Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy

It was cold last week, but our NDEE teammates found a way to stay cozy with a soup day over the lunch hour! For a $5 donation to the food bank, our team could eat soup ‘til their hearts’ content! Thank you to everyone who brought soups and to everyone who made a donation! Altogether, there were 16 soups to choose from, and we raised almost $200!

In the December Nebraska Energy Quarterly newsletter, we took a look at Nebraska’s electricity retail price and compared how our state stacked up against the others and Washington, D.C. In 2023, Nebraska had the 6th lowest average price at 9.14 cents per kilowatt hour. The average price nationwide was 12.68 cents/kWh. North Dakota had lowest price at 8.03 centers/kWH, and Hawaii had the highest at 38.6 cents/kWh. See this story and others in the December NEQ: https://lnkd.in/gAiFXQ-T

Children spend most of their day at school, which means that is likely where they are drinking the most water. Drinking water in schools may have concentrations of lead from faucets, fixtures, fountains, or water filling stations. Knowing these concentrations is paramount to protecting children from lead exposure. NDEE’s Drinking Water Lead Testing and Reduction Program has funds available for public and private schools and licensed childcare programs to test their water for lead and remove fixtures that have tested high for lead. See if your child’s schools has sampled on DHHS’s website https://lnkd.in/gxW3B9HV, or get the testing process started by contacting NDEE: 402-471-2186 or ndee.srf@nebraska.gov. 

ICYMI – Last week, NDEE released its statewide Nitrate in Drinking Water Study! The goal of this study was to provide an analysis and recommend viable solutions for nitrate-affected drinking water, including private wells, which are not regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act. You can see the full study, as well as information about NDEE’s 2024 private well sampling effort and resources for well owners, on our website: https://lnkd.in/gW-CCSqU

NDEE offices will be closed on Monday, Jan. 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

NDEE operates an ambient air-monitoring network with sites across the state. One of those sites is includes the IMPROVE Air Monitor at the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey. IMPROVE stands for Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments, and it monitors air pollution that degrades visibility at national parks, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, and indigenous lands. During the Bovee Fire in October 2022, the IMPROVE Monitoring Site near the Scott Lookout Tower was one of the structures that was destroyed by the blaze, The IMPROVE program was created by the EPA in 1985 and is run by air quality researchers at the University of California-Davis Air Quality Research Center. NDEE receives funding from the EPA for this program, which is then passed to the Forest Service to exchange filters in the monitor’s samplers, and ship used filters to UC Davis for analysis. NDEE is also responsible for providing a facility from which to run the IMPROVE samplers. After the fire, NDEE had to replace the monitor’s shelter – a task that’s easier than it sounds. First, the electrical line in the national forest was destroyed, and the estimate to install a new, buried line along the paved forest road came in at $80,000. NDEE applied for and received an Inflation Reduction Act Grant, which was earmarked specifically for air monitoring infrastructure. This covered the cost of the powerline to the monitor, and the Forest Service covered the cost of extending that line to the Scott Lookout Tower. Then, NDEE’s air monitoring coordinator adapted a shelter design provided by UC Davis to protect the monitor during inclement weather. After purchasing $2,000 of equipment, two NDEE employees made the trip from Lincoln to Halsey and built the shelter over the course of three days, including one day of rain. UC Davis installed the new monitor in October 2024, and sampling resumed later that month. After years of hard work and finding solutions, the IMPROVE site near Halsey is operational! 

Check out this article about the Know Your Well Program! https://lnkd.in/g3mqd7gs This program, managed by the Papio-Missouri River NRD, covers 16 NRD regions across the state. It allows high school students to collect samples and test water from domestic wells in their hometowns for a variety of contaminants and parameters, including coliform bacteria, nitrate, copper, and manganese. This program gives students great hands-on experience conducting scientific work, provides educational opportunities to communities, and can be a tool private well owners can use when making decisions about their well and drinking water. That is why, in 2022, NDEE awarded the Know Your Well Program $100,000 in Section 319 funds through July 31, 2025, to continue running this valuable program!

Help us protect and improve Nebraska’s environmental and energy resources! NDEE is hiring in our Waste Permits Section, our new ONE RED Section, and our Engineering Section. See the full job descriptions online: https://lnkd.in/gknKZA_Y

NDEE’s Records team has successfully completed a comprehensive file room inventory! They scanned and catalogued every file in our onsite file room! During this effort, the team catalogued: ·        41,835 File folders ·        394 Outsize files ·        9,703 CDs ·        2,986 Confidential files ·        51 VHSs ·        43 Audio cassettes This inventory sets up our Records Team’s continued success in maintaining an accurate and efficient records management system. It was a huge undertaking that took teamwork and dedication to complete, and it didn’t impact the team’s regular workload! Congratulations to the team, and thank you for all you do for the agency and the citizens of Nebraska!

Thursday, Jan. 9, is a National Day of Mourning for former President Jimmy Carter. NDEE’s offices will be closed.