OMAHA- A watchdog group is accusing a state agency of submitting requests for environmental grants that don’t follow state law. The group, Friends of the Environmental Trust, is calling for the disqualification of three grants submitted by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

The agency is seeking about $3.7 million in funding from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, which hands out grants from state lottery proceeds for projects such as dredging silted-in lakes and enhancing wildlife habitat. But the Friends group, which consists mainly of former board members of the Environmental Trust and those involved in establishing the trust, said it appears that the grants sought by the agency would fund state regulatory activities, which is not allowed under laws that set up the Environmental Trust nearly three decades ago.

The trust should disqualify the grants, the Friends group says, or seek a legal opinion from the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office before funding them. A spokeswoman for the Department of Environment and Energy said Tuesday that the agency would have no comment about the claims. But the chair of the Friends Group, Chris Beutler, a former Lincoln mayor and a state senator when the Environmental Trust was established, said that using trust grants to fund normal, regulatory activities of state government is “clearly” not allowed by state laws.

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