NEWS Council approves new green plan for Omaha
The Omaha City Council voted 7-0 on Dec. 14 to approve a comprehensive new environmental plan that proposes changes to everything from how and where new buildings are constructed to luring developers to older areas of the city with new tax perks . Environment Omaha, a collaboration between the city and Omaha by Design, spent two years working on the plan that includes such goals as: reducing...
entered on 12/16/10 at 07:02 PM | read more »
TransCanda investigating anomalies along original Keystone pipeline
TransCanada is digging up the original Keystone pipeline in 10 spots, including three in Nebraska, to look at anomalies in the line. A company spokesperson says the digs were part of a federally mandated audit, one of 55 already conducted, to determine if the pipeline had grown beyond limits established by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The proposed Keystone XL...
entered on 12/09/10 at 10:43 AM | read more »
NPPD purchases more wind power
A new Nebraska Public Power District contract is helping to revive the state's first wind farm. The Springview Wind Facility in central Nebraska — built as a demonstration plant in 1997 and retired in 2007 — is scheduled to operate again in the middle of next year, following a purchase agreement from the NPPD. The Omaha Public Power District is slated to share in some of the plant's energy...
entered on 12/09/10 at 10:27 AM | read more »
Private land, private profit
The letters started coming in July. Canadian oil company TransCanada offered Nebraska landowners along the route of its proposed 1,073 mile Keystone XL Pipeline a “premium price” for easements on their property. The alternative? They’d take the land anyway, through eminent domain. The pipeline would carry 500,000 barrels of tar sands oil each day from Alberta through six states to the...
entered on 12/07/10 at 02:34 PM | read more »
State senators meet with pipeline officials
Nebraska state senators sat down with officials from TransCanada in Lincoln on Dec. 1 for a question-and-answer session centered on the Keystone XL pipeline that could lead to legislative changes next year. State officials came away from the meeting contemplating changes to eminent domain, landowner liability and environmental laws in the 2011 legislative session but State Sen. Annette Dubas of...
entered on 12/02/10 at 11:28 AM | read more »
Anti-pipeline push goes national
Primetime television viewers will get a quick look at the plain's oil pipeline controversy in a new national television ad urging President Barack Obama to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The 30-second ad, paid for by the No Tar Sands Oil Coalition, portrays the Keystone XL decision as a chance to stop the next Gulf oil spill from happening, claiming that the "world's dirtiest...
entered on 12/01/10 at 09:39 AM | read more »
Report questions TransCanada’s emergency response plan
An environmental law center has some questions about TransCanada's ability to respond to a pipeline rupture on the Great Plains in a new report released Nov. 23 in Lincoln. Plains Justice, based in Billings, Mont., based its report on the Canadian oil company's emergency response plan for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline currently under consideration by the U.S. State Department. The 60-page...
entered on 11/24/10 at 10:15 AM | read more »
OPPD buys wind power
The Omaha Public Power District reached an agreement Nov. 18 to purchase 18 megawatts of energy from a new wind farm near Broken Bow in central Nebraska. The wind farm, built by California-based Edison Mission Group, is scheduled for completion in 2012 and will produce a total of 80 megawatts per year.
entered on 11/19/10 at 08:14 AM | read more »
Public Hearing this Thursday on Election Commissioner Changes
Senator Sara Howard's LB 235 will have its public hearing this Thursday, February 14th at 1:30 in the Government, Military, ... more »
Calculations for the cost of extending Medicaid in Nebraska as a critical piece of the Affordable Care Act have been ... more »
As federal deficits were the rage in the recent presidential election and both major political parties jockey for ... more »
With 1,457 members according to its website, Voice Omaha is blazing a path for civic participation outside the normal ... more »
First, a primer on how to pronounce “Schmaderer,” the new police chief’s last name: “SHMA’ der.” Rhymes with water. “Some ... more »
As winter takes hold the number of homeless moving into shelters is on the rise. Winter is the toughest time of the year ... more »
Alberto Gonzales didn’t enter the meeting room at the South Omaha Library on March 15 so much as the room opened up and ... more »
Police reviewing gun policy following school shooting
The Omaha Police Department is reviewing its gun policy for off-duty officers after Robert Butler Jr. used his father's ... more »
