On September 14, 2018, the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) leadership met with members of the Small Business Compliance Advisory Panel (SBCAP) for their annual meeting to review and discuss how NDEQ can better support and improve their environmental services and programs for small business development and compliance across the state.

The SBCAP members include two members appointed by the Governor, Sharon Hueftle and Starr Lehl as general public representatives and members of community economic development offices in Holdrege and Scottsbluff respectively. Four members are appointed by the legislature as owners and representatives of small business. Appointed legislative members include Jim Hellbusch, as the Panel Chair and owner of Duo-lift manufacturing in Columbus, Rick Bettger of Omaha Car Care, Steve Rexroth of Miracle Workers Auto Collision and Repair Center in Lincoln, and Jack Schriener, owner of Bruckman Rubber in Hastings. One additional member from the agency is pending appointment by the NDEQ director.

NDEQ Director Jim Macy provided updates on efforts by NDEQ’s new Grow Nebraska team. The Grow Nebraska Team includes representatives from all programs and a representative from the Dept. of Economic Development. The Team’s primary objective is to help new and expanding businesses understand pertinent environmental regulations. Macy also discussed tracking of key performance indicators in the agency and the improvements they showed. He spoke of new tools being developed to facilitate understanding of agency regulations and to make compliance easy for the regulated community.
“If we can make regulatory compliance easy, both the Department and the regulated community are better off”, Macy said.

Panel members said the Department has made much progress in helping businesses improve their understanding and compliance, and they are pleased that the Department is doing what it can to assist facility owners.