The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) hosted a webcast on geographic information systems (GIS) tools and strategies to facilitate state energy assurance planning and response. Governors and their staffs face many challenges when planning for and responding catastrophic emergencies that disrupt fuel supply and power delivery. GIS can play a key role in facilitating energy assurance planning and response. Participants in this webinar heard from experts and state peers in energy and emergency management agencies on:
- Strategies to gather, process, and use utility and energy infrastructure data for mapping and energy assurance purposes;
- The power of GIS systems to help states plan and response to emergencies that adversely impact energy and power supplies; and
- Successful real-world examples that facilitated state planning and response efforts.
This webinar is a follow-on to NGA’s 2015 Learning lab on Enhancing State Energy Assurance Coordination. That effort brought together energy advisors and homeland security advisors or emergency managers from six states (Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Rhode Island) to examine approaches being adopted by New Jersey and other leading states to improve coordination and collaboration among state agencies and between the state and local, federal and private sector partners before and during energy emergencies. This topic was identified by the participants in the Learning Lab as a topic of interest for further exploration. More information about the Learning Lab can be found here.
Presentations
Moderator:
- Andrew Kambour, program director, Environment, Energy and Transportation Division, NGA Center
Speakers:
- Chris McIntosh, team lead, Public Safety Industries, Electric Power Research Institute
- Al Alvarado, senior electricity systems analyst, California Energy Commission
- Mike Sprayberry, director, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management
