News & Events

Nebraska Environmental Trust, with no public dissension, votes to award $20.5 million in grants

Ranking for the 2024 grant applications are attached with the Agenda for the Grants Committee Meeting to scheduled for December 13, 2023. https://environmentaltrust.nebraska.gov/meetings/pdf/2023/12-13-23_Grants_Committee_Documents.pdf

Pillen letter to Nebraska Environmental Trust labeled ‘unusual’ and ‘political interference’

The governor has approved the the Nebraska Environmental Trust board’s version of Title 137 of the State Code regarding the operation of the Trust without considering or making any changes suggested by the Friends of the Trust, once again ignoring our sincere efforts to improve the work of the Trust and align it with its stated mission. (See attached letter) Problematic is the governor’s interference in the work of the Trust board by using terms like “my hope” and “I would expect “ to remove objectivity from the board’s consideration of grant applications. We are not sure what he means by “public benefit” or “landscape enhancement,” terms he used in his letter to the Trust board chairman and executive director. To us it seems his political interference in the board’s consideration of grant applications is dangerous and inappropriate.