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Executive Director Corner
2016 is
almost over and our annual report is at the printer as we prepare for
2017. The Grants Committee has one more
meeting before the preliminary rank order list of funding will be released with
their recommendations. The full board
will receive the list at the first quarter board meeting on February 9, 2017.
We look back
on 2016 and will remember the loss of a staff member, Lori Moore, and I lost my
father and grandmother. Pam Deines
joined the Trust staff, we had a new roof put on the carriage house, Marilyn
welcomed a new granddaughter, and we funded a lot of great projects across the
State.
We want to
welcome Dr. Tom Williams to the board. Dr. Williams attended his first Trust board meeting last month after
being appointed the chief medical officer at the Department of Health and Human
Services on November 1st.
The Husker’s volleyball
team had a meltdown at the end of the season after reaching the Final
Four. All-in-all it was a great season
ending at an impressive 31-3 and they won the BIG10 championship. We were hoping for the first back-to-back
championships in school’s history, but Texas had other ideas in a 3-0 defeat of
the Huskers. Our assistant coach, Dani
Busboom Kelly, was named the national assistant of the year and is headed to
the University of Louisville next year to be their head volleyball coach. A big congratulation goes out to Creighton’s
volleyball team who at the end of the regular season was ranked at # 21, but finished #9 after a great run in the
post-season play. The Huskers had been
#1 or #2 all season, but ended up #4.
The Husker’s
football team started the year out on fire and then hit a very tough schedule
and ended up 9-3 and will play an 8-4 Tennessee team in the Music City Bowl on
Dec. 30. Tennessee averaged 50.2 points
over their last four games and went 3-1 over that stretch. With Tommy Armstrong probably out and Jordan
Westercamp definitely out, it could be a battle.
Happy
Holidays, Merry Christmas and have a great 2017!
Travel safe.
Mark A.
Brohman
Executive
Director
Tom Williams, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Director, Division of Public Health
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
Welcoming Dr. Tom Williams to the Trust Board
Dr. Tom Williams
serves in a dual role as Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Division of
Public Health for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
He was appointed to this
position by Governor Pete Ricketts and joined DHHS November 1, 2016.
Dr. Williams oversees
10 public health areas that touch the life of every Nebraskan by promoting good
health, preventing disease and helping people live healthier lives.
Dr.
Williams is an anatomic and clinical pathologist with subspecialty expertise in
Chemical Pathology. Prior to this position, he practiced at Nebraska Methodist
Hospital for 38 years; the last 22 years as Chair of Pathology and Laboratory
Medical Director.
His
previous activities involving public health and government include the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention’s Clinical Laboratory Department Advisory
Committee and other CDC working groups; Clinical and Laboratory Standards
Institute (CLSI) as chair or vice chair for consensus or document development
committees in the areas of chemistry and toxicology, quality and
emergency-preparedness; Douglas County Health Department pandemic planning and
emergency preparedness including working with the Omaha Metropolitan Medical
Response System (OMMRS) and co-chairing committees responsible for emergency
communication for healthcare professionals that focus on laboratory infection
control and surveillance.
Dr.
Williams has nationally published articles and collaborated in developing CLSI
documents directed towards emergency preparedness for clinical laboratories and
has spoken locally and nationwide, and presented webinars on this topic.
He
served on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Nebraska Newborn Screening
Program and has chaired or served on national College of American Pathologists
(CAP) committees in the area of proficiency testing, clinical chemistry,
publications and education.
Dr.
Williams shared the CAP Excellence in Teaching Award in 2013 for assisting in
the development and facilitating an intensive course for new laboratory medical
directors and received the CAP Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
He
also served four terms as president of the Nebraska Association of
Pathologists.
Dr.
Williams holds a medical degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center
and a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.
He
and his wife Sue have two adopted adult children and live in Lincoln.
Scrap Central Purchases Wire Chopping System
(submitted by Jennifer Jones)
Scrap
Central, located in Omaha, Nebraska has purchased the first MTB CABLE BOX from WENDT CORPORATION. The
MTB CABLE BOX, a compact wire chopping system, offers Scrap Central with a
containerized, turnkey wire chopping solution to begin processing its
increasing volume of non-ferrous materials.
Started
in 2001, Scrap Central is a second-generation, family-owned and operated
business, providing metal recycling services to the general public and
industrial and commercial customers. Scrap Central Owner, Jennifer Jones, took
the company over in May 2011 following the death of her mother, Sheila Jones. As
a female business leader focused on increasing recycling volumes and lessening
our carbon footprint, Jones relocated the company in 2014 from a ½-acre lot to
a 7-acre former concrete facility to expand the business and keep up with
demand.
Since their move in 2014, Scrap Central’s insulated
copper and aluminum wire volume have continued to increase and drove the need
for another processing solution in addition to their balers. The purchase of
the CABLE
BOX will allow the
company to keep up with those increased volumes, streamline their operation and
minimize labor hours currently used to sort and bale wire. The system will also
expand their processing capabilities to include a much broader range of
materials.
“We partner with a local non-profit organization in a Go
Green Holiday Lights Drive which has diverted over 17,000 pounds of holiday
lights from local landfills. We wanted to process those holiday lights in-house
instead of shipping them to a processor. Having a wire chopping system in house
will allow us to donate back more proceeds to our non-profit partners and grow
the project to more communities throughout Nebraska,” said Jennifer Jones. “I
believe that through collaborative efforts, like our Holiday Lights Drive our
community and environment will benefit by advancing awareness and increasing
participation. We are grateful for the support from the Nebraska Environmental
Trust and Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality in our purchase of the CABLE
BOX, allowing us to increase recycling efforts, education and proceeds
generated by the drives.”
Scrap Central’s CABLE
BOX features a BDR1245 shredder, two BAT800 granulators, air density tables,
screens and magnetic separators as well as integrated electrical controls and
dust collection system. The compact system has been designed to fit into two
20’ by 40’ and one 20’ by 20’ reinforced, customized containers. While the
system is smaller in size and footprint, it shares the same robust and advanced
design as MTB’s larger systems. This enables it to efficiently treat lower quality
cables while delivering highly valuable output materials. Jones said, “We
thought the revolutionary design and unique self-contained CABLE BOX was a good
fit for our operation since we don’t have excess warehouse space to house a
conventional wire processing line. We
also were impressed with the production capabilities and the diversity of materials
the CABLE BOX can process. The CABLE BOX is efficiently designed to minimize
process loss and produce high quality marketable products.”
Scrap Central will
process insulated #1 and #2 copper wire, neoprene and ACSR wires as well as auto
shredder residue (ASR) wire they are currently generating from customers and
commercial accounts. They plan to expand their buying potential to other scrap
yards in surrounding areas by offering competitive pricing and lower freight
costs with their centralized location. “We look forward to growing
relationships with companies generating large volumes of insulated wires in
need of processing and hoping to increase their bottom lines. One long-term
goal is to build lasting relationships that provide partnerships for decades of
growth together,” added Jones.
The first MTB CableBOX
system will be installed and commissioned at Scrap Central by the end of the
year. The company plans to run the operation 6 days a week/8 hours a day while
processing up to 2 tons an hour depending on material type. Jones said, “I was extremely
impressed with not only the capabilities and innovation of the MTB CABLE BOX
system but with MTB owner, Jean Phillipe and his company. MTB and Scrap
Central’s visions align in the mission and goals to better our environmental
impacts for future generations. The reputation of MTB/WENDT speaks for itself.” She added, “The robustness of the CABLE
BOX system will allow a young owner and company like myself the versatility to
move with the industry and process a limitless variety of materials.”
See image of chopped wire below.
The Urban Bird & Nature Alliance Incorporates Emerald Ash Bohrer (EAB) in Science
Curriculum at Brownell Talbot School
(submitted by Diana Failla, Founder/Executive Director, The Urban Bird &
Nature Alliance and President Midtown Neighborhood Alliance)
Clare
Schinzel, 10, was one of many students and volunteers who planted over 18
diverse shade trees in the understory of the ash trees in historic Memorial
Park in Omaha this fall. As a Brownell-Talbot School, fifth grade student,
she’s been learning about the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle, and how
it’s damaging the Omaha ash tree canopy.
"We
are the next generation. And we can do something and make a difference,"
Clare said with enthusiasm.
Students
at Brownell Talbot School, from first grade to high school, have embraced the
EAB program which starts in the classroom and moves into identifying the ash
trees on school grounds and in the nearby park. The program includes planting
diverse tree species in the understory of the ash trees and will offer a
trolley tree tour in the spring to engage the community and showcase the
completed project.
Thanks
to a grant through the Nebraska Environmental Trust, the Urban Bird and Nature
Alliance teamed up with Brownell-Talbot School to develop a pilot curriculum
plan incorporating lessons about the emerald ash borer and how it’s affecting
ash trees in Nebraska and across the nation.
The
students have learned about the rippling environmental, economic, social and
health impacts of losing the ash trees, said Diana Failla, founder of the
alliance.
“EAB
isn’t just about one ash tree in a backyard. Students are learning the affects
EAB will have in their neighborhood, in their city and in their state. The
emerald ash borer has become an opportunity for student and community engagement. If we can involve neighborhood residents, schools, and our city
and state leaders, we can make huge strides in ensuring a sustainable tree
canopy. The
alliance has already planted hundreds of trees throughout the city and is
continuing to find ways to replace the ash trees that the city will lose to the
emerald ash borer in the coming years," said Failla.
Clare
said she hopes her generation will grow up to love nature and find solutions to
environmental problems such as the emerald ash borer. “It’s really important for us
to learn about these issues,” she said.
The
Urban Bird & Nature Alliance is a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation
and conservation of bird life, wildlife and nature in an urban environment. Failla plans to teach about EAB and its impact in more schools
across the state.
2016 Nebraska Environmental Trust Annual Report
The Nebraska Environmental Trust Annual Report is currently being published and will be distributed sometime in January. An electronic copy of the report is available on the website. You may click on the following link to view the Annual Report.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Nebraska Environmental Trust staff to everyone!
Upcoming Events
- February 2, 2017 - Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Informational Seminar, Grand Island NE.
- February 9, 2017 (Thursday) - 1st Quarter Board Meeting, Ferguson House, Lincoln NE.
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