Session Review: Natural Resources
Measures protecting certain privately built power plants from eminent domain and creating a regulatory framework for battery energy storage facilities were among those advanced by the Natural Resources Committee this session.
Energy development
LB1010, introduced by Plymouth Sen. Tom Brandt and passed 49-0, subjects private developers of energy storage resources — battery storage facilities — to the same governance and procedures outlined for public power utilities and other privately developed electric generators and suppliers in Nebraska.
The bill requires a private electric supplier to demonstrate to the Nebraska Power Review Board that they have:
• entered into, or will enter into, a power purchase agreement or other contract with a Nebraska public power supplier for the purchase of the ESR’s electric energy and capacity throughout its operational life;
• obtained written consent from affected electric suppliers; and
• entered into a joint transmission development agreement with the public power supplier that owns the transmission facilities that will interconnect with the ESR.
LB1010 also contains provisions of three other bills considered by the committee this session.
The amended provisions of LB1064, introduced by Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, create the Large Load Customer Regulation Act. They require public power suppliers to establish standards for interconnecting retail customers with a new or expanded load of more than 20 megawatts at a single site.
The measure also authorizes public power suppliers to establish rates, charges and operating standards for each large load customer and impose electric service requirements for those customers in addition to the standards.
Finally, the bill requires public power suppliers to develop a procedure requiring large load customers to curtail their electricity use or deploy onsite backup generating facilities during times of grid instability or emergencies.
The amended provisions of LB1111, sponsored by Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, allow public power suppliers to impose certain requirements on large data centers, including terms or conditions requiring data centers to pay the full cost of providing their electric service.
Additionally, the measure requires the owner or operator of a data center to submit an annual report to the state Department of Water, Energy and Environment and the Natural Resources Committee. The report must include the data center’s size, location and annual electricity demand and water usage, among other information.
A data center owner or operator also is required to cover the facility’s decommissioning costs and enter into a community benefit agreement with communities affected by the data center.
The amended provisions of LB1193, introduced by Sen. Jason Prokop of Lincoln, impose the annual nameplate capacity tax on owners of ESRs with a nameplate capacity of 100 kilowatts or more, while exempting property used in ESRs from the tax levied on depreciable tangible personal property.
The committee also advanced LB1261, sponsored by Niobrara Sen. Barry DeKay at the request of Gov. Jim Pillen, which is intended to encourage private energy developers to build dedicated power plants for large-scale electricity users.
The bill prohibits consumer-owned utilities from using eminent domain to acquire privately owned power plants under certain conditions.
The exception applies only to an electric generation facility that is built to provide service to an industrial customer at a single site with a new load greater than 1,000 megawatts. The facility must be co-located with the industrial customer, have an electrically equivalent point of grid interconnection to the customer and be approved by the Nebraska Power Review Board.
Under the bill, passed 33-16, the privately owned electric supplier must have executed a long-term power purchase agreement or other contract with a consumer-owned utility. Any contract must be approved by a utility’s governing body.
LB1261 also requires the industrial customer to pay a utility for any electric system upgrades or other costs needed to provide its service.
The bill’s requirements apply to contracts entered into on or before Dec. 31, 2031.
Certain Nebraska cities and villages may engage in tax-exempt natural gas supply transactions under another measure advanced by the committee.
LB548, introduced last session by Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City and passed 47-1, allows first or second class cities or villages that own natural gas systems to enter into a contract to sell natural gas to certain large industrial consumers whose facilities are located in Nebraska and within 100 miles of the city or village.
The bill allows parties to enter into a contract on or before Jan. 1, 2027.
Environmental and safety regulations, fees
LB759, sponsored by Brandt, contains several changes requested by the state Department of Water, Energy and Environment, which was created last year by the merger of two agencies.
It adds the department’s Chief Water Officer or his or her designee to the Water Well Standards and Contractors’ Licensing Board and eliminates a public hearing requirement related to distributions from the Nebraska Litter Reduction and Recycling Fund.
The bill also allows the department to enter upon property to conduct surveys, investigations and other activities related to the siting and construction of the Perkins County Canal Project. The department must notify a landowner before entering onto their property.
LB759 also contains provisions of three other bills considered by the committee this session.
The amended provisions of LB760, also introduced by Brandt, transfer the authority to permit, license and inspect swimming pools, mobile home parks and recreation camps from the department to counties, cities, villages or local public health departments.
The measure requires local governments to adopt and enforce minimum sanitary and safety requirements for the equipment and operation of swimming pools that meet or exceed minimum requirements adopted by DWEE.
The amended provisions of Brandt’s LB761 increase or modify fees for four programs overseen by the department.
Water well registration and permit fees increase from $40 to $200.
The bill modifies the annual fee structure for holders of animal feeding operation and livestock waste control facility permits, requiring the department to ensure that fees are adequate to meet 30% of the previous fiscal year’s program costs, rather than 20%.
Under LB759, a schedule of fees paid by hazardous waste generators will be based on an annual fee determined by the quantity of hazardous waste generated by weight or volume.
The fee schedule may not exceed the amount necessary for the department to pay for the direct and indirect costs of the regulation of hazardous waste management.
The measure also requires the department to collect application fees for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits as well as annual fees for permit holders. The fees may not be more than the amount necessary to reimburse the department for administering applications or cover the cost of services provided.
The amended provisions of Brandt’s LB1076 codify the authority of the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to take administrative action and impose penalties for actual or threatened violations of the Nebraska Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide Act.
Under the measure, any person who knowingly and willfully violates any provision of the act, makes any false statement in an application or falsifies a monitoring device used for compliance is guilty of a Class I misdemeanor.
LB759 passed on a vote of 36-12 and took effect immediately.
LB823, sponsored by Sen. Dave Wordekemper of Fremont and passed on a vote of 49-0, updates the definition of land-management burning to differentiate between controlled burning and prescribed burning and creates definitions for the latter two practices.
The measure requires open burning permits issued by fire chiefs to specify whether land-management burning is to be a prescribed burning or a controlled burning as well as the approximate number of acres to be burned.
Landowners are required to provide the same information when filing an application for a land-management burning permit and a plan for conducting the burning.
Also advanced by the committee was a proposed constitutional amendment intended to safeguard funds dedicated to the Nebraska Environmental Trust.
LR298CA, introduced by Brandt, would have specified that trust funds could be used exclusively to administer the trust and fund competitively awarded grants to tax-exempt entities, political subdivisions or state agencies for the conservation, enhancement or restoration of the natural, physical and biological environment in Nebraska.
The trust could not have awarded a grant to a project proposed by a state agency unless at least 50% of the project’s funding is provided by a political subdivision, the federal government or private donors.
If approved by the Legislature, the proposal would have gone before voters at the November 2026 general election.
LR298CA was scheduled for first-round debate, but the Legislature passed over the measure after Speaker John Arch of La Vista said it lacked the 33 votes needed for a successful cloture motion.
Game and Parks fees, mountain lion permits
LB979, introduced by Brandt and passed 37-10, increases fee caps for various hunting and fishing permits issued by the state Game and Parks Commission.
The measure also increases motorboat registration fees and allows the commission to establish and collect reasonable fees for providing fish and wildlife education programs.
LB979 authorizes the commission to use the Game Law Investigation Cash Fund for vehicles, equipment, digital services and specialized training.
Additionally, it creates a provision making it a Class I misdemeanor to traffic in or conspire to traffic in wildlife taken in violation of the Game Law.
The bill also includes provisions of LB1232, sponsored by Sidney Sen. Paul Strommen. They allow the commission to issue limited permits to hunt mountain lions to qualifying resident landowners or leaseholders or a member of their immediate family.
Under the measure, an applicant’s qualifying farm or ranch land must be within a designated mountain lion management zone. The number of resident landowner limited permits to hunt mountain lions in any management unit may not exceed 75% of the regular permits authorized for that unit.
The application fee for the limited permit may not exceed one-half the application fee for the regular permit, and the number of applications for each farm or ranch is capped based on certain acreage requirements.
