Aid

The Planning and Aid Division provides information and assistance to the public and the regulated community. Program support and services include:

• Small Business and Public Assistance,
• Outreach Planning,
• Training webinars,
• Prescribed Fires,
• Energy Programs,
• Compliance, and/or
• Permit Assistance Visits.

The Division, primarily through the efforts of the Small Business and Environmental Assistance Coordinators, is responsible for the planning and divisional support for various outreach events. The coordinators maintain entries to the Department’s Directory of Environmental Consultants and Engineers; the purpose of which is to provide the user a comprehensive listing of firms organized by the environmental services they provide.

Grow Nebraska

The Division also coordinates the Department’s Grow Nebraska Team. The team’s purpose is to provide guidance to businesses looking to start up in Nebraska with respect to the permits they may need from the NDEE. As part of that effort, the NDEE Permit Matrix is an online tool businesses or individuals can use for gathering relevant permit information toward “Making Compliance Easy.”

Those who may need to obtain permits can then follow up with the NDEE’s Grow Nebraska Team to schedule a One-Stop Permit or Scoping meeting where appropriate NDEE staff meet with them to address any questions or concerns regarding potential permits, regulatory processes, resources, grants, and other questions

The Division continues to coordinate environmental partnership efforts with the Small Business Compliance Advisory Panel, the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), Nebraska Department of Transportation, Public Health Agencies, Department of Economic Development, the University of Nebraska, Nebraska Board of Architects and Engineers, Nebraska Industrial Council on the Environment (NICE), as well as various trade associations.

The overall objective of these partnerships is to capitalize on the strengths of each group or organization and make strides toward more effective and efficient business processes and support toward building a sustainable Nebraska.
 

Activities

Common activities include:

• Quarterly Grow Nebraska Team meetings
• Announcements to the regulated community regarding training and outreach events
• Semi-annual trainings and meetings with regional and national small business environmental assistance and pollution prevention programs
• Coordination of One-Stop or Scoping Meetings
• Partnership meetings (seasonal, monthly, annually, or as needed)
• Annual Wind & Solar Conference
• Monitoring of prescribed fire events and associated air quality impacts
• Working with the Dollar and Energy Savings Loan program and Weatherization Programs on distribution of funds and reporting
• Administration of the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust Fund Settlement and the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act
• Permit Matrix maintenance and updates

A PDF copy of the Grow Nebraska brochure can be found at the bottom of this page.