Gov. Jim Pillen has signed a bill into law that merges two state agencies into one.

During a news conference at the Capitol on Wednesday, Pillen signed LB 317 that brought an end to the departments of Environment and Energy, and Natural Resources; and created the Department of Water, Energy and Environment.

Pillen said the new agency will focus on education and innovation, rather than regulation.

“I’m a farmer. And we don’t want to admit that we messed up; but we did,” Pillen said. We’ve overapplied fertilizer. We’ve overapplied water. And we drove nitrates down into the ground and we have nitrates in the groundwater.

“It’s time we stopped talking about it. It’s time that we implement science and technology and educate all farmers in Nebraska, so that we fix the problem and start having measurable, breakthrough results.”

The man who led both the NEE and NDNR, Jesse Bradley will be the director of the new organization.