Public Health and Justice: The Environmental and Social Costs of Coal

Energy and Health: Policy Pitfalls and Possibilities

This event will provide a top-level discussion about the benefits and tradeoffs of energy policy choices, focusing on health-related impacts. This will be a discussion that provides the language to interpret Omaha’s energy policy decisions from a national perspective and compare our benefits/costs with others.

Participants

Moderator/Discussant: Dr. Ryan Wishart (Asst. Professor of Sociology, Creighton University)

Discussant: Dr. Jonathan Buonocore (Asst. Professor of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health)

Discussion Topics

Dr. Ryan Wishart will provide a Nebraska view, emphasizing the particularities of public power, the influence of climate change and data centers, and unique costs being imposed by the North Omaha Station, which continues to burn coal as a fuel source.

Dr. Jonathan Buonocore is a national expert in evaluating the impacts, benefits, and tradeoffs of technology and policy choices in energy and climate change mitigation and adaptation. His recent work focuses on populations living near fossil fuel energy infrastructure across the supply chain and its implications for an equitable energy transition.

This event is open to the public.

Views expressed at this event do not necessarily reflect those of Creighton University.

Location: Creighton University - Harper Center Auditorium (NE corner of the Harper Building, with main entrances at the SW corner

Parking available: Lot G5(parking garage south of the Harper Building, 20th and Cass St)

Remote Options available: Link to EventBrite remote option.

Background: Omaha Public Power's proposed delay for the closure of the North Omaha Station motivated intense public discussion in late 2025 about the shifting landscape of energy production and transmission, its human health costs, and the environmental justice burden this decision would impose on north Omaha communities. Two events at Creighton foregrounded those concerns. An October 29 panel discussion focused on the influence of AI and data center construction and took place as news of the OPPD decision emerged; and a second, virtual panel in December focused on public health and reliability concerns which OPPD used to justify their position. The OPPD board of directors ultimately voted to delay decommissioning the coal-fired units until at least 2028.

Purpose: Creighton’s Office of Sustainability will build on this earlier discussion and host two, interrelated events in Spring 2026.

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Host or Publisher Creighton Office of Sustainability Programs