EPA for State and Local Governments

This page is designed to help State and Local Officials find information on EPA's Web site.

On this page:

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

BIL Resources

Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)

IRA Resources

Grants and Financial Assistance for State and Local Governments

  • The Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program offers grants to fund innovative ways for local governments to create collaborative partnerships to reduce toxic pollution in their local environment, and to minimize people's exposure to toxic pollutants.

  • The Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB) is an independent board that provides advice and recommendations to EPA's Administrator on how to leverage public and private resources to pay for the growing costs of environmental protection and increase investment in environmental infrastructure.

  • Environmental Finance Center Network: Environmental goals cannot be met without financing, which is essential to implementing state and local programs. Knowledge about how to fund these programs is often limited, especially at the local level. EPA sponsors Environmental Finance Centers (EFCs) at universities around the nation. They provide state and local officials and small businesses with advisory services; education, publications, and training; technical assistance; and analyses on financing alternatives.

  • General grants information

  • The Guidebook of Financial Tools: Paying for Sustainable Environmental Systems is a publication that is composed of over 300 tools covering a wide range of approaches that assist public and private sector parties in finding the most appropriate ways to finance their environmental protection needs.

  • Performance Partnership Grants (PPGs): With PPGs, states (and tribes) can reduce administrative costs through streamlined paperwork and accounting procedures; direct EPA grant funds to priority environmental problems or program needs; and try multi-media approaches and initiatives that were difficult to fund under traditional categorical grants.

  • Pollution prevention (P2) grants: This Web site provides information on matching funds to state and tribal programs to support P2 activities across all environmental media and to develop state P2 programs.

  • Pollution prevention and toxics grants and funding: Find information on sources of funding for pollution prevention and other projects.

  • State Grant Measures Template: EPA developed a standardized template for states to use in reporting results achieved under grant agreements with EPA, in response to OMB's request.

  • The State Innovation Grant Program provides funds and technical assistance to state environmental agencies to improve permit compliance and integrate voluntary stewardship approaches.

Air and Radiation

  • Air quality monitoring: Through AIRNow, EPA, other federal agencies, news media, tribal, state, and local agencies work together to report conditions for ozone and particle pollution.

  • Air quality standards:

    • The Air Quality System (AQS) contains ambient air pollution data collected by EPA, state, local, and tribal air pollution control agencies from over thousands of monitors.  AQS also contains meteorological data, descriptive information about each monitoring station (including its

    • National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS): The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six principal pollutants, called "criteria pollutants," that are common in outdoor air, considered harmful to public health and the environment, and that come from numerous and diverse sources.  The Clean Air Act requires EPA to review the standards – and the science behind them – periodically to determine whether changes are warranted. Learn more about EPA's NAAQS review process.

    • Hazardous air pollutants: Hazardous air pollutants are those known to cause cancer and other serious health impacts.  The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to regulate hazardous air pollutants, also known as air toxics, from categories of industrial facilities. Learn more about hazardous air pollutants.

  • Indoor air: The IAQ Tools for Schools Program is a comprehensive resource to help schools maintain a healthy environment in school buildings by identifying, correcting, and preventing IAQ problems.

  • Market-based regulatory programs ("cap and trade"): Provides tools for states and regions to obtain information on EPA's acid rain, NOx, and other cap and trade programs, and to learn more about the requirements the regulated community must meet.

  • Radiation:
    • Protective Action Guides help state and local authorities make radiation protection decisions during emergencies.
    • Rad Net - Tracking Environmental Radiation Nationwide: RadNet is a national network of monitoring stations that regularly collect air, precipitation, drinking water, and milk samples for analysis of radioactivity. The RadNet network, which has stations in each state, has been used to track environmental releases of radioactivity from nuclear weapons tests and nuclear accidents.

  • Radon: Under the State Indoor Radon Grant Program, states and tribes receive grant funds from EPA that help finance radon risk reduction programs

Climate Change

  • State and Local Climate and Energy Program: This program provides technical assistance, peer exchange opportunities, analytical tools, and outreach support to state, local, and tribal governments. Using these resources, state and local governments can develop policies and programs that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower energy costs, improve air quality and public health, and help achieve economic development goals

  • Climate Adaptation: EPA helps the nation anticipate, prepare for, adapt to, and recover from the impacts of climate change. The Adaptation Resource Center (ARC-x) offers tailored searches to assess local risks, analyze response strategies and locate funding.

    • Smart Growth: The Smart Growth Technical Assistance program provides support to state and local governments for strategies like compact development and land use policies provide the co-benefits of better air and water quality, lower energy bills and new economic opportunities. 

    • Flooding and Utilities: On the coasts, EPA collaborates with communities on vulnerability assessments and adaptation strategies. For inland communities, case studies are available on stormwater, erosion, sedimentation and algal blooms.

    • Heat Islands: Dense areas with little greenery and extensive paved surfaces can become dangerously hot. The Community Actions Database provides communities with a range of voluntary and mandatory cooling strategies. 

  • Climate Mitigation: Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can slow climate change. The Emissions Inventory System tracks facility data, while the Quantified Climate Action Measures Directory helps leaders compare the impact of reduction approaches.

  • Climate Leaders: Climate Leaders is an EPA industry-government partnership that works with companies to develop comprehensive climate change strategies. Partner companies commit to reducing their impact on the global environment by completing a corporate-wide inventory of their greenhouse gas emissions based on a quality management system, setting aggressive reduction goals, and annually reporting their progress to EPA.

  • Methane reduction partnerships: U.S. industries along with state and local governments collaborate with EPA to implement several voluntary programs that promote profitable opportunities for reducing emissions of methane, an important greenhouse gas.

    • AgSTAR: encourages the use of methane recovery (biogas) technologies at the confined animal feeding operations that manage manure as liquids or slurries.
    • Coalbed Methane Outreach Program (CMOP): By working cooperatively with coal companies and related industries, CMOP helps to address barriers to using CMM instead of emitting it to the atmosphere.
    • Natural Gas STAR Program: Encourages oil and natural gas companies-both domestically and abroad-to adopt cost-effective technologies and practices that improve operational efficiency and reduce emissions of methane.
    • Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP): By preventing emissions of methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) through the development of landfill gas energy projects, LMOP helps businesses, states, energy providers, and communities protect the environment.
       

Complying with and Enforcing Environmental Laws

  • EPA and state governments working together on compliance and enforcement: EPA works closely with the states to implement federal environmental programs. States authorized to manage federal programs must have enforcement authorities that are at least as stringent as federal law. EPA works with officials in state environmental, health and agricultural agencies on strategic planning, priority-setting and measurement of results.

  • Local government organizations must comply with federal drinking water, storm water, waste water and solid waste regulations. Learn more about how to comply.

Emergency Management

  • Local Governments Reimbursement Program: In the event of a release (or threatened release) of hazardous substances, EPA may reimburse local governments for expenses related to the release and associated emergency response measures. The Local Governments Reimbursement (LGR) Program provides a "safety net" of up to $25,000 per incident to local governments that do not have funds available to pay for response actions. Learn whether you are eligible, what the requirements for reimbursement are, and how to apply for reimbursement.

  • State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) Contacts | What are SERCs?

Energy Efficiency and Resource Conservation

Environmental Justice

EJ Grants, Funding, and Technical Assistance

  • Environmental Justice Grants - The Environmental and Climate Justice (ECJ) Program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act,  provides funding for financial and technical assistance to carry out environmental and climate justice activities to benefit underserved and overburdened communities. Congress has appropriated $2.8 billion for financial assistance, and $200 million for technical assistance, to implement this new program at the EPA.  Learn more about the ECJ Program and Upcoming Engagement Opportunities. 
  • EJScreen Tool - EJScreen is an EPA's environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides EPA with a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic socioeconomic indicators. EJScreen users choose a geographic area; the tool then provides demographic socioeconomic and environmental information for that area. All of the EJScreen indicators are publicly-available data. EJScreen simply provides a way to display this information and includes a method for combining environmental and demographic indicators into EJ indexes. Launch the EJScreen Tool.
  • The Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program - The new Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking (EJ TCGM) Program is a competition to select multiple Grantmakers around the nation to reduce barriers to the application process communities face and increase the efficiency of the awards process for environmental justice grants. Grantmakers will design competitive application and submission processes, award environmental justice subgrants, implement a tracking and reporting system, provide resources and support to communities, all in collaboration with EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. Learn more about the EJ TCGM program
  • Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (EJ TCTACs) - EPA's new EJ Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers Program will establish technical assistance centers across the nation providing technical assistance, training, and related support to communities with environmental justice concerns and their partners. The services provided will include training and assistance on writing grant proposals, navigating federal systems such as Grants.gov and SAM.gov, effectively managing grant funds, community engagement, meeting facilitation, and translation and interpretation services for limited English-speaking participants. Learn more about the  Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (EJ TCTAC) Program.
  • Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) Program -  EPA's EJ Small Grants Program supports and empowers communities working on solutions to local environmental and public health issues. The program is designed to help communities understand and address exposure to multiple environmental harms and risks. For information on grant-writing, make sure to check out these federal grant resources. Learn more about the Environmental Justice Small Grants Program.

Hazardous and Solid Waste Cleanup

Municipal Ombudsman

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Municipal Ombudsman is an independent, impartial, and confidential resource to assist municipalities in navigating Clean Water – including support in identifying sources of technical assistance, federal funding, integrated planning assistance, and more. The Municipal Ombudsman also serves internally as a liaison across the agency, advocates for fair processes, provides an impartial perspective/acts in an advisory capacity on Agency activities, and helps to promote innovative Agency policies. 

Additionally, the Municipal Ombudsman serves as a resource for communities seeking to comply with the Clean Water Act and works directly with Agency leadership and appropriate offices at headquarters and regional offices. Consistent with the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act (pdf), the Municipal Ombudsman will coordinate with the appropriate EPA offices to assist communities in navigating EPA resources.  Specific resources include:

Learn more about the Municipal Ombudsman.

Preparing for Natural Disasters

  • Natural Disasters and Weather Emergencies: Links and suggestions for planning ahead to help reduce cleanup costs and risks of contamination (from chemicals, raw sewage, emergency response materials) caused by large-scale or violent events such as floods, hurricanes, or other natural events.
    • Hurricane activities for water and wastewater facilities: Information that can help plants plan for and recover from emergencies and storms (applies to more than just hurricanes).
    • Mold: Investigating and cleanup of mold after a flood, for commercial buildings and schools, and health information.
    • Droughts and water conservation: Ideas and links for schools, communities, and utilities can use water more efficiently and reduce load on local water supplies.
    • De-icing and winter storms: Information about proper storage, use, and reducing environmental impacts for municipalities and airports.
    • Disaster Debris: Plan ahead for potential large volumes and high costs of debris and waste after a storm. Typical methods of recycling or solid waste disposal in sanitary landfills often cannot be applied to disaster debris because of the large volume of waste, and burning prohibitions.
    • Community-Based Water Resiliency: Communities can plan ahead to reduce risks to water infrastructure from natural disasters or security threats. 
  • Public Service Announcements: Short messages and transcripts free to download and play on radio stations or Web sites.
  • en español: Desastres naturales y emergencias climáticos

Performance and Accountability

  • National Program Managers (NPM) guidance documents are issued from EPA's five major national programs (Air and Radiation; Water; Solid Waste and Emergency Response; Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances; and Enforcement and Compliance Assurance) and provide EPA Regional offices, states and tribes with guidance on specific priorities and implementation strategies for the coming year.

  • Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement at the EPA: Learn more about how EPA assesses performance in environmental programs.

  • National Environmental Performance Partnership (NEPPS): NEPPS is a performance-based system of environmental protection designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of EPA partnerships with states, territories, and tribes. By focusing resources on the most pressing environmental problems and taking advantage of the unique capacities of each partner, performance partnerships can help achieve the greatest environmental and human health protection.

Pesticides

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

U.S. State Resources about PFAS

PFAS Resources, Data, and Tools

  • PFAS Strategic Roadmap: EPA's Commitments to Action 2021-2024 - On October 18, 2021, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan announced the Agency’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap—laying out a whole-of-agency approach to addressing PFAS. The roadmap sets timelines by which EPA plans to take specific actions and commits to bolder new policies to safeguard public health, protect the environment, and hold polluters accountable. The actions described in the PFAS Roadmap each represent important and meaningful steps to safeguard communities from PFAS contamination. Cumulatively, these actions will build upon one another and lead to more enduring and protective solutions.
    • Second Annual PFAS Strategic Roadmap Progress Report - In December 2023, the EPA released its second annual report on PFAS progress.  The report highlights significant accomplishments achieved under the EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap and aligns with the Biden-Harris Administration’s all of government strategy to protect communities from the impacts of forever chemicals. Learn more about the Second Annual PFAS Roadmap Progress Report.

  • Final Rule to Enhance PFAS Toxics Release Inventory Reporting - In October 2023, EPA released a final rule that will improve reporting on PFAS to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) by eliminating an exemption that allowed facilities to avoid reporting information on PFAS when those chemicals were used in small concentrations. Under this new rule, EPA will receive more comprehensive data on PFAS and looks forward to sharing these data with our partners and the public. Learn more about the Final Rule to Enhance PFAS Toxics Release Inventory Reporting.

Reducing Pollution and Toxic Chemicals

Regulations and Reporting

  • Federalism Consultations for State and Local Governments: Consistent with E.O. 13132, Federalism, the EPA, Department of Army, and the Army Corps of Engineers consulted with state and local government officials, or their representative national organizations, while developing a revised definition of "waters of the United States." The agencies consulted due to strong interest on the part of state and local governments on this issue over the years and potential effects associated with a change in the definition of “waters of the United States”.

  • Regulatory Information by Sector: This section of the Laws, Regulations, Guidance, and Dockets site allows you to access relevant regulations and other helpful information, broken down by business sector. It also provides links to major environmental laws and proposed regulations.

  • Regulatory Information by Topic: This section of the Laws, Regulations, Guidance, and Dockets site allows you to access relevant regulatory information, broken down by environmental topic. It also provides links to several cross-cutting issues and Risk Management Plans (RMPs).

  • The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), as amended by Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA), provides small entities with an expanded opportunity to participate in the development of certain regulations. The RFA/SBREFA defines "small governmental jurisdiction" as the government of a city, county, town, school district or special district with a population of less than 50,000. EPA has an ongoing commitment to minimize the burden of our regulations on small entities to the extent we can while still meeting our statutory requirements.

  • Semiannual EPA Regulatory Agenda Information 

  • Visit Regulations.gov to comment on any EPA regulation

Transportation

  • Clean Heavy Duty Vehicle Program: The Inflation Reduction Act invests $1 billion to replace existing Class 6 and Class 7 non-zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles with zero-emission models. Through the new 2024 Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program, the EPA will improve the lives of millions of Americans by reducing pollution in neighborhoods where people live, work, play, and go to school. The program will accelerate environmental justice efforts in communities overburdened by pollution, help tackle our biggest climate challenges, and create high-quality clean energy jobs.

  • Clean School Bus Program: With funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the EPA Clean School Bus Program provides $5 billion over five years (FY 2022-2026) to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and clean school buses. To learn more about the benefits of zero-emission and clean school buses, please visit the  Benefits of Clean School Buses page.

  • Diesel Emissions Reduction Program: The Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Program funds grants and rebates that protect human health and improve air quality by reducing harmful emissions from diesel engines. 

  • State and Local Clean Fuels Program: Provides information on states that have adopted their own clean fuel programs for part or all of the state.

  • State Clean Diesel Grant Program: EPA's State Grant Program may be used to fund grant and loan programs for clean diesel projects that use:

  • State and Local Toolkit: A Guide to Building Clean Diesel Programs: The toolkit provides a broad array of tools and resources for designing, funding, and evaluating programs that reduce diesel engine emissions.

  • State and local transportation resources/conformity: This Web site provides useful information, tools, and links to resources that identify emission reduction strategies, national policies, regulations, incentive-based programs, funding sources, calculators, and other types of assistance to help states and local areas achieve their air quality and transportation objectives.

Water

  • Assessments of water quality:
    • Water Data and Tools: The Water Data and Tools webpage provides resources for assessing individual waterways, safe drinking water information, and community financing tools.
    • Aquatic life benchmarks are estimates of the concentrations below which pesticides are not expected to have the potential for adverse effects on aquatic life. States can use these benchmarks to help them target water monitoring studies and to increase the efficiency of regulatory processes for protecting aquatic environments.
       

  • Climate Ready Estuaries: The Climate Ready Estuaries webpage offers information on climate change impacts to different estuary regions, access to tools and resources to monitor changes, and information to help managers develop adaptation plans for estuaries and coastal communities.

  • Drinking Water: The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires EPA to establish and enforce standards that public drinking water systems must follow. EPA delegates primary enforcement responsibility (also called primacy) for public water systems to states and Indian Tribes if they meet certain requirements.

  • Polluted runoff (nonpoint source pollution, or NPS):

  • Water efficiency: EPA's WaterSense partnership makes it easy for Americans to save water and protect the environment. Consumers can look for the WaterSense label to choose quality, water-efficient products. WaterSense also provides resources for promotional partners, like utilities, state and local governments, who want to establish water efficiency measures. Through water conservation, state and local governments can reduce water and wastewater infrastructure costs while protecting vital resources for future generation.

  • Watersheds:

  • Wetlands: State and local wetlands initiatives; financial assistance; and watershed planning

Resources for State and Local Governments

  • State-specific regulatory information: learn about plans, programs, and designations developed by your state or locality as required by federal regulations (e.g., your state's implementation plan under the Clean Air Act); complete listings of state and Federal regulations impacting selected environmental topics along with individual state contacts, information, and permits for downloading.

EPA Regional offices

EPA news:

Partnerships

State and Local Partners

Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations

Contact Us About Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations
Contact Us to ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem.
Last updated on November 18, 2024