"Formulating Policies for Future Water Use in the Great Plains". Ann Bleed, Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. Co-Sponsors: Center for Great Plains Studies. RECEPTION: 3:00 to 3:30. LECTURE: 3:30 TO 4:30 Ann Salomon Bleed was appointed director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources by Governor Dave Heineman in January 2007. She served as acting director of the department beginning August 2005. Bleed has been with state government since 1988, serving as state hydrologist with the Department of Water Resources until 2000 when that department merged with the Natural Resources Commission. After the merger, Bleed assumed the role of deputy director. Among other duties, she was a member of the negotiating teams that successfully developed settlements to the interstate lawsuits before the U.S. Supreme Court on both the North Platte River and the Republican River. Previous to her employment with the state, Bleed was an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska, holding split appointments in the Water Center/Conservation and Survey Division and the School of Natural Resources. She is still serving as an adjunct professor in engineering and natural resources. Bleed holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, and masters degrees from the University of Nebraska and Pennsylvania State University. She is a registered professional engineer in civil engineering. In addition to being agency director, Bleed serves on the Nebraska Boundary Compact Commission and is the State Representative to the Missouri River Basin Association, Nebraska Environmental Trust Board, Blue River Compact, Republican River Compact and the Upper Niobrara River Compact, Platte River Recovery and Implementation Program Governance Committee.

Suddenly, it’s bioenergy - ethanol and biodiesel. Bioenergy to solve the climate change problem caused by greenhouse gases. Bioenergy to inject vitality into declining rural communities. Bioenergy to free us from international oil villains. But wait… Bioenergy will drive food prices up and starve the poor by appropriating the food supply for energy. Bioenergy will ruin our livestock sector. Bioenergy will deforest the tropics and desertify the plains. Bioenergy will benefit farm landowners, but no one else. And bioenergy will happen only with billions of dollars of subsidies - can we afford it? In this course, students will evaluate the prospects for biofuels in the context of climate change and the world energy market. Participants will first review climate change assessments and the relationship of climate change to world energy markets, and will then examine the potential role of biofuels in reducing carbon emissions. Issues to be addressed include the potential effects of biofuels on food security and on natural resource sustainability, and a comparison of biofuel subsidies versus carbon taxes in mitigating climate change. Participants will be expected to research and report on scientific studies, and to learn and utilize various approaches to cost-benefit evaluation of public policies. Our goal is not to resolve the difficult questions raised above, but help students to sharpen their ability to analyze them and perhaps to more effectively advocate world-saving choices.