Governor Walz’s MGA Chair’s agenda – “Empowering Midwestern Communities” focused on bringing Midwestern policy leaders together to focus on creating economic opportunities in the energy sector.

MGA focused on growing the Midwest’s energy economy by assisting communities that anticipate being impacted by power plant closures. As we undergo a national energy transition, the MGA region has experienced and will continue to experience a number of power plant closures.  These power plants are often the largest employers and taxpayers in their cities and the planned closures can have a significant impact on the community and its workforce. Through the MGA, I plan to harness the collective wisdom, ideas, and lessons learned from state and local government, industry, workers, the advocacy community, and economic development interests to develop solutions to assist these communities and support workers through the transition. 

The secondary area of concentration is the continuation of the MID-GRID 2035 Initiative. MID-GRID 2035 is a regional transmission education and planning initiative to position the Midwest as a modern energy producer and low-cost energy provider, with a goal of establishing a long-term transmission grid vision for the region. It’s vital that we have access to a secure and reliable electric grid that can meet the changing energy needs of our states and region.