Oil and gas were pushed to the sidelines during the National Governors Association’s 2008 winter meeting in Washington, DC. But a few states’ chief executives acknowledged that traditional energy sources will have to come off the bench to meet energy and environmental challenges.Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota’s Republican governor and NGA’s 2007-08 chairman, unveiled a year-long initiative, “Securing a Clean Energy Future,” with goals similar to those of Congress and the Bush administration: reducing US dependence on imported oil and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by developing more environmentally benign, domestically produced alternatives.SCEF would use st...