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WGA Winter Meeting 

December 7 - 8, 2010 

Las Vegas, Nevada 

Press Release - Meeting Wrapup 

Agenda 

WGA Annual Meeting 

June 29 - July 1, 2011 

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 

 

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Initiatives 

z Climate Change & Adaptation

z Energy

z Forest Health & Wildfire

z Radioactive Waste Transportation

z Regional Biomass Energy Program

z Water Strategies

z Transportation Fuels for the Future

z Regional Transmission Expansion Project

z Wildlife Corridors and Crucial Habitat

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Program Highlights 

Press Releases

z Increasing Demands for Water Requires Greater Efficiency, Water Banking and New 

Infrastructure 

z EPA decision to increase percentage of ethanol in gasoline in line with WGA recommendations 

z Congress urged to act this year on wide-scale deployment of electric vehicles, infrastructure 

z Gov. Otter, WGA's Chairman, Working to Unite the West 

z Increased Use of Biomass, Energy, Improved Forest Health Require Cohesive Federal Policy 

z Western States Seek to Partner with USDA on Small-scale Bioenergy Projects 

z Congress Urged to Increase Loan Guarantees for Additional Nuclear Power Plants 

Reports 

z Renewable Energy Transmission Roadmap (2010) 

z Climate Adaptation Priorities for Western States: A Scoping Report (2010) 

z 2010 Annual Report (2010) 

z Wildlife Corridors Initiative (2008) 

z Water Strategies for a Sustainable Future (2008) 

z All WGA Reports 

We welcome your feedback and questions. Click here for a list of program managers and staff. 

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Regional Transmission Expansion Project 

Governors and public utility commissioners within the Western Interconnection 

share the goal of having an electricity generation and transmission system that is 

clean, secure, reliable and reasonably priced. Reaching that goal will require greater 

development and use of renewable energy resources and expansion of the existing 

transmission grid. 

The WGA, Western Interstate Energy Board and Western Electricity Coordinating 

Council are working together to analyze transmission requirements under a broad 

range of alternative energy futures and to develop long-term, interconnection-wide 

transmission expansion plans. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Regional

Transmission Expansion Project will help guide policy/decision makers in formulating effective 

policies and programs that will help achieve the goal and inform the private sector in deciding where to 

build new transmission. 

 As part of that effort, WGA will be examining how best to manage the impacts to wildlife and water 

supplies associated with large scale energy development. Also of great importance are the potential 

impacts of demand-side management (energy efficiency and conservation) programs, plug-in electric 

vehicles on future electricity demand, and the potential expansion of nuclear energy as a generating 

source. This effort will involve broad stakeholder participation. 

Landscape-scale Wildlife Conservation

States are working across political boundaries to enhance landscape-scale wildlife conservation through 

the Western Governors' Wildlife Council. During WGA's Annual Meeting in June, the Governors 

committed their state agencies to completing wildlife decision-support systems within three years. The 

governors have been working to conserve crucial wildlife habitat and corridors through their Wildlife 

Council, which has brought states together for the first time to coordinate their data and produce more 

accurate wildlife counts and maps. 

More information can be found under the Wildlife Corridors and Crucial Habitat Initiative. 

 

 

 

 

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