Executive Authority During Energy Emergencies

The NGA Center for Best Practices has released Executive Authority During Energy Emergencies: A Road Map for Governors. The road map is a tool that helps governors and their key advisors determine how to act when an event—whether caused by natural disaster, malicious actor, or human error—causes an energy emergency.

An energy emergency, such as an electrical grid outage, pipeline disruption or fuel shortage, occurs when an actual or imminent severe energy supply interruption threatens the health, safety and well-being of a population.Governors are solely responsible for declaring a state of emergency. An energy emergency may require governors to execute their emergency powers to aid in response, restoration and recovery. The road map is a tool to help governors prepare in advance of an energy emergency and guide their decision making in the event of an energy emergency.