from each of the 8 states in the initiative area. Fund allocation decisions should be

completed by mid-April 2015.

Legislation—Mark Czaplewski, biologist, reported that the governor signed LB 142e into law which created and funded the

Aquatic Invasive Species Program to be operated by the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission. The goal is to prevent and

mitigate damage caused by aquatic invasive species such as zebra mussels and silver carp. Also signed into law was LB 164,

giving NRDs the option to adopt either annual or biennial budgets; and LB 207 which amends the chemigation statutes to mirror

language in the Nebraska Groundwater Management Act of not less than

$1,000/day and not more than $5,000/day for violations.

On the National news front, Czaplewski reported that Senator Fischer held a field hearing on the Waters of the United States

(WOTUS) rule in Lincoln in March. Central Platte NRD and the NARD submitted comments in opposition of WOTUS.

Czaplewski said that if adopted in its current form, federal agencies would essentially have control over all water in the U.S.

Czaplewski also noted that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designated the northern long-eared bat as a “threatened” species,

Written by gothenburgtimesWednesday, 08 April 2015 21:03

with its range including most of Nebraska.

Platte River Program—Mark Czaplewski also reported that the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (PRRIP) has

expended approximately $85.2 million, starting into the eighth year of the program. The 2015 budget was set at $26.5 million

with approximately $18 million dedicated to implementation of the program’s water plan. The J-2 Reregulating Reservoirs

funding are the bulk of those dollars. Czaplewski said that Central Nebraska Public Power & Irrigation District officials reported

that the J-2 environmental, geo-technical and engineering studies are ongoing.

Cost Share—The board approved 21 cost share applications for center pivots, soil moisture sensors, surge valve, pipeline, tree

planting, prescribed burn and well decommissioning in the amount of $44,686.24.

Augmentation pumping from Lincoln County project complete

NRD board adopts new chemigation, meter rules

By Russ Pankonin

The Imperial Republican

Augmentation pumping in the Republican River Basin crossed an historic milestone this week when the wells on the Lincoln County

project were shut down, hopefully for the rest of the year.

With the shutdown of the Rock Creek project in late January, that means that neither of the two augmentation projects in the Republican

River Basin are being pumped.

That also means that enough water has been pumped to offset any over-pumping in the basin last year. It also means Nebraska will be

in compact compliance with Kansas.

Going into 2015, the Upper Republican Natural Resources District (URNRD) needed to offset 14,600 acre feet (AF) of over-pumping in

2014. The Middle Republican NRD was responsible for offsetting 4,200 AF.

The URNRD, which owns and operates the Rock Creek augmentation project in southwest Dundy County, kept Rock Creek operating

through Jan. 27, with the 2015 pumping to date offsetting part of last year’s over-pumping.

After the Rock Creek project shutdown, pumping continued on the Lincoln County project to allow the URNRD to pump the remaining

amount of water needed to meet their offset.

The January shutdown of Rock Creek was the first time the project had been shut down since pumping began in February 2013 for compact

compliance purposes.

The URNRD estimated the Rock Creek project would only need to be pumped one out of every three years to keep the district in

compliance.

However, dry conditions over the last two years forced the URNRD to keep the project operating for two consecutive years.

In 2014 more than 20,000 AF were pumped from Rock Creek. When pumping began, the URNRD expected they would only get 69 percent

credit towards compliance.

However, an agreement between Kansas and Nebraska late last year gave Nebraska 100 percent credit for all augmentation pumping

in 2014 and 2015.

With full pumping credit, URNRD opted to rest the Rock Creek project for the remainder of 2015 and draw the necessary pumping from its

share of the Lincoln County project.

The Lincoln County project can pump more than 60,000 AF in a year for compliance purposes.

Land for the Lincoln County project was purchased in 2012 but the project did not become operational until March 2014. In December

2012, an inter-local agency of NRDs from the Republican and Platte River Basins was formed—the Nebraska Cooperative Republican

Platte Enhancement Project (known as N-CORPE). The entity purchased 19,000 acres in Lincoln County for a jointly-owned augmentation

project.

Members of N-CORPE include the Upper, Middle and Lower Republican Natural Resources Districts in the Republican River Basin and the

Twin Platte NRD located in the Platte River Basin.

N-CORPE spent $83 million to purchase the land and another $18 million to develop the wells and pipeline to deliver water into

Medicine Creek, north of Wellfleet.

The project was delayed after a suit was filed against N-CORPE in an effort to stop the project. The suit was later dismissed and the

project moved forward.

Interest in N-CORPE water

During the board’s regular meeting Tuesday in Imperial, URNRD Manager Jasper Fanning said N-CORPE has been approached by

the Nebraska Bostwick Irrigation District about the purchase of 5,000 AF of water this year.

Fanning said if an agreement is reached, then the project would be fired up to deliver that water to the irrigation district. Negotiations are in

the very early stages, Fanning said. Critical to the agreement would be a determination of the value of the water pumped from the Lincoln

County project.

He said the N-CORPE board is likely moving forward with the sale of bonds to re-finance bank loans taken out during construction.

It appears the agency can lower their interest rate and spread out the payments over 15 years. The present interest rate is 5 percent.

Rule changes adopted on Tuesday, board members approved a rule change to increase chemigation permit fees and allow electronic flow meters. The board held a hearing on the proposed changes last month. No one testified on the change and no written testimony was received.

As a result, the board voted without dissension to approve the rule change.

With the rule change the cost for chemigation permits and renewals will increase to cover actual costs, estimated at $40. The new fees will

be phased in over the next two years.

Presently the cost for a new permit stands at $20. The cost will increase to $30 in 2015 and to $40 in 2016. Renewals, which presently

cost $20, will remain the same for 2015. In 2016 the renewal cost will increase to $40. The rule change also allows the use of battery-

powered electronic meters to measure water usage.

PLATTE LINES A column of current items of interest from the South Platte NRD

Setting allocations an important and complex process April 6, 2015 |

Vol. 142 No. 67

In the last column, we introduced a general overview of the allocation system used by the NRD as one of the tools

used to maintain adequate ground water supplies. As the District moves forward to set allocations for the irrigation

years 2016-2018, we want to share how the process works and what we’re trying to accomplish.

In 2004, the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources designated the entire South Platte NRD as full appropriated,

or using as much ground water as there was ground water recharge. Later that same year, the South Platte River

Basin, including Lodgepole Creek was declared... (MUST HAVE SUBSCRIPTION FOR REST OF ARTICLE).

Platte lines: Setting allocations an important and complex process

April 9, 2015 | Vol. 107 No. 14

In the last column, we introduced a general overview of the allocation system used by the NRD as one of the tools

used to maintain adequate ground water supplies. As the District moves forward to set allocations for the irrigation

years 2016-2018, we want to share how the process works and what we’re trying to accomplish.

In 2004 the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources designated the entire South Platte NRD as full appropriated,

or using as much ground water as there was ground water recharge. Later that same year, the South Platte River

Basin, including Lodgepole Creek was declared overappropriated, or using more ground water than available

recharge.

Under requirements of the Nebraska Ground Water Management and Protection Act, the state’s natural resources

districts with areas designated as fully appropriated or overappropriated are required to work with NDNR to develop

integrated management plans to manage the state’s ground water and surface water resources. The District’s Integrated

Management Plan (IMP) was jointly developed by the District, stakeholders and NDNR and went into effect in 2008 for

fully appropriated areas, and in 2009 for overappropriated areas.

The District’s Ground Water Management Area Rules and Regulations and the IMP are the primary guides we follow

in management of the District’s water resources. To meet our responsibilities we need to provide the best ground

water management possible while still assuring for as much of a solid future as possible.

As stated in the IMP, its goal is: to work together for the greater good of all the citizens of the South Platte Natural

Resources District to cooperatively develop and implement a local Integrated Surface Water/Ground Water Plan that

has an acceptable degree of certainty of 1) maintaining a sufficient water supply for use by present and future

generations, 2) maintaining and protecting the region's agricultural economy and the viability of cities and villages and

3) promoting the growth of economic activities while seeking to avoid adverse impacts on the environment.

State statute requires that the impact of stream flow depletions to surface water appropriations and water wells

constructed in aquifers dependent on streamflow due to water use initiated after July 1, 1997 be addressed within ten

(10) years of the adoption of an integrated management plan and requires that the overappropriated areas be

returned to fully appropriated in an incremental manner.

So how do we accomplish this? Primarily, by using the best science we have available to make solid, informed

management decisions. We then follow up to determine how management actions may affect the goal’s provisions.

These actions are taken in a manner which will continue to provide viable ground water resources for all those within

the District – from crop needs, to domestic and stock wells, to industrial uses, and urban areas.

To make the reductions necessary, the District initiated the allocation system starting in 2007. We are now preparing

for the third allocation period, which begins in the 2016 growing season.

As we review the information we will use every resource at our disposal in an attempt to evaluate management

options. First of those and the most long-standing are actual ground water level measurements from nearly 200 wells

across the District. Those will be coupled with analysis by the newly implemented Western Water Use Ground Water

Model, which combines crop types, rainfall information, land use data sets, allocation scenarios and many other

factors to try to determine as best we can how effective management actions might be.

Another key component in our review will be input from Ground Water Management Advisory Committees and public

input. Over the course of the next several weeks, we’ll host public meetings where the committees and members of

the general public will have a chance to see the same information we look at in making decisions.

These committees have been a valuable source of review over the years and provide an added perspective on the

effects of management actions across the District. The committees are made up of every segment of water users –

including irrigators, industrial interests, municipal representatives, environmental concerns such as Nebraska Game

and Parks, and others.

Time has shown these ground water users to be responsible, willing partners who step up with diligent and pragmatic

discussion and suggestions. They, like your board members, realize the actions we take will likely touch each of the

District’s residents, which number more than 15,700.

When all the discussion is finished, we’ll strive to fulfill the NRD motto: Protecting Lives, Protecting Property,

Protecting the Future. Rod L. Horn is the general manager of the South Platte Natural Resources District, based in

Sidney.

Platte River program says it's not to blame for area

flooding 22 hours ago • By The Associated Press

WOOD RIVER — The executive director of a program to enhance habitats for endangered waterfowl says his

organization's Platte River island work did not cause flooding along a road in Wood River.

Jerry Kenny spoke to the Hall County board Tuesday, two weeks after the board heard testimony from

landowners who live along Shoemaker Island Road. The landowners say nesting islands created and altered

by the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program are responsible for the ice jam flooding that damaged

road, pastures and cropland in February.

Kenny said the program's work, which has been testing whether least terns and piping plovers need nesting

ground in the river as opposed to along it, was permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"You can see that does not dam, block, divert or obstruct the channel," Kenny said as he showed a PowerPoint

picture of the river pre- and post-project work.

The director said the Platte River backed up from an ice jam at a 400-foot-wide point upstream of the nesting

islands on land that the recovery program does not own or have access to. Kenny said that backup was the cause

of flooding.

Some of the landowners who were at Kenny's presentation and board members questioned the program's choice

of location for the nesting islands and its alteration of the river.

"It gives the appearance that you've caused the problem," supervisor Steve Schuppan told Kenny.

Mike Dobesh, a Wood River farmer and former member of the Central Platte Natural Resources District board,

says increased flooding in the area should have been anticipated. He also says possible payouts should have

been included in the program for affected landowners in its Environmental Impact Statement.

Dobesh questioned why the program's work has continued since the least terns have reached a population level

nationally that makes them eligible to be removed from the endangered species list.

Kenny said the process to have them removed from the list has not been done yet, so research had not been

halted.

Youth camp scholarships offered by The North Platte Bulletin - 4/7/2015

Scholarships are available from the Twin Platte Natural Resources District on a first-come, first-served basis until all are allocated or until the May 27, the TPNRD deadline. The scholarships are for junior high and high school students who attend one of two camps held in June 2015.

The Range Youth Camp will take place June 8-12 at the state 4-H camp near Halsey.

Range Youth Camp is for youth from 14-18 years of age. The camp features information on range management, conservation, ecology, animal science, and wildlife on Nebraska’s most extensive natural resource – rangelands.

The cost and TPNRD scholarship for the camp is $325 per student. The registration covers meals,

lodging and camp activities, but not transportation to and from the camp. Visit the www.nesrm.org website for more Range Youth Camp information.

Adventure camp

The Adventure Camp about the Environment (ACE Camp) will be held June 14-17 at the State 4-H

Camp near Halsey.

The ACE Camp is for students who have completed 6th

, 7th

or 8th

grade this year and want to learn more about natural resources while having an adventure at camp. The cost and TPNRD scholarship for the camp is $190 per student.

Registration covers meals, lodging and camp activities, but not transportation to and from the camp. Visit

the http://nrdnet.org/education.php website for more ACE Camp information.

Contact the TPNRD office or visit www.tpnrd.org before the May 27 deadline to download scholarship applications.

J-2 project progress report now part of CNPPID board meeting agendas

Mike Drain Posted: Tuesday, April 7, 2015 11:57 am | Updated: 11:58 am, Tue Apr 7, 2015.

By LORI POTTER Hub Staff Writer

HOLDREGE — Engineers for the J-2 regulating reservoirs now have access to most of the farmland acres in the 1,000-acre project footprint to do geotechnical and cultural studies before spring planting starts. That news Monday was part of the first of what are planned to be ongoing public project updates by Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District staff at the board’s regular monthly meetings. The project on the south side of the Platte River between Overton and Lexington will be built, owned and managed by CNPPID. When available, excess water can be transported via Central’s Phelps Canal into two shallow reservoirs where it will be held and released later to meet U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service target flows for threatened and endangered species. Natural Resources Manager Mike Drain broke his report to the CNPPID board into four general categories: completed, in progress, future and continuous. Completed projects include a petition to the state seeking modification of Central’s water rights for the project; hiring primary consultants, including RJH Consultants Inc. of Englewood, Colo., for project studies and designs; public hearings; and initial offers to owners of property within the project area. Land acquisition, preliminary designs by RJH, geotechnical studies, more detailed environmental studies, and consultations with local, state and federal agencies, and other organizations with possible project interests are on Drain’s “in-progress” list. His “future” list goes up to construction time. “That’s a few years out, so I won’t go into operations,” he said. An amendment to CNPPID’s license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will be needed by then, along with final permits from FERC, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state Department of Environmental Quality. After the final design is completed, the project will go to the bidding and construction phases. Continuous tasks related to the J-2 development will include project management, accounting and board oversight. Drain’s list includes communications with media; the public; officials of the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program and Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, which have water service agreements for reservoir project credits to the Platte River; and with other interested parties.

U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer has exchanged letters with CNPPID with questions asked on behalf of some J-2 footprint landowners. CNPPID General Manager Don Kraus told the Hub he and board president Dudley Nelson of Axtell will meet with Fischer Wednesday in Lincoln. “I’d like something included (in the public reports) on why we’re here, why we’re doing this,” Director Scott Olson of Minden told Drain. “... a little history on it.” Drain said Central officials had looked for years at options to run the Supply Canal hydropower plants independently during irrigation season. “We never really found a solution to fix that by itself,” he said. The ability to hold water in the reservoirs will allow CNPPID to operate the upstream J-2 hydro more efficiently. Another problem was USFWS officials’ concern about “hydrocycling” water in the Platte River in a non-natural pattern for threatened and endangered species and their habitats. Drain said that to avoid a possible re-opening of Central’s FERC license, adjustments in hydropower production were made, especially during spring and fall migration seasons. USFWS officials also had “threatened us with criminal consequences” as a district and individually because of hydrocycling water into the river, he added. The Platte Program involving the U.S. Department of Interior, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming satisfies Endangered Species Act-related concerns for CNPPID and other basin projects with federal licenses and permits. Drain said Central’s FERC license is based on the continued presence of the Platte Program. “If that program were not to continue, we have some automatic throwbacks in the license,” he said, and could face having the license re-opened for new requirements. The state and some natural resources districts also must offset streamflow depletions. Drain said they would be affected without a basin program, and will get some credits to the river from the J-2 project. “So, that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing,” he said, adding that it doesn’t mean Central officials necessarily like everything they are asked to do to comply with the federal Endangered Species Act.

Increased flooding expected to affect the central U.S. in future

By Thomas Simpson On April 8,

2015

The frequency and intensity of flooding in the Central United States is trending upward, according to a 2015 study

published in Nature Climate Change.

The study, called “The Changing Nature of Flooding across the Central United States,” states that the “frequency

of flooding events has been increasing while the magnitude of historic events has been decreasing, the largest

proportion of floods occurred in the spring and summer time with spring being the higher possibility for flooding

than the summer, and trends of rising temperature yield an increase in available energy for snow melting and the

observed trends in increasing flood frequency can be related to both increasing temperature and rainfall.”

The researchers in the study Iman Mallakpour and Gabriele Villarini of the University of Iowa examined

data from 774 stream gauges between the years 1962 and 2011. The 14 states that were examined were Illinois,

Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio

and West Virginia.

Of those 14 states Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio make up the Ohio Valley – the area that

surrounds the Ohio River, the largest tributary of the Mississippi River. Jim Belles, meteorologist in charge at the

National Weather Service Forecast Office in Memphis, said that a majority of the water that the Memphis area

receives comes from the Ohio Valley and down the Mississippi River.

“We really scrutinize this area due to the amount of water that travels down to the Mississippi River,” Belles said.

“While the snow in the Ohio Valley is not as excessive as the Northeast, the melted snow travels down the

Mississippi River but it does not drain the Mississippi River Basin.”

Some events, such as global warming, can be attributed to this increasing trend of flooding in the central United

States. Belles said that climate change is something that has always been throughout Earth’s history.

“Flooding all depends on the location of people,” Belles said. “We have always had floods so you have to be

cautious about blaming climate change. Now if the frequency of these events increases, then you have to start

researching and determine what is the reason behind these events.”

Belles agrees that spring and summer are the most common seasons for flooding – especially springtime – due

to the overlapping of seasons which creates these snowmelts.

“The land doesn’t have as much capacity to receive heavy rainfall,” Belles said. “The ground may already be

saturated due to the temperature and snow melting. Flooding is more in the springtime because with things

such as vegetation emerging, the amount of infiltration increases.”

Belles said that torrential rainfall can also be attributed to flash floods with the high amounts of rain that occur

during these events cause brief floods to happen in the area.

The National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Memphis also tries to help prevent casualties in times

of severe flooding.

“There is a phrase that we have for preparedness during these events,” Belles said. “We call it ‘Turn Around,

Don’t Drown.’ Most deaths during floods occur in vehicles; you’ll be surprised how many people perish inside

their vehicles.”

Native plants fit the climate, diversify a

landscape and create a sense of place

PROVEN WINNERS COLOR CHOICE

Sugar Shack offers the same interesting flowers of the native shrub but grows only a fraction as big.

View all 3 images in gallery.

Sue Dawson

POSTED: SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2015 12:15 AM

By Lexie Heinle / World-Herald staff writer

Sue Dawson’s first native plant in 1998 helped her keep a flower bed.

She and her husband were debating turning the area back into grass, but the false sunflower clinched

the deal.

“He liked the flower, and I liked the fact that it was native,” Dawson said.

Since then, Dawson has slowly incorporated plants that are native to Nebraska into her Lincoln garden.

She estimates that she has 60 to 70 percent native plants now.

The 61-year-old gardener said she enjoys the ease of growing native plants like little bluestem and

prairie dropseed to support insect life.

“It’s all interdependent,” Dawson said. “Yes, you’re gardening for the insects, but you’re also gardening

for yourself.”

A traditional garden can be transformed into a sustainable landscape of native plants.

Christina Hoyt, community landscape specialist at the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, said the use of

native plants is an important part of creating a sustainable landscape. Although native plants are

defined as plants naturally grown in a region, that region can be as small as Nebraska or as big as the

North America continent.

To be successful, native plants should be used in locations similar to their traditional locations, with

similar rainfall, sunlight and soil composition.

Well-placed native plants are more prepared to handle Nebraska’s climate, requiring less water and

maintenance. Additionally, they increase the diversity of the landscape, benefiting insects and

animals and creating a sense of place.

That sense of place can sometimes be an obstacle, though. There’s a negative misconception of a native

landscape looking like an uncontrollable weed patch.

“For a little bit, it’s going to be a part of us as people get more used to embracing our natural aesthetic

that is Nebraska,” Hoyt said.

Dawson said her garden, with its focus on native plants and pollinators, often receives compliments

from the neighbors. It’s possible to use native plants to create a formal landscape with clean lines or a

well-designed yet more natural garden.

Hoyt recommends that homeowners begin by asking themselves what problem they are trying to solve

with their landscaping. Do they want to decrease their air-conditioning or heating costs, or do they

want more habitats for animals and insects? Then they can include native plants that satisfy their

requirements and location.

For example, the Chinese plant butterfly bush is popular because it attracts those insects, while

buttonbush, which is native to North America, supports not only the butterflies, but also caterpillars.

Additionally, the buttonbush works well in rain gardens, which help to reduce stormwater runoff.

It’s a relatively new trend to consider the ecological impact of a garden. In a 2015 survey by the

American Society of Landscape Architects, the participants ranked native plants as the most popular

project type at 85 percent, with drought-tolerant plants close behind at 83 percent.

“For a long time, we have thought of our landscapes like wallpaper,” Hoyt said. “It’s just something that

is supposed to look pretty, instead of realizing that landscapes are ecological systems, and they’re living

things.”

Like other living things, plants like to touch. Hoyt said one of the most common mistakes people make

is spacing the plants too far apart and isolating them. Plants don’t grow as well, and the landscape can

look sterile. Additionally, putting plants closer together can cut down on weeding.

Other recommendations are experimenting and mixing plant types, such as grasses with perennials.

Mixing types is also important to increase plant diversity, according to Alison Krohn, an environmental

inspector for the Nebraska Department of Roads.

She described the typical lawn as a “biological desert” with a lack of insects and other animals.

Hoyt recommends people give native plants a try.

“People are just worried about not knowing and making mistakes,” Hoyt said. “I think the great thing

about gardening is that it’s something you can learn, you aren’t going to completely do it wrong. Even

if you are taking out a little patch of lawn and trying for the first time your hand at growing some

native grasses, you are improving your local urban environment.”

For Dawson, whose garden is a registered pollinator habitat and monarch way station, gardening for

itself is rewarding.

“It’s just a joy to go out there and see what’s growing,” she said.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

First Posted: April 07, 2015 - 6:02 pm

Last Updated: April 07, 2015 -

6:05 pm

AAA

OMAHA, Nebraska — Less water is being released from the Missouri River's dams this spring because officials expect only 80 percent of the normal amount of water to flow into the river basin this year.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Monday that it cut the amount of water released from the dam on the South Dakota- Nebraska border because of the reduced water forecast.

Officials say that the mountain snowpack in the upper Missouri River basin is 68 percent of normal. And between the Fort Peck and Garrison dams, the snowpack is about 74 percent of normal.

The Corps expects to be able to provide enough water for barge traffic for at least half the normal season.

Officials: Missouri River will see 80 percent of normal runoff because of less mountain snow

Well fight doesn’t block oil and gas nominee, despite Sierra Club's opposition POSTED: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2015 11:30 PM

By David Hendee / World-Herald staff writer

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Sierra Club’s attempt to postpone the appointment of a new State Oil and

Gas Conservation commissioner hit a dry hole Wednesday.

The Legislature’s eight-member Natural Resources Committee voted unanimously after a 12-minute

hearing to advance the nomination of John Rundel of Trenton.

“I think we’re getting thrown curve balls here,’’ State Sen. Ken Schilz of Ogallala, committee chairman,

said of the Sierra Club’s opposition.

Ken Winston, Sierra Club lobbyist, was the lone opponent of Rundel’s nomination. He said the

environmental organization didn’t oppose Rundel personally. Rather, Winston asked the committee to

postpone the appointment until the Legislature could take “a long, hard look at the rules and

procedures’’ of the commission.

The Sierra Club filed a complaint against the commission with the Attorney General’s Office this week.

The organization alleges the commission violated open-meeting laws at a March 24 hearing in Sidney on

an application for a commercial disposal well in northwest Nebraska, where wastewater from oil and gas

production is to be injected underground.

The Attorney General’s Office is reviewing the matter, spokeswoman Suzanne Gage said Wednesday.

The Sierra Club and Bold Nebraska oppose the application. State Sen. Rick Kolowski of Omaha asked

Rundel, a petroleum geologist, about the issue.

The nominee said Nebraska has 121 active disposal wells, four of them commercial units. He said they

operate under commission guidelines and have been trouble free.

“We’ve demonstrated that they can be safely operated to protect surface water and groundwater,’’ he

said.

Schilz said he expects the Legislature to take up Rundel’s appointment next week. The commission’s

decision on the disposal well is expected in coming weeks.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com

Rate hikes jolt Nebraska's power edge

Nebraska loses its longtime spot among the top 10 low- cost electricity

states.

By Henry J. Cordes / W or ld - Hera ld s ta f f wr i te r

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Bigger electric bills Since 2008, the price of Nebraska’s retail electricity has risen faster than all but four states. In that time, states that rely on natural gas fared better than states such as Nebraska that primarily burn coal.

Nebraska remains the only state in America where every watt of electricity is

delivered by nonprofit, customer-owned utilities — a structure that historically has

offered Nebraskans some of the nation’s lowest energy costs.

But look at how much Nebraska’s public utilities have recently been raising electric

rates and the results are, well, a little shocking.

Since 2008, only four states have seen bigger price jolts than Nebraska, according to a

World-Herald analysis of federal electric rate data. Even when adjusted for inflation,

average residential rates in Nebraska have gone up over 20 percent since 2008 —

adding more than $18 to a typical monthly bill.

Prices for industrial users have spiked even higher.

Not only are Nebraskans paying more to keep the lights on, the rate increases have cost

Nebraska its longtime place among the top 10 lowest-cost electricity states.

Iowa is among the states whose rates now beat Nebraska’s. In fact, MidAmerican

Energy, the for-profit private utility that serves Council Bluffs and much of western

Iowa, in recent years has offered cheaper electricity than Nebraska’s public utilities.

“It’s somewhat alarming,” State Sen. Ken Schilz of Ogallala, chairman of the

legislative committee that oversees the industry, said of the numbers.

So what’s going on?

Leaders of Omaha Public Power District, Lincoln Electric System and Nebraska Public

Power District — the “big three” among Nebraska public electric utilities — say the

state is just caught in a rough economic cycle, the big drivers being fundamental

changes in national coal and natural gas markets. They point out that in spite of the challenges — and

despite

Nebraska’s vast rural stretches that can require miles of line to reach a single customer — the state still

enjoys electrical costs that are well below average.

“The sky is not falling, by any means,” said Shelley Sahling-Zart, a top LES executive.

To be sure, even with the recent price spikes, Nebraska’s electric rates remain the envy of most states. On average, last year’s rates remained nearly 16 percent below rates nationally, and 4 percent below the Midwest region.

But The World-Herald analysis found those cost advantages to be less than half what they were just

seven years ago. Nebraska’s rates for residential, commercial and industrial power have climbed closer

to national averages than at any time in at least the past quarter century.

Nebraska’s competitive position has slipped most markedly when it comes to industrial rates, which can

be a critical factor when major employers are looking to establish new operations. Since 2008, average

industrial rates in Nebraska are up an inflation-adjusted 29 percent, even as such rates have fallen more

than 8 percent nationally. Only three states during that time have seen a bigger industrial price spike

than Nebraska.

Even some Nebraska power officials, already well aware of the recent rate

increases, were surprised to see the degree to which the hikes have caused the state’s competitive edge to

slip.

“I was less than happy with the trends I saw there,” said Tim Texel of the Nebraska Power Review Board,

a state electric oversight agency.

The key question, everyone now agrees: Will Nebraska’s electric cost advantages continue to

erode?

Role of wind unclear in MidAmerican's low rates

Many see that Iowa’s MidAmerican Energy now has lower rates than Nebraska’s utilities and have the same thought: It has to be the wind. Indeed, MidAmerican surpassed the Nebraska utilities on rates at a time when it has been investing billions in wind energy, and its wind turbines are a common site to anyone driving through western Iowa. MidAmerican officials have repeatedly said their wind development has helped reduce costs for customers. “It’s not all cause and effect, but I think there’s a relationship there,’’ said Ken Winston, a policy advocate for the Nebraska Sierra Club. But there could be other factors.

MidAmerican began its wind investments while it was under a rate freeze imposed by Iowa state regulators. The state then extended the freeze as a condition of allowing the new wind investments. Though wind turbines are cheap to operate because they require no fuel, they still require significant upfront investments in equipment and transmission lines to get the power where it’s needed. State-by-state electrical rate data appear to show little correlation between states with heavy wind investment and states with lower rates. South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota rank right behind Iowa in percentage of power generated from wind, all with far more than Nebraska. All three have fared poorly on rates in recent years. Two of the three have higher rates than Nebraska.

Without doubt, power industry officials say, the biggest driver on

recent rate trends has been whether states burn natural gas or coal to fuel their power.

"I don’t think it’s a case of 'Gee, if we put in a whole lot of wind we’ll be cheaper,'"

said Tim Texel of the Nebraska Power Review Board.

Nebraska utilities say they feel good about the future.

The big three enacted only minimal rate increases in 2014 and 2015, years in which many other utilities

around the country — including MidAmerican — raised prices.

Indeed, federal figures released last month show that Nebraska rate increases during 2014 were below

average nationally and below the rate of inflation — the first time that has happened in six years.

But predicting the future is made even more difficult by the rapid changes that are transforming the

electrical power landscape, including deregulation, increasing competition on the grid, new energy-

saving technologies and concern about global climate change.

The biggest wild card is a new federal rule expected out later this year that seeks to slash carbon

pollution from existing power plants. It potentially holds costly implications for states such as Nebraska

that derive most of their power from coal.

“We’re hoping this is the high point in the cycle and we start dropping after this,” Texel said. “I don’t

know if that’s true. But that would be my hope.” Nebraska’s utilities have long touted the benefits of

the state’s public power structure. Having the generation and delivery of electricity publicly owned and

operated makes the utilities more accountable to the people, they say. And any profits are reinvested in

the system, helping keep power reliable and rates low.

“Our customers, not big investors in New York and Chicago, own Nebraska’s utilities,” says the

Nebraska Power Association, which represents the state’s utilities. “That means Nebraska’s utilities can

focus exclusively on keeping electric rates low and customer service high.”

There’s also little doubt that proximity to the ample low-sulfur coal in Wyoming’s Powder River basin

has helped keep Nebraska rates low.

From the late 1990s through the 2000s, Nebraska electric consumers could hardly have had it better.

Nebraska consistently ranked among the 10 lowest- cost states.

However, some profound changes over the past decade in the utilities’

business — many driven by forces far beyond the state — have dramatically altered the picture for

Nebraska consumers.

During the early 2000s, Nebraska utilities collectively invested $1.8 billion in a wave of new facilities,

something they periodically must do to meet growing demand. OPPD and NPPD went together on a

new $700 million coal-fired generator in Nebraska City, and both utilities invested hundreds of

millions to extend the lives of their nuclear plants. LES doubled its generation capacity, including

buying into a new MidAmerican coal plant near Council Bluffs.

The utilities began boosting rates to fund the construction, though in many cases the increases imposed

were not far above the rate of inflation.

Then came a series of seismic market jolts.

The Great Recession came crashing into Nebraska in 2008, reducing the demand for electricity

and reducing utility revenues.

At the same time, the utilities saw sizable increases in their costs for coal. The average per-ton coal

costs for Nebraska’s utilities climbed by nearly two- thirds, the biggest increase for any state in the

nation, according to federal data. OPPD’s combined costs of coal and contracts to ship it by rail went

up 135 percent.

But it’s arguable the price of natural gas — a fuel source that produces little of Nebraska’s electricity —

had the biggest impact on Nebraska ratepayers.

Because of “fracking” techniques, drillers were able to reach untapped gas stores, setting off a natural

gas boon. Suddenly, a resource that had been considered scarce and pricey became plentiful and cheap.

Natural gas prices plummeted, falling by almost two-thirds between 2008 and 2012. More importantly

for Nebraska ratepayers, power from natural gas was suddenly more competitive with coal and nuclear.

Gas-charged electricity, combined with ever-growing generation from wind farms, ramped up

competition in the nation’s wholesale electricity markets, sending prices tumbling.

Nebraska utilities for years had been scoring big profits selling their excess electricity on that market to

utilities in other states. And every dollar in profit they made subsidized the rates of Nebraska

consumers.

By 2012, NPPD saw the average price for electricity it sold on the open market drop from nearly $50 per

megawatt/hour to just $20. OPPD was similarly hurt. Losing out on tens of millions of dollars, the

utilities say they had little choice but to turn to ratepayers to help make it up.

“We’re not making the margins we were in the past,” said Tim Burke, OPPD’s recently installed CEO.

“That puts pressure on your rates to go up.”

OPPD suffered an additional blow with the debacle at its Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station.

The plant, shut down in April 2011 for a routine refueling, was suddenly surrounded by Missouri River

floodwaters. Then a fire and other safety violations caused federal regulators to step in. The three-year

cold shutdown cost OPPD nearly $200 million — an expense it will be paying off over the next decade.

The results of all the market upheaval can be clearly seen in the Nebraska utilities’ rates.

In 2009, OPPD boosted average rates by 14.5 percent, the utility’s biggest single-year increase in 36

years. Collectively, between 2008 and 2013 — the most recent year for which national utility data is

available — OPPD raised its average rate 37 percent, more than 10 times the national average hike and

four times the rate of inflation.

OPPD’s industrial rates shot up an inflation-adjusted 44 percent even as such rates fell 9 percent

nationally.

NPPD had similar increases in that time. By 2013, its average residential rate topped the U.S. average,

though company officials say that’s misleading. Built into its rates are steep lease payments that cities

NPPD serves can charge and use to fund their own operations — effectively a 12 percent tax that NPPD

believes is the highest in the nation.

LES’s overall increases over the five-year span were less, but still were about five times the national

average and more than twice the inflation rate. LES largely kept residential rates flat relative to

inflation, with its industrial and commercial customers bearing a heavier share of the increases.

Statewide, the average industrial rate for the past three years has actually been higher than the U.S.

average, though the Nebraska utilities say that figure is distorted. Irrigation, which federal data counts

as industrial, is a heavy energy load in Nebraska and occurs during the costly peak summer months. The

effect is to drive up Nebraska’s average industrial rate.

Even with irrigation counted, however, Nebraska industrial rates previously used to beat the national

average by a wide margin — by 25 percent in 2001. Now that is no longer true.

Meanwhile, across the river, the rates MidAmerican charged its residential and business customers

remained flat for more than a decade.

The company had seen its rates frozen by state regulators beginning in 1996 after consumer advocates

argued they were too high, and the freeze was ultimately extended. The utility could have sought

increases had its margins dropped below a certain level, but the company remained profitable even as it

was investing billions in a new coal plant in Council Bluffs and new wind turbines.

The long period without a rate increase in the end gave MidAmerican customers some of the lowest rates

of any utility in the country — well below those of Nebraska’s big three.

In 2000, MidAmerican’s average price for electricity was 14 percent higher than OPPD’s. By 2013, that

had flipped, with MidAmerican’s rate 24 percent lower than the Omaha utility’s.

MidAmerican’s strong rate performance helped Iowa beat Nebraska in average electrical rate by 2011

and to move into the nation’s lowest-cost 10. And Iowa wasn’t the only state to pass Nebraska by.

By 2013, Nebraska’s average rate had fallen to 16th lowest before rebounding to 14th last year. As

recently as 2007, Nebraska ranked 5th best.

Among the states whose rates now beat Nebraska’s are Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, North Dakota

and Utah.

The state rankings also show the dramatic impact coal and natural gas prices have had on electricity

costs nationally: States that predominantly burn coal for electricity nearly all saw big rate increases,

while natural gas states nearly all saw sharp reductions.

Nebraska utility officials say they’re just as displeased as their customers with the rising rates.

Pat Pope, the CEO of NPPD, said his company is committed to helping Nebraska get back

among the 10 lowest-cost states.

“I recognize that to deliver on the promise of public power, we have to be the lowest-cost

power supply with high public service,” Pope said.

To that end, the company in recent years has worked to cut costs, including reducing its

workforce by some 10 percent. That helped the company keep its retail rates flat over 2014 and

2015.

Rate increases at OPPD and LES have also been low for those two years, totaling 1.6 percent at OPPD

and 2.9 percent at LES.

Conversely, MidAmerican’s rates have been on the rise for the first time in 18 years. The company last

year was authorized a three-year rate increase of some 10 percent.

LES officials say a rate survey they recently conducted for 2015 suggests the company’s residential rate

is once again lower than MidAmerican’s. However, even when MidAmerican’s hike is fully in place next

year, its overall rates are likely to remain markedly below those of Nebraska’s utilities.

While the rate increases of recent years clearly cost Nebraska consumers, it’s unclear that the state has

been hurt when it comes to economic development. Nebraska did lose out to Iowa on some data centers,

but the data firms did not cite electrical rates as a major factor.

Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce officials say the potential development targets they talk to

remain pleased with how OPPD’s rates stack up. OPPD also recently implemented a new economic

development rate that allows it to provide a lower rate to new or expanding businesses.

“We are comfortable with where we are, but that comfort is not static,” OPPD’s Burke said. “Our focus

is on how we can be more competitive in the future on residential, commercial and industrial rates.”

When it comes to future rates, natural gas prices will remain a key. There is disagreement nationally

over whether cheap natural gas is a new normal or whether the market will return to its former

volatility.

“I would hesitate to say cheap natural gas is here forever,” said Sue Kelly, president of the American

Public Power Association. “The market is normal until it isn’t.”

The pending federal rules regarding greenhouse gas emissions also hold big implications here.

Depending on the requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, coal-

burning states like Nebraska could face major costs to reduce plant emissions or shift to new fuel

sources. But Nebraska’s utilities say they feel the state is in a better position to meet the new standards,

thanks largely to recent years’ investments in wind energy. It’s been well-documented that Nebraska

utilities were slow to invest in wind. Since they are not traditional tax-paying companies, they could not

take advantage of the federal tax credits that have spurred most of the wind development around the

nation. The Nebraska utilities eventually came up

with a workaround, contracting with private entities that develop the wind generation.

In addition to new wind generation, OPPD is shutting down some coal burners, shifting others to

natural gas and expects to be getting a third of its load from renewable sources by 2018.

LES is likewise moving aggressively, expecting to be as much as 48 percent renewable by next year.

NPPD’s renewable resources are lower, though Pope said the company’s substantial nuclear power

gives the company an energy portfolio that’s nearly half carbon-free.

“Nebraska public power has shown that we’ve been pretty resilient,” said LES Chief Executive Kevin

Wailes. “I believe we are going to remain very competitive.”

MidAmerican Energy Co. is a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a division of Berkshire

Hathaway Inc., which also owns The Omaha World-Herald Co.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1130, henry.cordes@owh.com

Public Power: What it is

In Iowa and most other states, most electricity is provided by state-regulated, investor-owned

companies. But in Nebraska, public power is king — a concept the state has embraced for more than a

century.

In the early days of electricity, for-profit private utilities weren’t particularly eager to serve rural areas.

And some cities and towns saw advantages in

having the service publicly owned. The first municipal electric system formed in Nebraska in 1887.

In 1933, the Nebraska Legislature authorized the formation of government subdivisions for the sole

purpose of providing electricity. Public power

districts with elected boards like OPPD and NPPD would provide their

residents with electrical services much as school districts provide education or cities deliver parks,

libraries and streets. By 1946, when the last of the 43 for- profit utilities in Nebraska was bought out

and merged into OPPD, Nebraska’s conversion was complete.

All but one state have at least some public power entities, but Nebraska is the only one where all power

is community-owned. Consumers are served by 167 public utilities, including municipal companies,

power districts and rural cooperatives. OPPD is the nation’s 12th-largest public utility by customers

served, while LES ranks No. 23.

Large public utilities such as OPPD, NPPD and LES own significant

generating facilities. OPPD and NPPD even opened nuclear plants during the 1970s. But most of the

smaller power districts, municipals and co-ops don’t generate their own power. They buy it at wholesale

from generators like NPPD and then provide it to their customers at retail.

In the past two decades, a third structure for providing power has emerged

nationwide: competitive. Seventeen states now let customers choose from competing private providers.

The World-Herald analysis shows that many of those states have seen the steepest decline in rates in

recent years, though their rates also remain among the highest in the nation.

Gary Aksamit, a Nebraska native who operates a Texas-based power marketing firm, has been telling

state lawmakers in Nebraska over the past year that Nebraska consumers would be better served if the

state continued to have power delivered through public utilities but turned over the actual generation

of energy to a competitive private sector.

“Nebraska policymakers must start asking how much electricity rates would go down, or at least not

increase, with competition in the electric market,’’ he said.

Sue Kelly, president of the American Public Power Association, suggests Nebraska already has it

right. Across the nation, public power has been proven over time to be the cheapest and best option,

she said.

“You are better off with a public power system that is responsive to your community, interested in

economic development and keeps the money there,’’ she said.

— Henry J. Cordes

NRD eyes groundwater rules Posted: Friday, April 10, 2015 8:20 am

Special to the Daily News

The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District board is considering some changes to its groundwater management rules.

They involve new categories that may allow for small amounts of irrigated acres to be developed through the variance process.

Mike Sousek, the NRD’s general manager, said, “The board will consider several changes, including whether to add an extra

category to our variance process, which will give us some flexibility to handle certain irrigation certification situations that we

otherwise could not.”

Currently, the rules do not allow for minor modifications when certifying irrigated acres.

Under the proposed rule change, a new category, called a “variance for good cause shown,” will be added to the expedited

variance process. Under this process, the general manager is authorized to approve or deny applications to add irrigated acres in

two instances.

“The new process will be used sparingly,” Sousek said.

One instance is where a person had been granted a variance, but the installed irrigation system actually irrigates a few more acres

than the NRD approved. The new process will enable a variance for good-cause shown to irrigate the extra acres.

The only other instance is when a person had made a substantial investment prior to the state or the NRD making a major decision

or rule change that then prevented the person from completing the plans.

“We know of a few of these situations. The applicant must be able to provide the LENRD with sufficient evidence to support the

application for new irrigated acres.” Sousek said.

A hearing to receive comment on the proposed changes will be at the Lifelong Learning Center in Norfolk on Thursday, April 23,

during the board meeting, which starts at 7:30 p.m.

The proposed rules are on the website, www.lenrd.org/latest-news/ or visit the office, which is now open over the noon hour at the

Lifelong Learning Center.

Helicopter data

Last October, residents of Northeast Nebraska may have seen a helicopter making low-level flights over areas of the Lower

Elkhorn Natural Resources District.

A presentation of the groundwater data collected will be given to the public on Monday, April 13, at 7 p.m. at the Lifelong Learning

Center.

The NRD, Eastern Nebraska Water Resources Assessment, Nebraska Department of Natural Resources and University of

Nebraska Conservation and Survey planned and sponsored the flights.

Exploration Resources International LLC. processed the data and will present the report about buried sand and gravel aquifers.

The helicopter flew lines spaced three-miles apart over much of Wayne, Pierce, Madison and Stanton counties. Other flight lines were

12 miles apart and covered the remainder of the NRD.

ALMA — Groundwater pumping at a giant streamflow augmentation wellfield in Lincoln County has wrapped up until further notice, an official of the Lower Republican Natural Resources District said Thursday.

Mike Clements, LRNRD general manager, told his district's board of directors that pumping of the Nebraska Cooperative Republican Platte Enhancement project ended last week.

Two of the Lower Republican's partners in the N-CORPE venture, the Upper and Middle Republican NRDs, had beneficial consumptive use deficits to offset in 2015 under terms of the Compact Call Year declared by the state Department of Natural Resources. Those deficits now have been wiped out, Clements said.

The Lower Republican district, which had a very large deficit to offset a year ago at this time, has none to offset for 2015.

The N-CORPE wellfield is situated on 19,500 acres in the Wallace-Wellfleet area of southern Lincoln County. The three Republican districts and the Twin Platte NRD joined forces in 2012 to buy the property, retire 15,800 acres from irrigation and develop the wellfield for water discharges to the Republican and/or Platte River systems.

The project came online in April 2014 and had been pumping water to the Republican River via Medicine Creek ever since.

A pipeline running north to the Platte now is in the development stages.

Much of the N-CORPE property is being seeded back to grass. Tim Kahrs of Franklin, an NRD board member who serves as the district's representative to the N-CORPE governing board, said enough grass seed has been obtained to finish that job this spring.

In related business Thursday, the board heard a quick update from Clements concerning possible interest by the Nebraska Bostwick Irrigation District in purchasing groundwater pumped from N-CORPE to help augment its surface water deliveries.

Nebraska Bostwick, based in Red Cloud, supplies water to Republican Valley farms in Franklin, Webster and Nuckolls counties via the Naponee, Franklin, Courtland and

Superior canals.

Wellfield pumps can rest for now Andy Raun, April 10, 2015 araun@hastingstribune.com

LRNRD capping irrigation at 13 inches per acre Posted: Friday, April 10, 2015 11:43 am By LORI POTTER Hub Staff Writer

ALMA — A 2015 irrigation cap of 13 inches of groundwater per acre was approved Thursday by the Lower Republican Natural

Resources District following a public hearing on related amendments to the district’s groundwater management rules and

regulations.

After the cap was proposed at the March 12 board meeting, LRNRD General Manager Mike Clements told the Hub there still are

concerns about Republican Basin water supplies in 2015.

It is a Republican River Compact call year in Nebraska’s part of the basin. Also, Harlan County Lake, in which water is stored for

the downstream Nebraska and Kansas Bostwick Irrigation districts, was down more than 12 feet from March 2014 to March 2015.

LRNRD irrigators, including those in Harlan and Franklin counties in Hub Territory, are under a five-year (2013-2017) allocation of

45 inches. If the 45 inches are used in equal portions, annual use would be 9 inches per acre.

There was a split cap for 2014 of 10 inches for some allocations and 11 inches for other classification of allocations, but the

changes approved Thursday set a 13-inch cap for both.

Clements had said one reason for the higher cap is a wet 2014 resulted in average irrigation use across the LRNRD of just 5.58

inches per acre.

In other business Thursday, LRNRD Assistant Manager Scott Dicke said the board approved an engagement letter with the new

Bruning Law Group of Lincoln. The firm includes former Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning and two attorneys who were part

of the attorney general’s staff, David Cookson and Katie Spohn.

Also, the board was told in a written report from Jerald Kovarik, district conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s

Natural Resources Conservation Service, that the LRNRD area has received an initial Environmental Quality Incentives Program

allocation of $413,165. It is enough to pre-approve 25 applications for various EQIP- approved practices and he hopes more funds

will be available later in 2015.

Kovarik also reported concerns that some ag producers are breaking out native sod without notifying their local Farm Service

Agency offices or having approved conservation plans for highly erodible land. Such unreported sodbusting can put farm program

benefits in jeopardy, he said.

The board was told the first meeting of the Republican River Basinwide Plan Stakeholders Advisory Committee of 46 members

was March 31 in Cambridge. The next meeting is at 10 a.m. June 16 at the Cambridge Community Center.