WASHINGTON – The National Governors Association (NGA) released a playbook to help support Governors and state energy officials in developing communications strategies to respond to energy emergencies. Titled “Public Communications Playbook for Energy Emergencies,” the playbook outlines guidance and best practices to help state and territory leaders develop strategic plans and processes to coordinate response efforts and communicate effectively with response teams and the public during an emergency that impacts energy production or delivery.
Developed in coordination with the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), the playbook is based on feedback from more than 50 subject matter experts. The resource provides Governors, states and territories eight major recommendations: proactively prepare, coordinate communication and decision-making, maintain a unified message, use plain language and convey empathy, orient messages towards public safety actions, message appropriately and proportionately, maintain adaptability in communication channels, and host or participate in energy emergency response exercises.
“As states increasingly face a wide range of threats to energy systems – including storms, natural disasters, physical attacks and cybersecurity threats – Governors have prepared strategic plans to respond quickly to potential emergencies,” said Timothy Blute, Director, NGA Center For Best Practices. “NGA’s new playbook highlights effective strategies Governors and states have developed to manage communications during energy emergencies. The playbook can serve as a tremendous resource for other state leaders as they develop coordinated communications plans to keep the public informed while providing clear direction to the state officials tasked with facilitating energy restoration and leading coordinated recovery efforts.”
Energy emergencies range from localized to regional and short term to longer duration. Short-duration energy outages can be uncomfortable, disruptive, frightening and dangerous in some cases. Long-term outages and fuel disruptions can be life-threatening, especially for vulnerable populations. Events can also be notice or no-notice and can impact different facets of the energy sector, from electricity, natural gas delivery, liquid fuels or all of the above. Energy emergencies can disrupt standard communication channels of information, creating a necessity for state and territory leaders to develop response plans in advance of a potential emergency.
The playbook highlights seven states’ and territories’ initiatives that exemplify best practices for developing a strategic communications response to an energy emergency.
NGA thanks Avoq for their contributions to the development of this playbook.
View the full playbook here.
