 The National Governors' Association NGA NGA is the only bipartisan national organization of, by, and for the nation's Governors. Its members are the Governors of the fifty states, the commonwealths of the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.
NGA was founded in 1908 after the Governors met with President Theodore Roosevelt to discuss conservation issues. The NGA Center for Best Practices is a 501(c) 3 corporation that is governed by a board of four Governors who report to NGA’s Executive Committee. The board recommends Center priorities, provides direction to Center projects, and approves the Center’s annual budget.
NGA's Long-Term Stewardship Projects and Activities
Since 1993, the NGA Center for Best Practices has been working with states hosting weapons production and research facilities to aid them in discussing and negotiating waste and disposal issues among themselves and with DOE. This work led to the successful negotiation in 1995 of approximately forty-eight cleanup agreements between states (or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and DOE. It also provides an opportunity for continuing dialogue on funding, waste treatment, nuclear materials disposition, and waste disposal options. A Task Force composed of state regulators and Governors' policy advisors guides project activities. Recognizing the importance of LTS, the Task Force established a Long-Term Stewardship Committee. The NGA Task Force divides its LTS work into projects, policy positions, and coordination activities
Products
Federal and State Statutory Issues & Long-Term Stewardship
Report on Federal & State Statutory Framework for Effective LTS. This report will examine:
- Funding mechanisms
- Federal statutory directive for LTS
- Adequacy of existing mechanisms for institutional controls (drawing on NAAG research)
- Applicability of state institutional control laws to federal agencies (again, drawing on NAAG research)
- Implementation Strategy for Report's Recommendation
Informational Products to Support LTS
- Brief documents for Governors on key issues and best practices, including financing for LTS
- Tracking LTS activities and research, including a scorecard of DOE, NGO, and academic LTS products and activities as well as an annotated bibliography;
- Maintaining this LTS website to provide consolidated source of information for states and the public;
- Compiling and summarizing information about successes and failures of institutional controls and why and how the failures could be avoided.
Policy Input
- Tracking DOE's LTS Strategic Plan process and developing consolidated state responses at the request of DOE;
- Working with NGA's Natural Resources Committee to amend or create a new NR-8 policy for review at the Winter Meeting in February 2002;
- Maintaining LTS dialogue between Governor's representatives and DOE
Liaison/Coordination
- Facilitating coordination of LTS dialogue among states and state and local government organizations (NAAG, ECOS, STGWG, ECA, ICMA, etc.) through conference calls, e-mails and, when appropriate, coordinating meeting times and locations.
- Maintaining this LTS website
NAAG's Long-Term Stewardship Projects and Activities
Products
Legal Handbook of Institutional Controls
NAAG is working on a state-by-state analysis of statutory and common law in each of the states, designed to evaluate whether existing mechanisms could be used to impose effective and enforceable institutional controls. The handbook will include a general discussion of the common law in this area, the state-by-state breakdown- charts and textual material and probably a discussion of the legal issues surrounding transfer of federal properties.
In-Depth Analysis of State Authorities for Institutional Controls
In conjunction with ELI, NAAG is working on a detailed review of legal authorities and processes that govern institutional controls at three sites. The ELI analysis will be a detailed investigation of the state laws that affect land-use restrictions at the sites. For instance, the analysis will look at zoning laws, state laws related to building codes, groundwater laws, public health laws, and mining laws that might be used to restrict certain types of uses. NAAG expects to contribute state law research and analysis, descriptions of environmental regulation by the state and general review of other facets of the in-depth analysis.
Review of Barriers to Federal Transfer of Land-Use Rights
NAAG expects to produce legal research related to the legal and policy issues on this point, but has not decided what format to use for making the research available to the larger community. There may be a published colloquium, a law review style paper, or possibly a conference among the various knowledgeable parties.
Policy Input
Federal Facility Policy Review
NAAG's membership routinely develops resolutions reflecting the sense of the group on topical issues. Over the years NAAG has issued various resolutions touching on interpretations of law at federal facilities, policies toward federal facilities and cleanup at federal facilities. NAAG intends to summarize and analyze its federal facilities resolutions to allow the membership to adopt a consolidated and current resolution, if appropriate.
"Top to Bottom" Review Feedback
NAAG will provide feedback to DOE as the ongoing systemwide review proceeds, including those aspects of it that concern long-term stewardship.
Liaison/Coordination
Ongoing Interaction
NAAG engages in continuing communication and coordination activities with the Department and other non-governmental organizations, including other state organizations. The activities meetings, exchange of documents, conference calls, and so forth include long-term stewardship issues as they arise.
Download print version of LTS Project Summaries
Download print version of project summaries of LTS activities being conducted by the following organizations:
NGA -- National Governors' Association
NAAG -- National Association of Attorneys General
ECS -- Environmental Council of the States
ECA -- Energy Communities Alliance, and
STGWG -- State and Tribal Government Working Group
Adobe PDF File
Related Information
NGA Federal Facilities Task Force Collective Message to DOE - April 11, 2001
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