Environment

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.

Latest

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 ...
Read More

NGA Co-hosts Meeting with U.S. DOE on Nuclear Weapons Waste Cleanup

Domestic cleanup of legacy defense nuclear waste and contamination from activities during World War II and the Cold War comprises the largest environmental cleanup project in the world, involving 107 ...
Read More

Twenty-First Annual Intergovernmental Meeting on Nuclear Weapons Waste Cleanup

The National Governors Association, NGA, and five other groups hosted the 21st annual Intergovernmental Meeting with the U.S. Department of Energy on Nuclear Weapons Waste Cleanup from November 30 - ...
Read More

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 ...
Read More

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 ...
Read More

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 ...
Read More

Meet the Team

Jessica Rackley, Program Director
Bevin Buchheister, Senior Policy Analyst
Evan Blankenberger, Policy Analyst

Projects

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

Wastewater Testing to Track and Respond to COVID-19

State review of how wastewater COVID-19 surveillance programs are organized, deployed, and funded and how they plan to use the data to inform their response to COVID-19. Nov 4, 2020 02:00 PM Wastewater testing has been ...
Read More

Governors Leading on Energy Transitions: An Overview of State Energy Goals

This paper provides an overview of current Governor leadership on advancing clean energy. (View/Download) Introduction Governors are leading on incentivizing and investing in clean energy. As of this writing, 30 ...
Read More

State Resilience Assessment and Planning Tool

The State Resilience Assessment and Planning Tool was created to help Governors and their staffs assess state resilience, identify gaps, and plan for natural and man-made disasters. Background | Vision/Goals ...
Read More

Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities

This webinar highlights state energy and infrastructure resilience solutions and funding opportunities through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant program. 29 September 2020 Between ...
Read More