Environment

States serve as environmental stewards through their roles in managing state parks and forests, outdoor recreation facilities, energy production and distribution, water resources, waste management, and the elimination of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other forever chemicals. States also directly affect natural resources through their preservation and conservation strategies. To be effective environmental stewards, states must seek to balance efforts to maintain a healthy environment with efforts to develop and utilize natural resources.

Latest

Congressional Briefing on Environmental Protection

Congressional Briefing on Environmental Protection

On April 10, 2024, NGA’s Economic Development and Revitalization Task Force and the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) hosted a Congressional briefing to educate Congressional staff, Administration officials, and ...
Leveraging Outdoor Assets in the Travel, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation Sectors

Leveraging Outdoor Assets in the Travel, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation Sectors

On Wednesday, December 13th NGA hosted its fourth and final webinar in a four-part series highlighting innovative and replicable projects that are funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Travel, ...
Advancing Equity in the Travel, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation Sectors

Advancing Equity in the Travel, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation Sectors

On Wednesday, September 27th NGA hosted its third webinar in a four-part series highlighting innovative and replicable projects that are funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Travel, Tourism and ...
Governors Urge Congress to Address Water Infrastructure Funding Cuts

Governors Urge Congress to Address Water Infrastructure Funding Cuts

The Co-Chairs of the National Governors Association's Economic Development and Revitalization Task Force wrote a letter to Congressional leaders urging them to mitigate further funding cuts to water infrastructure projects ...
Innovative Workforce Development Programs for the Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Sectors

Innovative Workforce Development Programs for the Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Sectors

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices held a webinar on Thursday, June 22, 1:00-2:00 EST for members of our Economic Development and Outdoor Recreation Networks to learn about ...
Cleaning Up America’s Nuclear Weapons Complex: 2023 Update for Governors

Cleaning Up America’s Nuclear Weapons Complex: 2023 Update for Governors

Since the 1992 enactment of the Federal Facilities Compliance Act, the U.S. Department of Energy Office and states have worked together to clean up the nuclear weapons complex. (Download) Executive ...

Meet the Team

Projects

Outdoor Recreation Learning Network

The NGA Outdoor Recreation Learning Network and Economic Policy teams are working with state recreation and economic policy networks and the Oregon State University’s Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy (CORE) to gather and analyze data in order to study the effectiveness of Economic Development Administration Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation (TTOR) grants.


Travel, Tourism And Outdoor Recreation

The NGA Outdoor Recreation Learning Network and Economic Policy teams are working with state recreation and economic policy networks and the Oregon State University’s Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy (CORE) to gather and analyze data in order to study the effectiveness of Economic Development Administration Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation (TTOR) grants.


State Energy Toolkit

The toolkit offers ideas to help governors respond to trends as they take action in their states in four areas — energy efficiency, clean energy, transportation electrification, and cyber and physical protection.


Federal Facilities Task Force

The mission of the FFTF is to bring together governor-designated representatives with U.S. Department of Energy officials to examine critical technical, policy and budget issues and improve coordination of major program decisions on a range of issues related to radioactive material and waste.


Related


NGA Resources

States serve as environmental stewards through their roles in managing state parks and forests, energy production and distribution, wildlife protection, land use and waste management. States also directly affect natural resources through their preservation and conservation strategies. To be effective environmental stewards, states must seek to balance efforts to maintain a healthy environment with efforts to develop and utilize natural resources.

Aligning Energy Efficiency and Demand Response to Lower Peak Electricity Demand, Reduce Costs and Address Reliability Concerns

States across the country are confronting a shift to a “peakier” pattern in the use of electricity—meaning the highest levels of daily demand increasingly are greater than the average level ...

Wildfire Suppression Funding

The Honorable Lisa Murkowski U.S. Senate SH-709 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Maria Cantwell U.S. Senate SH-511 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Chairman ...

Governors Advance Strategies to Improve Energy Efficiency

WASHINGTON—The National Governors Association (NGA) announced today the selection of four states, Alaska, Michigan, New Hampshire and Virginia, to participate in policy retreats to advance new targeted energy-efficiency strategies. Energy efficiency, one of the lowest ...

Starting a C-PACE Program: What You Need to Know

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) hosted the first in a series of three webinars designed to provide governors’ advisors with information and best practices surrounding ...

States Make Progress On Radioactive Waste Cleanup Efforts

WASHINGTON—Governors play a crucial role in cleaning up the radioactive waste generated from America’s nuclear weapons production, an endeavor that amounts to more than $340 billion and could stretch well ...

Cleaning Up America’s Nuclear Weapons Complex: 2015 Update for Governors

Governors play an important role in the nuclear cleanup effort by ensuring that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), their partner in overseeing the cleanup, adopts responsible disposal decisions that ...

TSCA Reform

The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Harry Reid Minority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Paul Ryan Speaker U.S. House of ...

Fire Borrowing

The Honorable Paul Ryan Speaker U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Minority Leader U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority ...

Land and Water Conservation Fund Reauthorization

The Honorable Lisa Murkowski Chairman Committee on Energy and Natural Resources United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Maria Cantwell Ranking Member Committee on Energy and Natural Resources United ...