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

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

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

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

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

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

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 ...

Jessica Rackley, Program Director
Henry Ashley, Policy Coordinator

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

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.

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.

Electric Vehicles

Governors are leading the charge on electric and alternative fuel vehicles. As states and territories look to implement the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and expand electric and alternative ...

Spring 2022 Meeting of Federal Facilities Task Force

The Federal Facilities Task Force (FFTF) held its 2022 Spring Meeting on April 26-27 in Carlsbad, New Mexico. On the first day of the meeting, FFTF Members toured the Waste ...

Governors Start 2022 With A Focus On Electric And Alternative Fuel Vehicles And Networks

In Governors’ 2022 State of the State addresses, a common theme has been the adoption and manufacture of electric and alternative fuel vehicles and fueling/charging infrastructure as a priority area ...

Leveraging Historic Federal Water Infrastructure Funding to Meet Governors’ Water Priorities

With passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Governors can make a transformational investment in stormwater infrastructure and provide more assistance to overburdened communities. by Jessica Rackley and Bevin ...

Balancing Stormwater Infrastructure Costs

How Governors & States Can Equitably Address Stormwater Funding (Download) Background States and local jurisdictions are facing dual challenges of upgrading older stormwater infrastructure (storm sewers, ditches, and flood control ...

Leveraging State Revolving Funds for Green Infrastructure Projects

States have an opportunity to use State Revolving Funds (SRF’s) to invest in nature-based infrastructure to improve water quality, mitigate flood risks, and improve the health of people and ecosystems ...

Relationships and Roles within Regulatory Frameworks for Nuclear Waste Cleanup

This webinar introduces attendees to the legal nature, interrelationships between, and designated authorities’ roles under several regulatory frameworks, and explains how different wastes and cleanup processes fall within the purview ...

2021 Spring Meeting of the Federal Facilities Task Force

Virtual Meeting | June 21 and 25, 2021 The 2021 Spring Meeting of the Federal Facilities Task Force (FFTF) provided members of the FFTF with an opportunity to meet with ...

Examining the Science and Policies to Protect Human Health and Water Quality from Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

NGA and the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues (AAAS EPI Center) hosted two free virtual sessions examining Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances ...