July 31, 2006—The governors of 19 Western states committed in June to take action on a number of fronts to bring online substantially more clean and diversified energy resources, improve energy efficiency, and ensure there is adequate transmission available at a reasonable cost well into the future. They also called for discussion regarding the reduction and mitigation of greenhouse gases, adaptation policies, and other global climate change measures.
The governors backed a broad-based set of proposals for meeting future electricity needs. The policy resolution is based on the recommendations developed by more than 250 stakeholders, whose work is outlined in the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) report entitled “Clean Energy, a Strong Economy, and a Healthy Environment.”
The goals, which the group found could be met or exceeded, are to develop an additional 30,000 megawatts of clean energy by 2015; increase energy efficiency 20 percent by 2020; and ensure secure, reliable transmission for the next 25 years.
Gov. Janet Napolitano (Ariz.), WGA Chair, noted, “The Western governors believe the actions identified will help protect our region from energy shortages and price spikes, improve the balance of energy resources used to produce electricity, encourage more energy-efficient practices, and mitigate the environmental impacts of power generation.”
The Governors urged FERC to build a partnership with Western states to make more efficient use of the existing electric transmission grid, expand the grid to enable the region to tap remote, diverse generation, and work closely with the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Board to ensure grid reliability.
The policy resolutions are available on the WGA Web site.
