December 15, 2017 -- The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality’s 2017 Clean Diesel Rebate Program has extended the application deadline for rebates for two types of rebates – diesel refuse truck replacements, and agricultural irrigation pump diesel engine replacements. The deadline for these two categories has been extended to February 15, 2018. The application deadline for a third category, diesel school bus replacements, ended Dec. 15, 2017.

The state has discontinued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Sutherland Reservoir in Lincoln County.

An alert was originally issued at the lake on July 2 after samples were above the state’s health alert threshold of 20 parts per billion of microcystin (a toxin released by certain strains of blue-green algae.) However, samples taken the two following weeks were below the threshold, so the alert has been discontinued.

There are currently no health alerts for toxic algae in Nebraska.

December 21, 2017 – Applications for 2018 Waste Reduction and Recycling Grants will be available online from January 3, 2018 through 4 p.m. CST February 1, 2018. Applications must be submitted using the online process.

For more information about the Waste Reduction and Recycling Grant application process, go to /forms/publications-grants-forms/was066.

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Director Jim Macy today announced the awarding of $2,257,791 in grants through the Waste Reduction and Recycling Incentive Grant Fund.

July 30, 2015 -- The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is announcing that a preliminary meeting has been scheduled for 2 p.m. August 26, to discuss proposed amendments to Title 128 – Nebraska Hazardous Waste Regulations. A copy of NDEQ's presentation is attached at the bottom of this page.

NDEQ is inviting hazardous waste generators, managers and the interested public to participate in this outreach process.

The proposed regulation changes would amend Title 128 in three areas:

The state has issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Willow Creek Lake in Pierce County. Weekly sampling has been conducted at 50 public lakes in Nebraska since the beginning of May.

The artwork of 13 Nebraska students will be featured in the 2016 “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.

Aug. 27, 2015 – The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is announcing that the second of two outreach meetings concerning the Program Priority System for the Waste Reduction and Recycling Incentive Grants Program will be held in Lincoln on Sept. 9 at 2 p.m.

On August 25, the City of Beatrice and Centel jointly applied to the Nebraska Voluntary Cleanup Program to clean up environmental contamination from an old former manufactured gas plant.

Sept. 8, 2015 – Two workshops focusing on Drinking Water Protection will be held in Gothenburg on Oct. 28th and in West Point on Nov. 4th.

Goals of the workshops are to offer an opportunity for municipal officials, drinking water system operators and administrators to learn about our groundwater-based drinking water supply sources, approaches to protect these sources from contamination, and ways to strengthen collaboration in protecting our drinking water. Times and locations of the workshops are: