Environmental Trust dodges threat

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110203/NEWS01/702039867#environmental-trust-dodges-threat

LINCOLN — The University of Nebraska acknowledges that it could use a few million dollars to help jump-start its largely vacant Innovation Campus on the old state fairgrounds.

But NU officials on Wednesday said they didn’t feel comfortable supporting the dismantling of a nearly two-decade old state agency to do it.

So, in a last-minute change of heart, university officials said they are neutral on a proposed constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters in 2012, would eliminate the Nebraska Environmental Trust.

The proposal would take away the trust’s $15 million-a-year funding from lottery proceeds and split it between the Innovation Campus and a state water resources fund.

State Sen. LaVon Heidemann of Elk Creek, who introduced the proposal without consulting the university, said the jobs and research that would be generated by the public-private research at Innovation Campus were higher priorities for the state.

The trust grants money to cities and organizations to renovate silted-in lakes, research water issues, aid recycling programs and improve wildlife habitat.

FULL story at link.