Ricketts discusses pot, economy, EPA during Sidney visit

Gov. Pete Ricketts visited Sidney last week during a tour of Western Nebraska for a series of town halls.

After a meeting at Cabela's, Ricketts stopped by the Sidney Sun-Telegraph office for an exclusive sit down to discuss the past legislative session, current issues facing the state and upcoming hurdles in the future.

To a question about the challenges communities near the Colorado boarder face enforcing marijuana laws, the governor said Nebraska is currently involved in a lawsuit against Colorado for its legalization of the recreational use of the drug.

"The solution is really to end it," he said. "And that's what we're pursuing."

Marijuana is considered a Schedule 1 drug by the federal government and that should trump Colorado's laws, he said.

"I absolutely support stronger sentencing laws with regard to violations as well," he said, "but ultimately, the way to really address this is to get the United States government to enforce the law and tell Colorado they can't do what they did."

Ricketts said he has spoken with Cheyenne County Sheriff John Jenson about the increase in drug trafficking and violent crimes.

"This is where I think the solution is not to find more money to deal with it, but to get the problem at the root," the governor said. "Which is the problem Colorado is creating by breaking the law."

Regarding recent acts put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency, Ricketts said the directives would aversely affect Nebraska and its residents.

"On Waters of the U.S., what the EPA is going is trying to vastly expand their power," he said.

The act expands the agency's oversight of waterways to include tributaries to downstream rivers.

Ricketts said that would include roadside ditches and ponds.

"Going forward, it is hugely detrimental to all of Nebraska," he said

New EPA regulations for existing power plants would also hurt the economy of the state, he explained.

"They know they've put us in a no-win situation," he said of the EPA.

If the rules are allowed to go forward, they'd raise rates in Nebraska.

"And who's that going to hurt?" he asked. "Our middle class."

Historically, states have always been the ones to decide what mix of renewable and non-renewable resources are used to provide power to their residents.

"Our power plants and power utilities are making progress to moving toward renewables and sources of energy that don't have a carbon footprint," he said.

The governor also reflected upon the legislative session that ended earlier this year. There were 243 bills forwarded by the Legislature that he signed, he said.

"With the vast majority, we were able to come to a compromise on," Ricketts said.

One issue, however, that the governor and Legislature did not agree upon was the repeal of the death penalty. The Legislature overrode a veto on the matter.

"I believe the Legislature was absolutely out of touch with the vast majority of Nebraskans when it came to overriding my veto," he said.

The death penalty is important tool for public safety, Ricketts said.

"Nobody wants to execute people," the governor explained. "Nebraskans don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. But the fact of the matter is we live in a world where we have dangerous criminals."

The death penalty provides a means to protect the people who protect us, he said.

"And the vast majority of Nebraskans I've talked to believe it, too," Ricketts said. "And I believe Nebraskans ought to have the ability to vote on it."

Looking to the future, the governor said the biggest issue facing the state is to continue growing the population.

"We need to keep our kids here, and we need to attract people from across the county to come here," he said.

Becoming more competitive on taxes, reducing taxes and increasing educational resources are all steps in that process, Ricketts said.

"All those help us grow," he added.

Most importantly, though, the people in Nebraska are the state's greatest assets, he said.

"We just need to get out of the way of our people," the governor said.