EPA for State and Local Governments

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

• Grants and financial assistance support
• Air quality and radiation
• Climate
• Complying with and enforcing environmental laws
• Emergency management
• Energy efficiency and responsible resource management
• Hazardous and solid waste cleanup
• Municipal Ombudsman
• Preparing for natural disasters
• Performance and accountability
• Pesticides
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
• Reducing pollution and toxic chemicals
• Regulations and reporting
• Transportation
• Water

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Grants and Financial Assistance

• Finding funding

  • Main EPA webpage for grants: EPA awards more than $4 billion in funding for grants and other assistance agreements. Find out what is available, how to apply, and more.

  • EPA sponsors Environmental Finance Centers (EFCs) at universities around the nation that work with state and local officials, as well as small businesses, to provide technical assistance and resources.

  • The Guidebook of Financial Tools: Paying for Sustainable Environmental Systems provides more than 300 tools to assist public and private sector parties in finding the most appropriate ways to finance their environmental protection needs.

  • Performance Partnership Grants (PPGs) allow states (and tribes) to address complex, multi-media environmental issues through reduced accounting procedures and paperwork.

  • Pollution prevention (P2) grants provide matching funds to state and tribal programs to support activities across all environmental media and to develop state P2 programs.

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

• Grants reporting: EPA developed a standardized state grant measures template for reporting results achieved under EPA grant agreements.

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Air Quality and Radiation

• Air quality monitoring: AIRNow unites various stakeholders (EPA, federal agencies, news, tribal, state, and local agencies) to report conditions for ozone and particulate pollution.

• Air quality standards

  • The Air Quality System (AQS): Data from ambient air pollution is gathered from thousands of monitors across the country every day. Enter any zip code to find data about your community.

  • Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is required to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six criteria pollutants: ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, lead, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. These pollutants are common in outdoor air and can be harmful to public health and the environment. EPA works with states to monitor pollution, identify areas not meeting standards, and develop plans to remediate.

  • Hazardous air pollutants: Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) are those known to cause cancer and other serious health impacts. The Clean Air Act requires EPA monitor air quality and use the data to regulate HAPs from factories, refineries, boilers, and power plants.

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

• 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.

• Radiation
  • Protective Action Guides help state and local authorities make decisions about protecting residents from radiation during emergencies.
  • Rad Net - Tracking Environmental Radiation Nationwide is a national network of monitoring stations that track releases of radioactive materials by collecting air, precipitation, drinking water, and milk samples.
     

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

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Climate

• Guides to funding and developing programs

  • EPA's Local Government Advisory Committee created this guide for local governments who want a quick overview of available resources to address climate impacts in their community. LGAC Climate Links (pdf) (1.07 MB) , print and share!

  • EPA's State and Local Climate and Energy Program provides technical assistance to state, local, and tribal governments who want to develop policies and programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower energy costs, improve air quality and public health, and help achieve economic development goals.

• Climate Adaptation

  • The Climate Resilience and Adaptation Funding Toolbox contains resources to help EPA’s funding applicants and recipients make climate-informed investments.

  • The Adaptation Resource Center (ARC-x) offers tailored searches to assess local risks, analyze response strategies and locate funding.

  • 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.

  • Buildings: The Benchmarking and Building Performance Standards Policy Toolkit helps communities reduce GHG emissions from existing buildings.

  • Clean Energy: The Find Your Tool database helps local governments choose tools to assess the environmental and economic impacts of electrification initiatives. The AVoided Emissions and geneRation Tool (AVERT) estimates county level emissions reductions and CO-Benefits Risk Assessment Health Impacts Screening and Mapping Tool (COBRA) compares health benefits and program costs of energy policies.

  • Transportation: EPA provides resources for local governments to reduce transportation footprints, like policy guidance, travel efficiency strategies, and tools to measure their impact.

  • Wildfire: EPA's Smoke-Ready Toolbox provides local governments with tools to reduce health risks before a fire arrives, and educate residents about smoke exposure.

• Climate partnerships

  • 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.
       

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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, wastewater and solid waste regulations. Learn more about how to comply.

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Emergency management

• The Local Governments Reimbursement Program provides a "safety net" of up to $25,000 per incident to local governments in the event of a release (or threatened release) of hazardous substances. 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?

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Energy Efficiency and Responsible Resource Management

• Combined Heat and Power Partnership: The CHP Partnership is a voluntary program seeking to reduce the environmental impact of power generation by promoting the use of combined heat and power (CHP) - an efficient, clean, and reliable approach to generating power and thermal energy from a single fuel source.

• Energy Star for Government: Provides local and state governments, as well as federal agencies, a proven energy management strategy and no-cost tools to save energy and money.

• EPA supports green building, the practice of using construction processes and structures that are resource-efficient and environmentally responsible throughout the building's life cycle.

  • The Sustainable Design and Green Building Toolkit for Local Governments (pdf) provides an assessment tool, resource guide and action plan for communities that wish to save resources by promoting sustainable building practices.

  • Download the assessment portion of the Green Building Toolkit in spreadsheet format (.xls) to aid in completing the assessment and generating charts and graphs of the results.

• EPA supports Green Communities with a web-based toolkit and planning guide designed to help communities access the tools and information to help them become more sustainable.
• The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages state governments and other organizations to buy green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with purchased electricity use.
  • EPA Green Power Communities
  • Top 30 Local Government List
     

• Recycling: Tools that states and local governments can use to promote resource conservation and recycling

• Renewable energy: EPA is identifying contaminated land and mining sites that present opportunities for renewable energy development. EPA and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed maps and information about incentives for renewable energy generation on contaminated lands and mining sites in all 50 states.

• State Utility Regulation and Clean Energy: EPA provides a number of best practices and policy option resources to state utility regulators who want to explore greater use of clean energy for its economic and environmental benefits.

• 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.

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Hazardous and Solid Waste Cleanup

• Brownfields: State and tribal response programs

• Federal facilities
  • State partners that work with EPA in cleaning up federal facilities
  • Community involvement in cleanups
     

• Innovations: Land and waste innovations in your Region

• Recycling: Tools that states and local governments can use to promote resource conservation and recycling

• Renewable energy: Developing contaminated land and mining sites for renewable energy. EPA is encouraging the development of renewable energy by identifying currently and formerly contaminated lands and mining sites that present opportunities for renewable energy development. EPA and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed maps and information about incentives for renewable energy generation on contaminated lands and mining sites in all 50 states.

• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): RCRA gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from the "cradle-to-grave." This includes the generation, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous waste. To achieve this, EPA develops regulations, guidance and policies that ensure the safe management and cleanup of solid and hazardous waste, and programs that encourage source reduction and beneficial reuse.

• Superfund: Community Involvement in EPA's Superfund program

• Underground storage tanks (USTs)
  • Basic information about the UST program | Program overview
  • State, local, and tribal UST programs
  • Grant guidelines for state compliance reports on government USTs
     
• Wastes
  • State authorization (process through which EPA delegates the primary responsibility of implementing the RCRA hazardous waste program to individual states in lieu of EPA)
  • Policies and Guidance Documents for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) State Authorization
  • States' solid and hazardous waste Web sites

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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:

• Federal assistance opportunities
• Technical assistance
• Flexibility available under the Clean Water Act, and
• Information on integrated planning and example municipal integrated plans.

Learn more about the Municipal Ombudsman.

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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.
     
• 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

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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.

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Pesticides

• Read about the pesticide programs conducted by EPA's Regional offices, and links to state pesticide regulatory agencies
• How to comply and enforce pesticide laws and regulations
• How to register pesticides

  • EPA may allow an unregistered use of a pesticide for a limited time if EPA determines that an emergency exemption is warranted.

• How to ensure worker safety and training

• States can use aquatic life benchmarks to target water monitoring studies and increase the efficiency of regulatory processes for protecting aquatic environments.

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Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

U.S. State Resources about PFAS

PFAS Resources, Data, and Tools

• PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation: In 2024 EPA announced the final regulation for six PFAS and provided a range of resources for local and state governments including fact sheets, webinars and a communication toolkit.
• PFAS Strategic Roadmap: EPA's Commitments to Action 2021-2024 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. View the roadmap and annual progress reports.

• Final Rule to Enhance PFAS Toxics Release Inventory Reporting - In 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.

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Reducing Pollution and Toxic Chemicals

• EPA provides information and tools to understand pollution prevention and toxics and protect communities. 

  • Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) offers an innovative way for communities to organize and take action to reduce toxic pollution in their local environment and create a partnership that implements solutions to reduce releases of toxic pollutants and minimize people's exposure to them.

  • The Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program is aimed at protecting children from lead-based paint hazards and requires contractors and construction professionals that work in pre-1978 housing or child-occupied facilities to follow lead-safe work practice standards. 

• Funding for pollution prevention and toxics

  • Pollution prevention (P2) grants offer matching funds to state and tribal programs to support P2 activities across all environmental media and to develop state P2 programs.

• Specific Pollutants of Concern

  • Lead
  • PFAS
  • Ethylene Oxide
  • Dioxin
  • Asbestos

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Regulations and Reporting

• Regulatory Information by Sector: Access relevant regulations and other helpful information organized by business sector, as well as links to major environmental laws and proposed regulations.

• Regulatory Information by Topic: View regulatory information organized by environmental topic, as well as 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

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Transportation

• EPA offers funding for reducing emissions in a range of vehicles:

  • Clean Heavy Duty Vehicle Program: The Inflation Reduction Act invests $1 billion to replace existing delivery trucks, school buses, transit buses and garbage trucks (Class 6 and Class 7) with zero-emission models.

  • The 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.

  • The Diesel Emissions Reduction Program provides grants and rebates to reduce harmful emissions from diesel engines in heavy-duty highway vehicles, locomotive engines, and a range of nonroad equipment and vehicles used in construction and agriculture. 

  • 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:
    • Retrofit technologies that are verified or certified by either EPA or CARB
    • Idle-reduction technologies that are EPA verified
    • Aerodynamic technologies and low rolling resistance tires that are EPA verified
       

• 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.

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Water

• Water quality assessments
  • 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 for public drinking water systems. 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 [NPS])
  • NPS Resources and Programs
  • CWSRF Best Practices Guide for Financing Nonpoint Source Solutions (pdf): This guide is designed to help the 51 state-level Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) programs apply best practices to address the challenge of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution.

  • 319 Grant Program for States and Territories: Under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act, states, territories, and tribes receive grant money that supports a wide variety of activities including technical assistance, financial assistance, education, training, technology transfer, demonstration projects and monitoring to assess the success of specific nonpoint source implementation projects.

• 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
  • Federal Funding Sources for Watershed Protection: Find financial assistance sources (grants, loans, cost sharing) available to fund a variety of watershed protection projects.
  • The Handbook for Developing Watershed Plans to Restore and Protect Our Waters helps communities, watershed organizations, and state, local, tribal and federal environmental agencies develop and implement watershed plans to meet water quality standards and protect water resources.
  • The Mississippi River/ Gulf of America Watershed Hypoxia Task Force provides executive level direction and support for coordinating the actions of participating organizations working on nutrient management within the Mississippi River/Gulf of America Watershed.
  • Tools and Resources to Protect Watersheds
  • The Watershed Academy offers more than 50 free, self-paced Web training modules, monthly webcast seminars, and training courses in the classroom.
     

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