Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy

October 30 is National Weatherization Day! NDEE oversees the Nebraska Weatherization Assistance Program, but we couldn’t do it without our subgrantees, who administer the program in their regions! The Weatherization Program helps Nebraskans with low incomes weatherize their homes at no cost. When homes have more insulation, sealed leaks, and more efficient heating and cooling systems, homes become more comfortable and people can save money on their energy bills. NDEE receives federal funding for this program, and those funds are distributed to the subgrantees, who help connect Nebraskans in their region to this great resource. Thank you to the subgrantees for all you do to help Nebraskans – we truly appreciate your work! This picture was taken at the quarterly Weatherization Working Group Meeting, where NDEE and our subgrantees get together to discuss program updates, get feedback on policy updates, network, and problem-solve. Weatherization subgrantees are: Blue Valley Community Acton Partnership, Central Nebraska Community Action Partnership, Northeast Nebraska Community Action Partnership, Lancaster and Saunders County Community Action Partnership, Mid-Nebraska Community Action Partnership, Northwest Nebraska Community Action Partnership, Southeast Nebraska Community Action Partnership and United Way of the Midlands.

Did you know? Since it began in 2008, the Nebraska Clean Diesel Rebate Program has reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 1,200 tons! The Clean Diesel Rebate Program provides funds to replace old diesel school buses and trucks with newer, cleaner-burning alternatives. It also helps replace diesel irrigation engines with electric equipment. In addition to nitrogen oxide, diesel exhaust can contain particulate matter, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and can contribute to the formation of ozone. Reducing these emissions protects public health! Learn more about this program in our latest All About NDEE: https://lnkd.in/g2nKVK8S

NDEE attended this year’s Environmental Public Health Summit! Drinking Water and Groundwater Division Administrator Laura Johnson and UNL’s Source Water Protection Extension Educator Laura Nagengast discussed the state’s drinking water and groundwater programs. And NDEE Environmental Specialist Sam Fleagle spoke about the agency’s new ONE RED program. Thank you to the #NebraskaEnvironmentalHealthAssociation and the Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors for hosting!

As part of NDEE’s annual recognition picnic, this year’s Excellence in Leadership winners and runners up were also recognized. This year’s winners were Jennifer Deroche and Doug Barry, and runners up were Hillary Stoll and Cemre Lively. Jennifer works in our State Revolving Fund Section, where she takes the lead on programs that reduce lead exposure through drinking water. This includes lead service line replacement funding, the school and childcare lead testing and reduction grant program, and the lead service line cash fund. Some of these are new programs, and Jennifer has created them from scratch to improve drinking water quality for kids and other residents throughout the state. Doug works in NDEE’s Planning and Aid Division where he helps a number of programs that distribute funding across Nebraska. One program in particular is NDEE’s new ONE RED program, which received a $307 million grant from the EPA through its Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program. Doug not only helped develop the application that earned NDEE this grant award, but he has also been working diligently to ensure the programs funded with this money provide economic and social benefits to Nebraska communities while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Hillary works in our Engineering Section and took the lead on a special project this year: a state-wide nitrate study. In addition to overseeing the research and development of the study, she also oversaw a free private well sampling effort that helped well owners learn more about the nitrate levels in their drinking water and connected them to available resources if nitrate levels were too high. Hillary and her team fielded over 2,500 phone calls to help people sign up for the testing and answer any questions they had. This was the largest private well sampling effort in NDEE history. Cemre is an administrative specialist for our air and waste permitting programs – not only does she help permitters do their jobs, her work also helps the people of Nebraska. For example, she worked with several team members to ensure public notices were properly displayed on our website, and she ensures every question that comes to the permitting teams are answered in a timely manner. Cemre is relatively new to NDEE, but she has jumped right in to go above and beyond and has become a reliable, helpful teammate. Congratulations to our winners and runners up! 

NDEE held its annual recognition picnic yesterday! All of NDEE’s teammates came together to have lunch, socialize, and recognize years of service and other accomplishments that took place throughout the year. During the recognition, those who celebrated milestone anniversaries with the State of Nebraska were presented certificates and had their pictures taken with Interim Director Kara Valentine. Thank you to all NDEE team members for their work and dedication to protecting Nebraska’s environment and energy resources; the HR and Records teams and other volunteers who organize the event and prepare food; and our division administrators for manning the grill! Thank you for all you do to make NDEE a welcoming place to work! 

Members of NDEE’s energy teams spent time at the 2024 Nebraska Wind and Solar Conference this week! This event presents information about wind and solar development as technologies and policies change. NDEE Interim Director Kara Valentine gave welcome remarks and a state update, and NDEE Clean Diesel Program Coordinator Randy Smith gave an update on department’s ONE RED program.

We want to work with you! NDEE is currently hiring for engineers in the waste permits section and the air construction permits section and an environmental specialist in the well water standards program. See the full job postings online: https://lnkd.in/gknKZA_Y

NDEE has some crafty teammates! Once a week over lunch, NDEE’s crafting group gets together to work on their projects and socialize. In addition to these gatherings, the group does a de-stash twice a year to swap projects and materials they don’t plan to use. Materials that don’t find a home with an NDEE teammate are donated to St. Monica’s, an addiction treatment center in Lincoln. Here are some of our crafters showing off all the materials everyone brought in to share!

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services' LIHEAP program is providing funds for low-income households to offset the costs of heating. Check out their press release! https://lnkd.in/gJerCtEr

Looking to keep up with news from NDEE? The next article in our All About NDEE series covers the agency’s listservs! NDEE uses listservs to share news with the public, the regulated community, and other stakeholders. Check out the article to learn more about the mailing lists and how you can sign up: https://lnkd.in/grmfktqQ