Records of the Kansas Energy Office

Abstract: The Kansas State Archives holds almost thirty cubic feet of records from the Energy Office. Half of these boxes are individual grant files involving the U.S. Department of Energy. The rest of the records from this agency include subject files, a survey conducted on energy conservation and usage in public-use buildings in Kansas, information on natural gas legislation in Kansas, and budgetary and accounting records. The records span the entirety of the Office's existence and provide an overview into the agency's responsibilities.

Administrative History: The Kansas Energy Office (KEO) was created by statute in 1975, attached to the Governor's Office, in legislation that also provided for the establishment of a Governor's Energy Advisory Council. The State Energy Coordinator, a governor-created position, had been created in 1973 and was replaced by this Energy Office. In 1978 the KEO was reorganized and given independent status as a separate state agency, and the Energy Advisory Council also changed and became part of the KEO.

The Council was composed of ten members, a mixture of individuals appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the House, and the President of the Senate. It included representatives from consumers, energy producers, environmentalists, utilities, the Chairperson of the Kansas Corporation Commission or a designee, and the State Geologist or a designee.

The mission of the KEO was to assist the people of Kansas in adapting to changing energy realities of the 1970s, which were precipitated by an increasing national dependence on imported oil and by the long-term depletion of the world's fossil fuel resources. The Kansas Energy Office had responsibilities to propose a comprehensive state energy strategy to the state's public decision-makers; assume a key role in pursuing the plan's implementation; serve as an information and analysis resource for the Governor and Legislature in their energy policy deliberations; provide direct assistance to Kansas citizens as they sought or were required to modify and alter their energy use behavior; and, when necessary, minimize threats to the public welfare which might have been posed by energy product shortages.

The KEO was organized into these major activities: Administration, Conservation and Solar Applications, Planning and Fuel Allocation, and Research and Resource Development. Major responsibilities of the divisions included administration of state responsibilities under federal fuel allocation programs, development of a system of priorities for the distribution of energy products during the event of an energy emergency, development of educational programs to promote energy resource development, energy contingency planning, energy data collection and analysis, energy conservation analyses in state government, establishment of an energy information center, establishment of computer programs for aiding the public in making investment decisions regarding installation of insulation and solar systems, preparation of a biennial report to the Governor and the Legislature, energy demand forecasting, and energy research and development, program development, and administration.

The Kansas Energy Office was abolished in 1983, and its duties and responsibilities were transferred to the Kansas Corporation Commission.

[Secretary of State. Kansas Biennial Report. Topeka: Secretary of State, 1980.]

[ Kansas Statutes Annotated, KSA 74-68. http://kansasstatutes.lesterama.org/Chapter_74/Article_68/#74-6801 (accessed 5 May 2009).]

Related materials: Kansas Corporation Commission