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On Wednesday the full Legislature voted on the smoking ban in LB 395. After two days of debate the opt out provision for cities and counties was removed and the new implementation date is set at June 1, 2009. I expect no other amendments to the bill and I expect it to readily pass the final vote sometime next week.
Another topic of great consequence to Grand Island is natural gas distribution. It seems that the current supply lines for natural gas in the state of Nebraska are fully allocated. In Grand Island, contracts for enough natural gas to run our second power plant that is reserved for peak times, has been increasingly difficult and expensive to get. Gary Mader, Grand Island's Utility Director, testified before the Urban Affairs Committee that the cost of that contract went from $176,000 to over $1 million dollars in one fell swoop. Norfolk lost a $50 million soybean processing plant last year over this issue. Other projects have been lost in city after city across Nebraska.
This has been a problem in the state for some time but as a newcomer to this issue, I am astounded that our economic and industrial growth is being confounded by a basic supply issue of this nature. In a business sense, if there is demand, why isn't the natural gas supply companies doing everything in their power to meet the demand? Can a new supply line be constructed? Yes, it can and, yes, it is very expensive. What shocks me is the lack of cooperation on the part of natural gas supply companies in meeting new demand.
Building new supply lines is an investment that takes time to recoup. I understand that. However, it is to the point where cities and natural gas distribution companies are being limited in their growth because they can't get the demand met by the supply companies and they can't build their own supply lines.
To try to address this issue I introduced LB 1095 to allow Northwestern Energy to build a new supply line to carry natural gas from an existing pipeline south of Hastings to the retail distribution system of Grand Island. Although the language of the bill I introduced will be amended by the Urban Affairs Committee, I am hopeful that it will produce a bill that will remove this impediment to economic and industrial growth. By next week we should know what the amended language will look like. For Grand Island's sake, I hope we can get this fixed this year.
One last issuediscussions continue about moving the State Fair to Grand Island. Just today, in fact, I'm told that officials from the State Fair Board were in Grand Island to talk with city and chamber officials. The legislative bills related to the State Fair will be heard on February 26th in the Agriculture Committee. I'll keep you posted.
To voice your opinion or concern about an issue or particular bill, please contact: Senator Ray Aguilar, District 35, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509 402-471-2617. Email: raguilar@leg.ne.gov
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