State Sen. Teresa Ibach’s plan had targeted $5 million from the Nebraska Environmental Trust
Nebraska Examiner Press Release
BY: PAUL HAMMEL
LINCOLN – A state senator is dropping, for now, her effort to get $5 million a year in funding from the Nebraska Environmental Trust to continue a previously taxpayer-funded program to encourage reducing the use of nitrogen fertilizer.
A year ago, State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner obtained $1 million in state funds to launch a program incentivizing Nebraska farmers who use less of the fertilizer.
The goal of the Nitrogen Reduction Incentive Act was to help farmers reduce their fertilizer use voluntarily, partly to address concerns about nitrate contamination in groundwater.
More requests than funding
Ibach told the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee on Tuesday that requests from farmers last year were more than double the $1 million available in the program. But, she said, that funding is running out amid the state’s budget shortfall.
The senator told committee members she is dropping her initial proposal in Legislative Bill 638 to seek $5 million a year from the Trust due to concerns about using state Lottery funds.
The $5 million would have been about one-fourth of the Trust’s annual grant from Nebraska Lottery proceeds. The committee was told the Trust’s funds can only be used to reimburse expenses, not to be handed out and granted later.
Ibach said she’s now hoping to get funding from a state water resources fund. However, she added, the $41 million currently in that fund appears to be fully committed, so she is continuing to seek other ways to finance her bill.
Private donations possible
Among the possible sources: She is considering seeking donations from philanthropists.
“I would say that the intent of this bill is urgent,” Ibach said, emphasizing that funding to reduce nitrate contamination in drinking water should rank at the top of state priorities.
Opponents to the bill, which included the Sierra Club and Audubon Nebraska, testified that they support the intent of the proposal, but funding shouldn’t come from the Environmental Trust.
Omaha State Sen. Kathleen Kauth questioned why Trust funds couldn’t be used for the nitrogen reduction program since it appears that its purpose fits with the Trust’s purpose of protecting the state’s environment.
Opponents want to save Trust funds
Opponents of using Trust funding said the intent of the Trust was to finance conservation projects that the state wasn’t funding, not to provide substitute funds when the state is short of money, as is the case this year. Some said state funds, not lottery funds, should be used.
The Agriculture Committee took no action after a public hearing on LB 638, one of at least three proposals this year to take Environmental Trust funds to finance state programs.
The preliminary budget proposed by the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee mirrors a proposal by Gov. Jim Pillen to transfer $7.5 million a year in Trust funds for the next two fiscal years to a water resources fund and a water sustainability fund. Both funds are managed by the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources.
The fate of the third proposal is unclear. Pillen had proposed taking $20.5 million a year from the Trust – nearly all of its yearly allocation from the State Lottery – to finance improvements at state parks and bolster the water resources fund. But that idea wasn’t included in the preliminary budget crafted by the Appropriations Committee.
