LINCOLN — Ethanol pumps won out over conserving wetlands and a unique ranch in voting by the Nebraska Environmental Trust board on Thursday.The board’s vote affirmed a controversial recommendation in February, made with little discussion, to defund five conservation projects and instead award $1.8 million to several gas stations for installation of ethanol blender pumps that deliver higher blends of the corn-based fuel.

Supporters — who included Gov. Pete Ricketts, a staunch backer of ethanol who appoints nine of the board’s 14 members — said the switch funded a fuel that improves air quality and would help the state’s economy, and that clean air was even more important now given that COVID-19 attacks the respiratory system.

But opponents — including former State Sen. and Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler, who cosponsored the bill that created the Environmental Trust in 1992 — said that the change ignored the Trust’s grant selection process and funded a project that was more about economic development and politics than the purpose of the Trust, which is to “conserve, enhance and restore the natural environments” of Nebraska.

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