NEBRASKA CITY – Otoe County commissioners gave their approval Tuesday for an expansion of Omaha Public Power District’s ash disposal to include former agriculture land in the bluffs.

The move allows the coal-burning power plant to move its ash disposal to higher ground, but farmer Carol Crook said the change raised red flags for her that Nebraska City could become a destination for waste from a wider region.

 

Crook: “The rumor mill started that they were going to be digging a pit to put their waste materials from the coal burning plant up into this pit. I started calling, making inquiries and then when it came up on the agenda, I started attending the county commissioners’ meetings because I wanted to be sure, not just for our farming operation, but I don’t want Otoe County to become a waste dump for Lancaster and Douglas counties. I could see this opening a door.”

Otoe County commissioners tabled the permit at a previous meeting to get assurances.

Jerad Sornson: “Absolutely no waste from any other county will be brought into this county. … I brought that up with them. I said if you have another plant that needs ash disposal, buy property in that county and have it disposed in that county.”

Commissioner Rick Freshman said the pit is exclusively for ash from the Nebraska City Power Station.

Freshman: “The CCR (coal combustion residuals) designated placement in the new disposal area will originate exclusively from the Nebraska City power station. …  I think that was the original intent, but now we have it in writing.”

Crook said she is not sure if the assurance is for the currently-proposed pit, which covers 40 of OPPD’s newly -acquired 600 acres, or if it covers the entire county.

Crook: “I’m somewhat disappointed because the ash has items in it that will not decompose and they will be piling them up there. We don’t know the effects on our health, the ground around it, the water. Any testing of air and water is strictly done by OPPD in reporting to the state.”

Crook also called for an archeological study during digging to record and preserve artifacts.

Commissioner Chuck Cole said Otoe County Attorney Jennifer Panko-Rahe provided commissioners with state law 13-1703, which covers solid waste disposal. The law covers public safety, fire danger and impacts on traffic, but does not require archeological preservation.

 

Sornson said the county board will work with OPPD regarding any artifacts that are found and with tree plantings to replace those that are taken down.

OPPD also agreed to move the trailhead for Steamboat Trace further south.

Allan Jeanneret, who owns land near 70th and N roads, wondered if the transmission line would cause static electricity at the new trailhead similar to the “electric bridge” on the Peru bottoms. Sornson said the trailhead will be west of the transmission line.

 

Freshman: “All the years I’ve been on this board and all the years I’ve lived in town, they (OPPD) are a great community partner. They are a great Nebraska City partner, a great Syracuse partner, a great Otoe County partner. They usually, I can’t say it’s 100 percent, but in most of my findings they do exactly what they say they are going to do and they’ll do pretty much anything we ask them to do. With that kind of track record, I think we’re good to go.”

Crook said the impacts of the large ash pit are still unknown.

Crook: “The ash probably will settle and decompose but there are 12 minerals that will not decompose. I’ve been told over and over it’s minimal, but minimal builds up over 20 years and it’s arsenic and mercury along with some other things that I don’t think are very positive for our ground and our stream that runs next to this place.”