This report documents the Midwestern Governors Association (MGA) advisory group recommendations to develop a comprehensive and far-sighted policy strategy for transforming the regional energy economy of the Midwest. Some of the recommended policies represent actions that are already in progress in a subset of the states and provinces, while others represent regional positions on key federal policies. In a world of complex and interlinked energy-use and development incentives, there is no way to completely segregate the impacts of state or provincial, regional, and national policies. But the regional MGA partnership brings an unprecedented opportunity for Midwestern states and provinces to learn from and build on others’ experience, and coordinate efforts where synergies exist at a regional scale.
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Biogas is a renewable energy resource that holds tremendous potential to help meet our future energy needs. As a versatile energy resource, it can be utilized as a feedstock for electricity and/or heat, a source of renewable natural gas, or as a vehicle fuel. Materials that can be used to produce biogas are abundant, especially in the Midwest – an area rich with livestock production, food processing byproducts, and crop residues. Agricultural production is not the only source of biogas production in the Midwest; wastewater treatment facilities, urban wood and yard wastes, and landfills also provide a feedstock source.
Rising energy prices, increasing dependence on imported energy, growth in domestic and global demand for energy, and mounting concern over how to address climate change while sustaining and enhancing economic growth and job creation pose serious challenges to the Midwest’s energy future. As Midwestern leaders, we recognize our region’s obligation to provide leadership on these challenges, and the clear benefits of cooperating regionally to meet them. 
In 2001, the Great Plains Institute (GPI) convened a diverse group of stakeholders and launched its
