Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer will lead the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) in its coming fiscal year, following the conclusion of the WGA annual meeting Tuesday in Park City, UT. Idaho Gov. C. L. “Butch” Otter was elected as the new vice chairman for the group, which is leading an aggressive effort for regional climate change initiatives addressing more renewable generation and major electric transmission lines throughout the West. “Western states are at the very center of our country’s energy future, and Western governors will take the lead in building the bridge to a new energy economy,” Schweitzer said. WGA closed its three days of meetings by focusing on ways to foster more international cooperation (throughout North American and beyond) on energy and the environment. Earlier, the governors adopted a series of policy resolutions that called for “several actions to foster development of clean energy resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions” (see Daily GPI, June 16).

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