2016 Preliminary Summary of Applications
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2016 PRELIMINARY SUMMARY OF APPLICATIONS TRUST BOARD MEMBERS Henry 'Rick' Brandt Greg Ibach Rodney Christen Bob Krohn Jim Douglas Gerry Lauritzen Paul Dunn Jim Macy Gloria Erickson Kevin Peterson Jeff Fassett Courtney Phillips Jim Hellbusch Sherry Vinton Mark A. Brohman, Executive Director Marilyn Tabor, Allison La Duke, Sheila Johnson, Lori Moore - Staff Pete Ricketts, Governor Mark A. Brohman, Director September 22, 2015 The Nebraska Environmental Trust entered the 2016 grant cycle receiving 127 applications. Applications were either emailed or postmarked on September 8th to meet the deadline. Requests in this twenty-third year of grants totaled $58,039,630. The Trust will announce recommendations for funding these applications in February, 2016 and will award grants in April, 2016. A summary overview of each proposal, as composed by the applicant, is provided for you. Very few editorial changes were made in this information, which was submitted in the application form in response to the question, “Provide an overview of the project for which you seek funding.” Project names were assigned by the applicants. Project numbers are assigned by the Trust to facilitate record keeping. The summaries are presented in alphabetical order by project sponsor name. The nearest town is also shown to indicate the approximate location of each project in the state. The amount requested and the proposed term of each project is also noted in each summary. The Trust is authorized to fund a project for up to three years under one application review. The review group to which the application has been assigned is also noted in each summary. In 2015 the Trust issued statements of intent to 49 projects, indicating continued funding for these projects on the basis of the 2014 and 2015 applications. Those projects are included in these descriptions. The project numbers of these applications begin “14” or “15” and end with a dash 2 (15-101-2) or dash 3 (14-101-3) to indicate the second or third year request. An index of applications by project number is also included with the materials presented in this booklet. i 700 South 16th Street P.O. Box 94913 Lincoln, NE 68509-4913 Phone: 402-471-5409 Fax: 402-471-8233 www.environmentaltrust.org NEBRASKA ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST - 2016 APPLICATION SUMMARY Page 1 of 88 Sponsor Name: Alliance, City of Nearest Town: Alliance Project Name: Recycling Collections Feasibility Study Project No: 16-226 Amount Requested: $52,318 Term of Project Request: 1 Review Recycling The City of Alliance is working in Partnership with Keep Alliance Beautiful (non-profit organization) and WasteCap Nebraska to perform a feasibility study during 2016. The feasibility study will identify if the City of Alliance will recognize benefits if recycling operations are provided to the community and divert recyclable materials from going into the local landfill. The City of Alliance operates the local landfill and waste collection services for residents of the community. The feasibility study will consider the following things: 1. Should the City of Alliance consider adding Recycling collection and processing services? 2. Can the City of Alliance acquire a building to house the recycling collection and processing operations? 3. Can the City of Alliance establish commodity markets for recyclable materials and project to generate revenue? 4. What is the estimated volume of recyclable materials that can be collected? 5. What benefits will the landfill operations see from the addition of recycling collection and processing services? 6. Is there opportunity to establish “Hub & Spoke” recycling collection services that will reach out to communities outside of Alliance and Box Butte County within the Nebraska Panhandle region? Consulting services provided by WasteCap Nebraska will provide the City of Alliance with guidance and recommendations for establishing recycling collection services. Through the direction of the City Council, the City of Alliance will establish a community Task Force that will aid in the development of the Feasibility Study. The City of Alliance will work in Partnership with Keep Alliance Beautiful organization to provide education outreach programs to community residents for Recycling services and collection operations. Findings for the Feasibility study will be carried out through tours and research of existing recycling programs operated by Municipal Governments, consulting services and waste collection studies performed by WasteCap Nebraska, and evaluations performed by a community Task Force. Sponsor Name: Angels on Wheels, Inc Nearest Town: Omaha Project Name: Electronic Collections Events Project No: 16-166 Amount Requested: $86,400 Term of Project Request: 1 Review Recycling Angels on Wheels Inc. is a non-profit corporation that operates the Cross Training Center (CTC). CTC provides vocational training and job experience for men and women who are undereducated and live in poverty. Our recycling and refurbishing program provides direct hands-on job experience for these students. We collect out-of-service products that contain metals including computers, consumer electronics, large appliances, automobiles and other out- of-service household or industrial equipment. Personal computers that have useful life are refurbished and sold for nominal prices to the needy. Everything else is demanufactured by hand and the materials are sorted into like commodities and sold to local scrap purchasers. Our program assures that these items do not reach landfills and toxic materials such as mercury, lead, copper and other hazardous substances do not contaminate our ground. The funds from this grant will be used towards the cost of managing 33 collection events and processing the collected electronics allowing us to increase the amount of items we collect for recycling and refurbishing and preventing them from entering the landfills. [App Summary] NEBRASKA ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST - 2016 APPLICATION SUMMARY Page 2 of 88 Sponsor Name: Aqua Systems of Nebraska Nearest Town: Multiple Project Name: Mobile Hydration Services Project No: 16-174 Amount Requested: $137,738 Term of Project Request: 1 Review Waste Management Aqua Systems has established itself as the Mobile Hydration experts. As the current pace of bottle water consumption in the US market continues to grow at an unsustainable pace, the proven need for free and clean water alternatives in the public and private event space continues to grow. As the public becomes more aware of water shortages, the lasting impacts of plastic waste, safe hydration alternatives and a free choice for water, the new normal is becoming mobile hydration. We propose a Mobile Hydration solution that allows both large and small events to have the convenience they desire, the quality and service their customers expect and all without the bottle and the waste. We have designed and built a small scale model on a bicycle based platform (the Aqua Trike) and 2 large scale Aqua Trailers to test our theories. In two short years we have served clean water to thousands and diverted over 50,000 bottles from the landfill. It is our proposal to facilitate the purchase and final manufacturing of cabinet style hydration stations that are capable of easier mobility, expanded visibility, larger volume distribution and providing a perfect educational platform for a wider audience. These water cabinets will become a resource that allows many more Nebraskan’s free alternatives to single use plastics. Sponsor Name: Auburn Public Schools Nearest Town: Auburn Project Name: Auburn Public Schools Greenhouse and Outreach Center Project No: 16-168 Amount Requested: $220,021 Term of Project Request: 1 Review Education The APS Greenhouse Educational Facility is the next step in the creation of an agriculture/natural resources program that touches the lives of our community, state, and nation. The grant funds will be used to build a greenhouse educational facility that will serve as a hands-on experience for the students of Auburn Public Schools and our community at large. The greenhouse educational facility will become a core piece within the Auburn Public Schools Agriculture/Natural Resources program. The overarching goal for Auburn Public Schools Agriculture/natural resources program is to provide an instructionally sound, rigorous agriculture/natural resources curriculum available to ALL regular education, special needs students (i.e., those who are bound for college, community college, technical schools, industry certificated programs, and the world of work) and community members. All students interested in agriculture/natural resources will have opportunities to complete multiple agriculture/natural resources pathways that culminate in capstone courses in several areas including natural resources, environmental service systems, and agribusiness. Community partnerships and courses will be developed with the greenhouse as an adult educational setting. Continuing education courses through Southeast Community College and the University of Nebraska Extension Office as well as other community entities will be taught in the classroom and greenhouse educational facility. These courses will allow Auburn Public Schools to extend the reach of the greenhouse educational facility beyond our elementary, middle, and high school students. [App Summary] NEBRASKA ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST - 2016 APPLICATION SUMMARY Page 3 of 88 Sponsor Name: Bird Conservancy of the Rockies formerly RMBO Nearest Town: Kimball Project Name: Grassland Bird and Habitat Conservation