NASEO Releases State Energy Planning Guidelines and Guidance for States on Petroleum Shortage Response Planning

The National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) recently released NASEO's State Energy Planning Guidelines: Guidance for States in Developing Comprehensive Energy Plans and Policy Recommendations and Guidance for States on Petroleum Shortage Response Planning.

NASEO's State Energy Planning Guidelines is intended to provide updated information and best practices to State Energy Directors as they develop data-driven, stakeholder-supported comprehensive state energy plans and policy recommendations on behalf of their governors and legislatures. Comprehensive state energy plans provide a foundation for the development of energy policy and regulation, relying heavily on data and stakeholder-driven processes to assess a state's energy baseline and set medium- and long-term energy goals. NASEO prepared the Guidelines because the 56 State and Territory Energy Directors generally lead comprehensive energy-planning processes and play a key role in developing and implementing energy policies and programs at the state level.

Since NASEO's development of the original edition of the Guidelines in 2014, more than 20 states have developed new state energy plans or updated their existing plans. To learn more about comprehensive state energy plans and access the Guidelines, please visit NASEO's State Energy Planning Database at www.naseo.org/stateenergyplans. Please contact Cassie Powers (cpowers@naseo.org) or Sam Cramer (scramer@naseo.org) with any questions.

NASEO's Guidance for States on Petroleum Shortage Response Planning is designed to provide assistance to states in updating their energy assurance plans to improve planning, mitigation, and response efforts in the event of a petroleum shortage. It summarizes key guidance and serves as a companion to NASEO's suite of energy assurance technical assistance offerings, energy emergency exercises, and coordination workshops. The first section of the guidance addresses the importance of monitoring petroleum markets, assessing consequences when supply disruptions occur, and understanding threats from all hazards, vulnerabilities, and interdependencies.

The second section of the guidance provides information on a series of programs and measures which states can use to respond to specific conditions and problems that may occur during a petroleum supply disruption. In conjunction with the release, NASEO, in partnership with the National Emergency Management Association, and with support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, hosted a Petroleum Shortage Response Planning Workshop for states in the Southeast and South-Central regions last week to explore how states might develop more comprehensive plans to respond to fuel shortages. To learn more, please visit NASEO's Petroleum Shortage Response Planning webpage.