The Environmental Quality and Conservation Department materials focus on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), land use, and pollution. The series also includes documents related to a teleconference the NAM organized in June 1973. Files are arranged alphabetically. This series should be considered in conjunction with the Industrial Environment Department, as the two departments worked on similar environment-related topics.

The Industrial Environment Department focused on environmental-related issues, along with housing the Marketing Committee. The material in this series includes papers from NAM committees whose scope fell within the department’s responsibilities including Area Industrial Problems Committee, Energy Policy Study Group, Natural Resources Committee, and Water and Soil Resources Subcommittee. Additionally, materials related to land and water conservation, ocean resources, and surface mining are included in this series. This series should be considered alongside the Environmental Quality and Conservation Department, as the two departments worked on similar topics around the same time.

The Resources and Technology Department material is arranged into two subseries: Committees, subcommittees, and task forces, and Subject files. This material should be considered in conjunction with the Science and Technology Department material.

The Committees, subcommittees, and task forces subseries contains mailings, meeting material, member lists, minutes, and agendas from various committees and subcommittees. The material is arranged by committee or subcommittee and then chronologically.

The Subject files subseries consists of files that were maintained by the Resources and Technology Department on a variety of topics of interest to the department and likely used as reference. Several subjects are included, but some are the Air Quality Standards Coalition, AT&T litigation, Clean Air Act amendments, energy, Global Climate Coalition, and regional haze.

From 1996 to 1998, the NAM was the Secretariat of the Air Quality Coalition (AQC, previously the Air Quality Standards Coalition). The files relating to AQC include testimony, public comments, press releases, memoranda, proposed rules, and legislative materials related to air quality standards in the 1990s. The files are primarily from Mark Burtschi (1961-), NAM’s Director for Air Quality, and Theresa Law (1959-), who worked on environmental issues throughout the decades.

Several files from 1989 to 1993 cover the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) signed by President George H. W. Bush (1924-2018). A considerable number of the later files concern further air quality regulations proposed by the Clinton administration. These concern a class of pollutant known as “Particulate Matter 2.5” — 2.5 referring to the size of the particle in micrometers — and a number of these files pertain to the controversy that arose when some of the public health studies underlying the regulation came into question.

The Science and Technology Department series is arranged in two subseries: Committees, subcommittees, and task forces, and Subject files. This material should be considered in conjunction with the Resources and Technology Department material.

The Committees, subcommittees, and task forces subseries contains mailings, meeting material, member lists, minutes, and agendas from various committees and subcommittees. The material is arranged by committee or subcommittee and then chronologically. Some of the committees and subcommittees represented include Oceanography Subcommittee, Patents Committees, Research Committee, and Water Resources Research Subcommittee.

The Subject files subseries consists of files that were maintained by the Science and Technology Department on a variety of topics of interest to the department and likely used as reference. Several subjects are included, but main subjects are the FCC on interdependence of computer and communication services and facilities, oceans, patents, and trademarks.