LINCOLN- The Nebraska Environmental Trust Board responded to criticism of their eligibility requirements by reviewing the structure of those requirements this week.

State Sen. John McCollister of Omaha, in a recent op-ed in the Lincoln Journal Star, questioned the Trust Board for declaring that 34 of the 118 grants submitted to it last year were ineligible for funding.

There was a much higher rejection rate from the Board this year, affecting projects such as recycling operations in Omaha and Ogallala, that had received funding for years.

Former board members, state senators, and community advocates voiced their displeasure with the board's recent decisions.

In response, the Trust Board voted this week to set up an ad hoc committee of board members to review the rules and regulations of the agency, the so-called Title 137, which were last reviewed in 2017.

“The altered funding priorities have many people feeling that the Trust is failing to follow its original mandate and is becoming beholden to outside influences,” McCollister wrote in his recent op-ed.

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