NASEO and NEMA, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) have developed a Western Petroleum Shortage Response Collaborative (WPSRC). The Collaborative will build upon the lessons learned and outcomes from the 2019 Western States Petroleum Shortage Response Planning Workshop held in San Diego.

Participants will benefit from deliberate examination, dissection, and cross-referencing of existing western state and regional response plans, concepts, and annexes, and will leverage peer expertise to improve respective state plans while working toward a regional framework. This WPSRC will the first official working group in the western U.S. comprised of all key players (e.g. State Energy Offices, State Emergency Management agencies, liquid fuels industry, and federal partners) in the energy-emergency management nexus with the unique task of regional catastrophic fuel planning. Project outcomes include a new regional fuel response framework, insights for enhanced state emergency fuel plans, and a developed network collaborative of trusted, established entities that can be leveraged for future regional planning initiatives and during real-world events.