During the year, Western Governors updated ten policy resolutions on water quality, water resource management, cleaning up abandoned hardrock mines, transportation infrastructure, disaster preparedness and response, air quality, compensatory mitigation, energy, health care, and workforce development.

Several Western Governors also hosted workshops in support of Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon’s WGA Chair initiative, Decarbonizing the West, which convened experts from all over the world to examine how various decarbonization strategies can position western states at the forefront of innovation and reduce the effects of carbon emissions on the environment.   

“I am very happy to say that today America has demonstrated, yet again, that innovation will trump regulation and that we can move forward in a future which is beneficial to all of us,” Governor Gordon said when he released the Decarbonizing the West initiative report in June. “If we can continue to work together, there is so much that we can accomplish.”  

This theme of cooperation was echoed by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, who hosted the 2024 Western Prosperity Forum in April. Especially noteworthy were the fireside chats between Governor Hobbs, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves, and Dr. Homer Wilkes, the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).  During the meeting in Phoenix, WGA covered a range of topics spanning digital equity and workforce development to extreme heat and wildfire mitigation. 

Thanks in part to their continued bipartisan cooperation, Western Governors secured several key policy victories in 2024. 

On December 17, President Biden signed the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act into law. The bill’s passage is a significant milestone in a nearly 30-year effort by Western Governors and other stakeholders to establish legislation that would allow Good Samaritans to remediate abandoned mines. 

On December 23, President Biden signed the Water Monitoring and Tracking Essential Resources (WATER) Data Improvement Act into law.  The bill reauthorizes the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Federal Priority Streamgage Network and the National Groundwater Monitoring Network, both programs that are supported by Western Governors.   

Finally, Congress sent the EXPLORE Act  to the White House before the end of the year where President Biden recently signed it into law. This legislation includes numerous WGA policy priorities outlined in WGA Policy Resolution 2022-12, Recreation and Tourism on Public Lands, including the ability to use Good Neighbor Authority for recreation projects.   

Western Governors also reauthorized a Shared Stewardship Memorandum of Understanding with USDA, which expanded the scope of a previous shared stewardship MOU that WGA and USDA signed in 2018.  

As part of the agreement, USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small announced an investment of $12 million from the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA) for 22 Good Neighbor Authority projects across 13 states, including Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.   

She also announced $54.6 million for 41 Joint Chiefs Landscape Scale Restoration Partner projects, a program created through the IIJA to reduce wildfire threats to communities and landowners, protect water quality and supply, and improve wildlife habitat for at-risk species.  

Western Governors garnered a lot of attention from the press in 2024, and two of the more engaging moments involved respected journalists Judy Woodruff and Steve Inskeep. 

Judy Woodruff participated in fireside chats at WGA’s 40th Anniversary Celebration with Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and former Governors Steve Bullock of Montana, Gary Herbert of Utah, David Ige of Hawaii, Matt Mead of Wyoming, Bob Miller of Nevada, Butch Otter of Idaho, and Brian Sandoval of Nevada.   

Their discussions focused on the importance of bipartisanship when dealing with many of the country's complex problems.  

Steve Inskeep joined the Governors for a keynote at the 2024 Winter Meeting about this moment in American politics and what lessons the study of history can lend us today. 

Along with his address to the Governors, Inskeep also sat down for interviews with New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon. 

Inskeep’s conversations with the Governors aired on NPR’s Morning Edition – the most widely heard radio program in the country – on December 12 and 13. Listen to the stories here. 

Heading into 2025, we look forward to continuing this important work together.  

The Chair initiative of New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Building Resilient and Affordable New Developments in the West (BRAND West), is off to a great start.  Utah Governor Spencer Cox and Oregon Governor Tina Kotek have already hosted workshops in their respective states, and we’re excited to launch a webinar series for that initiative soon. 

Thank you all for over 40 years of support and for a great 2024. This work would not be possible without all of you, and I look forward to an exciting and productive 2025!