Midwestern Governors Association - Initiatives

At the MGA's November 2007 Energy Summit, Midwestern governors and the Premier of Manitoba signed ambitious regional goals to provide leadership on energy security and climate stewardship, and to stimulate economic development and job creation across the Midwest.

Since then, participating states have appointed diverse representatives to advisory groups charged with identifying more precisely what Midwestern states should do to secure their energy future. Three of these groups, focused respectively on energy efficiency, renewable electricity and advanced coal with carbon capture, and on bioeconomy and transportation, have been meeting since 2008. An additional group was formed in 2009, focused on the creation and retention of jobs in the new energy economy. For more information on that group and the MGA's jobs initiative click here.

The MGA has established a CCS Task Force to implement the CCS portions of the Infrastructure Accord. To find out more information click here.

In October 2009, the region's governors convened in Detroit for a Jobs and Energy Forum and released three new MGA documents:

	Platform for Creating and Retaining Midwestern Jobs in the New Energy Economy (Jobs Platform)
	Midwestern Energy Infrastructure Accord (Infrastructure Accord)
	Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Roadmap: Advisory Group Recommendations (Energy Roadmap) - Entire Document - Executive Summary - Recommendations only - These Advisory Group Recommendations are a follow-up document to the MGA's Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Platform for the Midwest (Energy Platform)

Advisory Group Supplemental Documents

The advisory groups have also been working on additional policy options documents that provide a more in-depth discussion of options provided in the Energy Roadmap.

Energy Efficiency Advisory Group Policy Options Document
Bioeconomy and Transportation Advisory Group Policy Options Document

Advisory Groups also put forth additional informational and briefing documents associated with their group's areas of expertise:

Energy Efficiency		Bioeconomy and Transportation
Relighting the Midwest Discussion Paper Smart Grid Briefing Paper A Review and Analysis of Existing Studies of the Energy Efficiency Resource Potential in the Midwest		Guidelines for Implementing a Regional Bioproduct Procurement System Regional Low Carbon Fuel Standard Recommendations Biosignage Implementation Report
Advanced Coal with Carbon Capture and Storage		Renewable Electricity and Transmission
Regional Commercial Plan for deploying Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) CCS Toolkit and Inventory. The toolkit provides background information on the issues of CCS, along with a menu of actions and potential options for states and the region to consider. The inventory provides a state-by-state analysis of statutes and regulations that could be applied toward a regional approach to the regulation of CCS Project Developer Interviews: Regulatory Measures and Financial Incentives to Accelerate the Commercial Deployment of Advanced Coal with CCS CCS Policy Principles Fact Sheet Recommendations for the establishment of a geologic carbon storage utility design Co-Utilization of Coal and Biomass with CCS: Commercial Demonstration and Deployment Carbon Management Infrastructure Partnership Discussion Paper C02, EOR Potential of the Midwest Renewable Electricity and Advanced Coal with Carbon Capture and Storage Advisory Group Policy Discussion Paper		Summary of MGA States Renewable Portfolio Standard and Goals MGA Utility Commission Regional Transmission Authority Survey letter of 8 questions regarding state utility commission authority for need and siting approval of regional transmission projects for renewable energy. In addition to the summary, responses are further arranged by state and by question. Draft model legislation regarding regional transmission approval The Midwest ISO has been working in cooperation with the MGA on many of these issues. Their new site provides information on initiatives on wind related transmission planning and daily updates on wind energy production in the Midwest ISO footprint.

The MGA is continuing to work on developing the region's energy potential. This includes work on a regional low carbon fuel policy.