Jesse Bradley, director of the Nebraska Department of Water, Energy and Environment (DWEE), outlined several agency milestones reached over the last few years during Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen’s Open-Media Cabinet Meeting April 20.  

Initiated by the Governor, DWEE was established on July 1, 2025, following the passage of LB317, which merged the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environment and Energy.  

The Nebraska Department of Water, Energy, and Environment (DWEE) recognizes April as Low-Head Dam Public Safety Awareness Month as recently declared by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO). 

Today, the Nebraska Department of Water, Energy, and Environment (DWEE) submitted a response to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Request for Information about the state’s consideration as a potential future site for a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus.

The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (DWEE) and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NeDNR) have jointly launched a new landing page for the Nebraska Department of Water, Energy, and Environment (DWEE) website.

This landing page directs people to the resources available on DWEE’s and NeDNR’s websites and prepares the public for the agencies’ official merge into DWEE on July 1, 2025. The landing page can be found here: https://dwee.nebraska.gov/. 

The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (DWEE) has added a new interactive mapping tool to the Beach Watch webpage to enhance the users’ experience.  This interactive map will help state residents and out-of-state visitors visualize which Nebraska lakes are on health alert for Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB). 

The Beach Watch webpage provides valuable weekly updates detailing the results of public beach sampling during the May to September recreation season.  Exposure to HABs can irritate the skin, and cause illness when ingested.

The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (DWEE) and its partners have begun weekly sampling of public lakes across Nebraska.

This sampling will test for microcystin – a toxin produced by harmful algal blooms (HABs), also known as toxic blue-green algae – and E. coli bacteria. DWEE and its partners collect these samples at 51 public recreational lakes (56 beach sites) throughout the state from May through September.

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (DWEE) has awarded the City of Fullerton $54,000 through its Source Water Protection (SWP) Grant program.