The Air Update Workshops will provide the attendee updates on current air quality regulations and issues. We encourage anyone working with air quality regulations to attend.

To register for the workshops, go to:

The state has issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Swan Creek 5A Lake near Tobias in Saline County. This is the first health alert issued for the 2010 season. Weekly sampling has been conducted at 46 public lakes in Nebraska since the beginning of May.

The state has issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Johnson Lake in Gosper County, and an alert continues at Swan Creek Lake 5A near Tobias in Saline County, which was first placed on alert last week.

Omaha -- Citizens and environmental stakeholders in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area will be engaged to reduce ozone in agreements signed by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The agreements were signed July 6 during a news conference at the Omaha City Council Chambers.

The state has issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Red Willow Reservoir in Frontier County, and an alert continues at Johnson Lake in Gosper County, which was first placed on alert last week. A health alert has ended at Swan Creek Lake 5A near Tobias in Saline County.

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Director Mike Linder today announced the awarding of $1,442,902 in grants for waste reduction and recycling projects. The grants are available through the Waste Reduction and Recycling Incentive Grant Fund. This fund is generated by a fee on solid waste disposed of in landfills (disposal fee), an annual retail business sales fee (business fee), and a fee assessed on the sale of new tires for motor vehicles (tire fee). Tire fee grants totaling $1 million for projects related to tire recycling were previously announced in June.

The state has discontinued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Johnson Lake in Gosper County, after the lake had two consecutive weeks of low readings for toxic blue-green algae.

The state has discontinued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Red Willow Reservoir in Gosper County, after the lake had two consecutive weeks of low readings for toxic blue-green algae. This week, there are no health alerts in effect at any of the 46 public lakes that are tested weekly by the state.

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality has scheduled a public hearing regarding a proposal to exempt a portion of the Chadron Aquifer north of Crawford. This portion of the aquifer is associated with a proposed expansion area for the Crow Butte Resources (CBR) uranium mining facility. The proposed exemption would prevent that designated area of the aquifer from being used as a drinking water source in the future.

The artwork of 13 Nebraska students will be featured in the 2011 “Nebraska: Don’t Waste It!” environmental calendar. The statewide contest is sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) and focuses on the importance of waste reduction, recycling and litter cleanup.