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.

2018 Annual Water Policy Institute

September 11 - 12 | San Francisco, California The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) hosted the 2018 Annual Water Policy Institute in San Francisco, California. This ...

Urging Action on Critical Programs Set to Expire

Letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urging action on critical programs set ...

In-State Water Energy Nexus Retreat

August 3 | St. Paul, MN The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) hosted the second Water Energy Nexus in State Retreat for the state of Minnesota ...

NGA Selects States for New Smarter States, Smarter Communities Learning Lab

WASHINGTON—The National Governors Association (NGA) has selected Colorado, New Jersey, Nevada, North Dakota and Virginia to participate in the NGA Center for Best Practices’ Smarter States, Smarter Communities Learning Lab ...

Governor Sandoval releases podcasts as part of NGA Chair’s initiative

Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada, the 2017-2018 NGA Chair, has released two new podcasts related to his chair's initiative, Ahead of the Curve: Innovation Governors. The initiative is examining technology transformation ...

Meeting of the Federal Facilities Task Force: Summer Meeting 2018

June 26 – 28, 2018 | Idaho Falls, ID The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices’ (NGA Center) Federal Facilities Task Force (FFTF) held its 2018 Summer Meeting on ...

Increasing Consistency and Transparency in Considering Costs and Benefits in the Rulemaking Process – Comment Period Extension and Public Hearings Request

Letter (from the National Governors Association, Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, National Association of Clean Air Agencies, Association of Clean Water Administrators, Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies, Environmental ...

Energy Resilience for Water & Wastewater Systems

Water and wastewater systems are highly dependent on reliable supplies of electricity. Long duration power outages can interrupt water supplies, leading to adverse health impacts and lost economic activity. Speakers ...

Governors’ Advisors’ Energy Policy Institute

June 12 – 13 | Washington, D.C The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) held its annual Governors' Advisors Energy Policy Institute June 12 – 13, 2018, ...