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Jun 9, 2009

Nebraska landowner sees school money in wind, carbon

By NATE JENKINS / Associated Press

The largest landowner in Nebraska is trying to boost revenues from its massive holdings using more than crops and cattle.

The Nebraska Board of Educational Lands and Funds, which owns 1.3 million acres in the state, is in the early stages of working with a so-called aggregator that is helping package land that could be used to pool carbon credits, said Richard Endacott, CEO of the board. The board has also begun working with wind-power companies to possibly lease land that could hold wind turbines.

“Traditionally, the value of land has been tied to what it will produce crop-wise, or cattle it will run, but there’s a new era here,” said Endacott, who took the helm of the group early this year. “It could be huge,” he said of the growth in revenue from carbon trading and wind power that would go to schools.

The carbon credits would be put up for sale on the Chicago Climate Exchange. It trades greenhouse gases and other pollutants just as other exchanges trade such commodities as crops and livestock. Members of the exchange, such as corporations or cities, can buy carbon credits to help offset their emissions.

Farmers, ranchers and landowners can participate in the program by using no-till farming practices or growing grasses and trees to limit the release of carbon dioxide from the ground.

Endacott said he couldn’t estimate possible revenues from leasing land for wind turbines, but it’s possible carbon sequestration could eventually produce $10 million to $25 million if federal and international policy is changed to boost the market. He cautioned that that estimate was highly speculative.

While board-owned land is located across the state, the bulk is in western Nebraska. The 1.3 million acres is what’s left of a huge land contribution from the federal government in 1867.

Rent is collected on 3,200 agricultural leases and 250 mineral leases. Income from those and other sources goes to public K-12 schools across the state. In 2007, schools received more than $43 million.

For more than a decade, lawmakers and others have haggled over whether the board should sell more of its land and invest more heavily in stocks and bonds. A 1996 state law urges, but does not require, the board to sell down its land until it makes up a quarter of the board’s total investments.

But land holdings are well above that mark now — Endacott estimated about 65 percent of the group’s portfolio is land — and the moneymaking potential of both wind and carbon-trading is expected to keep land well above the threshold.

“To me, it makes it even more attractive as an investment,” Endacott said of the land holdings, which are valued at between $675 million and $690 million.

At the end of the last fiscal year, the portion of the group’s portfolio in stocks and bonds was valued at more than $452 million.

The board has a preliminary agreement with a wind-energy outfit to lease it land for wind turbines, should the wind group win a bid from a power company that wants to have a wind farm in eastern Nebraska, Endacott said. He declined to disclose the name of the company.

The board is also a player in what would be the largest wind farm in the state, located in Banner County. The board recently entered into an agreement with Chicago-based Midwest Wind Energy that will allow the company to test wind velocity and do soil tests on board-owned land in Banner County.

The board has a similar deal with the same company as it tries to develop a wind farm to the east, in Holt County.

There are between roughly 7,680 acres and 8,960 acres of board-owned land that could potentially hold wind turbines in Banner County. In Holt County, the board has about 2,240 acres that could eventually hold turbines for the Midwest Wind Energy project.

Midwest Wind Energy officials say the planned 60,000- to 100,000-acre wind farm in Banner County will have 600 to 800 turbines generating 2,000 megawatts of electricity. One megawatt is roughly enough to power 200 to 300 American homes for a day.


Comments

Posted by Forex News on 07/14  at  10:06 AM

Everything that promotes clean energy is a great thing, and a fantastic investment!

Posted by Mika on 08/17  at  06:02 AM

Wind power present in the Earth atmosphere is much bigger than current world energy demand. The most extensive study to date discovered the potential of wind power ashore and coastal areas to be 72 TW, comparable to 54,000 million ton of oil equivalent each year, or over 5 times the world’s current energy consumption in all forms.

Posted by Spa Treatments on 08/28  at  08:59 AM

wow.. interesting post

i really like the info on it!!!

Posted by 101 Money Matters on 09/09  at  06:18 AM

I think that this is a great investment, and it’s eco-friendly as well, so it’s like hitting two birds with one stone.

Posted by Indian Recipes on 11/06  at  09:31 PM

“Looks to me like Obama took out the troops to soon if we cannot get any NATO troops ? Does Obama ever speak about this ? Just what’s heading on in Afghanistan. Seems our troops are sitting ducks nowadays. Seems Iraq and also the 30,000 American troops are heading to find out a whole great deal a lot extra fighting within the subsequent couple of months. Will Obama even glimpse to determine what’s occurring?”

Posted by Forex Trading Reviews on 12/21  at  03:31 AM

Money is any object or record, that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally, a standard of deferred payment.

Posted by masters in public administration on 12/28  at  01:20 AM

I think the Nebraska landowner could very well help the school and similar infrastructures to a great deal. Wind energy is the next big thing in the world of energy and I think his initiatives and resources can pretty much supply most of the needs of these infrastructures. Besides, the fact that this whole program is running on an ecofriendly route makes it a good scheme to carry on now as well as in the future!

Posted by Penthouses on 01/31  at  07:24 AM

This is the key to the future of Green technology. Stories like this! Awesome stuff.

Posted by Dogs and puppies on 02/10  at  03:00 AM

I like the echo freindly ideas.. like the background of this website .. just got off of job where they are putting up 65 wind turbines ...cleaner energy..

Posted by Payment Service Provider on 02/11  at  11:42 PM

Where possible buy used text books. They are cheaper, have often only been used once and still serve the same purpose. They also have the advantage of interesting comments down the margins. Your kids were going to learn those words anyway. In fact they probably already know them.

Posted by Payment Service Provider on 02/11  at  11:42 PM

This is a great way to get on top of back to school costs. Put aside $5 per child a week and you will have $260 to spend on their supplies. This should cover a fair proportion of the school costs. This fund also helps if you see specials throughout the year. If you haven’t got enough just rename the holiday fund.

Posted by online printing services on 02/25  at  07:25 AM

I think pushing for solar power is the way to go. I think the money needs to be invested more in it. There is so much that we can do for the environment.

Posted by Rvs For Sale on 03/01  at  12:26 AM

Wind energy has some disadvantageous like noise produced by the rotor blades, birds having been killed by flying into rotors. Wind energy costs are more compettitive because there is no fuel to purchase and operating expenses are minimal

Posted by Mississauga limo on 06/21  at  01:40 AM

The Nebraska students were among 141 students selected nationally for demonstrating leadership, scholarship and their contributions to school and community as well as for outstanding accomplishments in the arts, sciences, humanities and other fields of interest.

Posted by Compost Tumbler on 07/13  at  11:10 PM

budgets are hard to deal with these days.

Posted by Reputation Management on 11/23  at  04:30 AM

Education is essential for every human being. We cannot survive in this world without education. It is in the best interest of the governments of every nation to ensure that at least basic education is provided to all their citizens.

Posted by Electronic Components on 12/30  at  08:56 PM

Seems our troops are sitting ducks nowadays. Seems Iraq and also the 30,000 American troops are heading to find out a whole great deal a lot extra fighting within the subsequent couple of months.

Posted by Hard To Find Components on 02/01  at  11:50 AM

Green tech is coming along in the U.S now. Only if we subsidized the way China does, we might be able to make it a real boom industry

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