Some Nebraska landowners and several energy companies are attempting to use what have long been Nebraska cornfields to harvest a different crop … the sun itself. Solar power is pushing into Nebraska in a big way, with at least seven giant projects in the works.
To this farm kid, it seems like a no brainer: Solar power is improving, it doesn’t alter the landscape like a wind turbine and, over time, it could allow us to wean ourselves off of dirty coal. Right now, half our electricity comes from coal, while only 1% is solar. That could soon change — these seven projects would push solar energy closer to 1/5 of the total electricity we currently use.
But, to some Nebrakans, solar is an unwelcome intruder. In some places in Nebraska, increasingly organized opponents are filing lawsuits, booting out politicians and putting in strict new regulations to try to limit big solar projects. (Not in all places, I should add…some counties are readily inviting and accepting new solar projects.) These people don’t want to live next to solar projects. They think farm ground should stay farm ground.
Our newest correspondent, longtime climate and environment reporter Nancy Gaarder, with a fascinating story on the new Nebraska solar wars.
Robot farmer: OK, maybe not. But the Grain Weevil, a new robot and new company winning serious acclaim in Nebraska, seems like it might be able to eliminate some of the dirtiest and most dangerous work a farmer does.
As any farmer can tell you, working inside a grain bin stinks. It’s hot as Hades. And it’s risky, too — dozens of farmers each year are injured or killed inside of one.
But a robot-loving father-and-son team think they have built the robot that will soon live up to the Grain Weevil’s promise — no more boots in the grain.
Story by Owen Reimer, originally published by our sister publication, Silicon Prairie News, which covers all things tech and startup business.
Party like a reporter: OK, get out your calendars. Ready? Now, in red Sharpie, draw an X through Thursday, Sept. 14. Do not plan anything on that evening. Because you are gonna be busy partying with the Flatwater Free Press.
I’m overjoyed to announce our first annual event, which is legally named Flatwater Free Press Festival. Because I’m a born contrarian, I’m calling it FlatFest.
This first FlatFest is gonna be held in a super-cool barn near Bennington. It’s gonna star an incredible panel of Nebraska-born-and-raised journalists who have worked or work at places like The New York Times, CNN, the Knight Foundation and ABC. There will be food trucks. There will be drinks. There will be idea exchanges. There will be merriment!
We’ll have a link up soon so you can buy tickets and lock in your spot. I’m so excited to see you there.
Congratu-freakin-lations: The good news is that Nebraska is best in the nation at something. The bad news is that we’re the best at hiding public information from the public.
The Investigative Reporters and Editors, one of the largest journalism groups in the country, handed out its annual Golden Padlock Award at its annual conference last weekend.
The winner: The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, for trying to charge the Flatwater Free Press $44,103.11 for a straightforward public records request. (Don’t forget that 11 cents, bub.)
We were, and are, trying to obtain state emails regarding nitrate in Nebraska’s groundwater. But the NDEE has other ideas.
As I have written earlier in this newsletter, a Lancaster County judge has ruled for FFP, and commanded the state to deliver us a more, ahem, reasonable cost estimate. But NDEE is appealing, which means that it’s spending even more taxpayer money to fight to keep public records private.
IRE judged this worthy of a Golden Padlock, proclaiming Nebraska’s Department of Environment and Energy the most secretive government agency in the country in 2022.
A hearty congratulations to NDEE, which will someday, if justice serves, allow Flatwater reporters and you, the public, to see documents pertaining to nitrate in our groundwater, a continuing Nebraska public health concern that we will continue to cover.
Happy 4th!: After I hit send on this newsletter and do, oh, 27 other things, Sarah and I are headed to the Sandhills to celebrate America’s independence as our Founding Fathers intended. Big skies. Cool streams. Bolo beer.
Have a lovely Fourth of July weekend, and I will see you back here next week.
Sincerely,
—Matthew Hansen, Executive Editor
Here’s what we’re into this week: News from around Nebraska
Every week we like to share great Nebraska journalism, no matter who made it. Here’s what caught our eye this week:
- A Nebraska state senator has filed a lawsuit after the Nebraska Freedom Coalition said some awful things about her and her son.
- It took 18 months, 18 public hearings and seven different public agencies, Nebraska Public Media’s Elizabeth Rembert writes, but now a new type of meatpacking plant, a rancher-owned co-op that seeks to challenge the big boys, is being built in Nebraska.
- The Omaha World-Herald’s Henry Cordes with the explainer about why the value of homes — and the resulting tax bills — are skyrocketing in Douglas and Sarpy counties.
- A stunning 156 congregations in the Great Plains — including several in Nebraska — have now left the United Methodist church over the issue of gay rights, reports the Lincoln Journal Star’s Sawyer Belair.
- This is a cool project from one of my fave Nebraska towns, McCook …check out the gargantuan new mural they installed together. Story from NTV.
- I am of course contractually obligated to share all stories about Willa Cather and my hometown of Red Cloud. But this story, from the Smithsonian Magazine, is also gorgeous and thought provoking. Reporter Jeff MacGregor traveled to Red Cloud, hung out, and tied the current town and its landscape to Cather’s own past.
Also, a bonus here: Some gorgeous photos of Willa’s and my hometown from photographer Calla Kessler, a UNL grad.
