About PNWER — Pacific Northwest Economic Region: Global Challenges, Regional Solutions

Summary

Informational pages about the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER), which describe it as a public-private partnership chartered by the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington and by western Canadian provinces and territories. The pages list PNWER leadership, PNWER Canada and its priority projects, and working groups on topics including agriculture, energy, health and tourism. They describe a Regional Infrastructure Accelerator, a Center for Regional Disaster Resilience and the RISE-WA Small Business Accelerator, funded by a Small Business Innovation Fund grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce. The Regional Tourism Council pages name Rep. Cindy Ryu as Chair and list next steps that include seeking $200,000 over two years for the Secretariat.

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“About PNWER — Pacific Northwest Economic Region: Global Challenges, Regional Solutions.” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2024-01-17-a31650-d264746-pnwer-pacific-northwest-economic-region-9f7538571b/, SHA-256 b481e7b39b7746734d4610ba3206125216cdc5689e7d08daad976754db8292ab.

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Paciﬁc Northwest
Economic Region
Global Challenges | Regional Solutions
About PNWER
Promoting Greater Regional Collaboration

PNWER is a public-private partnership chartered by the
states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and
Washington; the western Canadian provinces of Alberta,
British Columbia, and Saskatchewan; and Yukon and
Northwest Territories.
PNWER is recognized by the federal governments as the
model for regional and bi-national cooperation because
of its proven success. It is the leading forum where
people in the policy world and business world come
together to determine solutions to regional challenges.

01
PNWER Leadership

Rick Glumac, MLA | B.C. Rep. DeLena Johnson | AK
President Vice President

Rep. Cindy Ryu | WA Hon. Sandy Silver | Yukon
Vice President Vice President

Ken Francis, MLA | SK Sen. Chuck Winder | ID
Vice President Imm. Past President

02
The U.S. - Canada Partnership
A Bi-National Economic Platform

● $2 billion (USD) in goods and services crosses the
Canada-United States border every day
● Economic watersheds ﬂow north and south across
the border
● Canada and the U.S. are each other’s largest source
of direct investment
● PNWER works with stakeholders to identify and
reduce trade impediments

03
PNWER Canada

PNWER Canada, established in 2006, is being re-energized by
a grant from the B.C. government for the next two years to
leverage PNWER’s success by focusing on bringing greater
beneﬁt to Western Canadian jurisdictions through cross
border projects highlighting BC's regional priorities.

04
PNWER Canada Board

Rick Glumac, MLA | B.C.
President Hon. Caroline Wawzonek | NWT

Ken Francis, MLA | SK
Vice President Shane Getson, MLA | Alberta

Hon. Sandy Silver | Yukon Matt Morrison | PNWER
Secretary/treasurer

05
PNWER Canada Priority Projects

PNWER Canada has identiﬁed three proposed projects to direct its focus towards over the
next several years:

1. Paciﬁc Northwest Hydrogen Hub Plan: Connecting the PNW Hydrogen Hub
Initiative to innovations in H2 technology in B.C. and Alberta.
2. PNWER Regional Tourism Council Plan: Engaging public and private stakeholders to
develop a plan to prepare for an increase in Tourism to our region surrounding FIFA
and beyond.
3. Electriﬁcation Workforce Development Plan: Help cultivate a skilled workforce
capable of meeting the needs of the electriﬁed economy.

06
07
PNWER Working Groups
PNWER addresses a breadth of regional issues through working groups. Each working group
is coordinated by a PNWER staff member and headed by two co-chairs, one from the private
sector and one from the public sector.
Invasive Species
Economic & Workforce
Agriculture Development
Mining
Border & Trade Energy
Tourism
Cross-Border
Forestry
Livestock Health
Transportation
Disaster Resilience Innovation
Water Policy
08
Regional Infrastructure Accelerator
www.RIANorthwest.org
PNWER’s Regional Infrastructure Accelerator is a USDOT-funded program that connects multi-state transportation projects with
innovative federal ﬁnancing mechanisms, including TIFIA and RRIF loan programs and Public-Private Partnerships (P3s).

Build Northwest Center of Excellence Critical Connections
Serves as the overarching platform for all Improve connectivity of Tribal nations and
outreach activities, offering education on rural communities by updating, replacing or
innovative federal ﬁnancing tools. improving connective infrastructure.

● $1.23 million grant (2022-23) ● Supporting the Bridge Authority in ﬁnancing the Hood
● $2 million grant (2024-25) River/White Salmon Bridge replacement project.

Zero-Emission Commercial Refueling High Performance Rail
Supporting development of zero-emission Improve performance and safety of existing
refueling infrastructure for medium- and passenger and freight rail systems by
heavy-duty vehicles along freight corridors. identifying and bunding rail projects.

● Drayage decarbonization at the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma ● Assisted the City of Spokane Valley in securing a $21
● Designing a zero-emission vehicle incentive program on behalf million RAISE grant for the Pines Road grade separation
09
of the WA Joint Transportation Committee project.
Center for Regional Disaster Resilience
The Center for Regional Disaster Resilience builds upon a long legacy
of PNWER’s work to enhance the economic resilience of the region
through all-hazards disaster preparedness and resilience.

www.regionalresilience.org
Project Areas Recent Projects
● Critical lifelines ● 2023 Idaho Annual Preparedness and
● Cybersecurity Cybersecurity Conference
● Disaster resilience planning ● Pandemic Economic Resilience Roadmap
● Public health ● Crisis Governing and Decision Making in
● Technology Response to COVID-19

10
RISE-WA Small Business Accelerator
Accelerator empowers small businesses majority owned by women and/or BIPOC entrepreneurs

The RISE-WA Accelerator was funded by a Small Business Innovation Fund grant from the
Washington State Department of Commerce. Throughout the program, RISE-WA supported:

10 rural small businesses that are majority 670 webinar and meeting hours
owned by women and/or Black, Indigenous, and
People of Color entrepreneurs
12+ retained or new jobs
$300k+ direct and indirect funding provided

11 www.risewa.org
RISE-WA Small Business Accelerator

12
PNWER Regional Tourism Council

● Proposed during PNWER Annual Summit in Boise, ID in July 2023

● Approved by PNWER Executive Board in September 2023

● In-person Roundtable held at Port of Seattle with 30 WA and BC
public and industry leaders in October 2023

● Initial Focus: Readiness for the 2026 FIFA World Cup -
Cross-border collaboration on security, trade, and travel
13
Regional Tourism Council

Governance Structure
● Two representatives from each PNWER jurisdiction:
○ Elected Ofﬁcial
○ Industry Sector Member
● Serve for a term of two years
● Led by Public Ofﬁcial Chair and Industry Sector Chair elected from the
Council members
● Supported by strategic sub-committee - Business Council
14
Regional Tourism Council

WA Council Members BC Council Members
● Rep. Cindy Ryu, Chair ● Minister Lana Popham
Innovation, Community & Economic Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture
Development, & Veterans Committee and Sport
● David Blandford ● Dave Cowen
Executive Director, State of WA Tourism CEO, The Butchart Gardens

Next Steps
● Seeking $200,000 from public & private sources in WA and BC over
two years for the Secretariat
● First Governance Meeting scheduled for March 2024
15
Legislative Energy Horizon Institute (LEHI)

● A 60-hour certiﬁcate course over 2 sessions, LEHI helps policymakers understand how energy
systems and infrastructure work; how energy infrastructure is built and ﬁnanced; and the
regulation and market impacts on energy infrastructure
● Institute Partners include PNWER, National Conference of State Legislatures, University of
Idaho, National Governors Association, Dept. of Energy, Gov. of Canada, Paciﬁc Northwest
National Laboratory, Women in Government
● 400+ alumni since 2009. Legislators, governors advisors, and local policymakers from 45 US
states and 5 Canadian provinces and territories, incl. 53 alumni from WA
● 2024 Dates: July 12 - 16, in Richland, WA and November 20 - 23, in Washington, D.C.
● Applications open late January.
● All legislators welcome to apply. Nominations from leadership and alumni encouraged.
● More information at www.lehi.institute

16
LEHI Washington Alumni
● Rep. Stephanie Barnard ‘23 ● Sen. Bob Hasegawa ’19 ● Mayor Chris Roberts ’17
● Rep. Matt Boehnke ’19 ● Clay Hill ’14 (staff) ● Sen. Phil Rockefeller ’10
● Rud Browne ’17 (councilmember) ● Sen. Janea Holmquist ’10 ● Rep. Cindy Ryu ’15
● Rep. Vincent Buys ’16 ● Sen. Jim Honeyford ’10 ● Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos ’15
● Sen. Maralyn Chase ’12 ● Rep. Zack Hudgins ’14 ● Mayor Cheryl Selby ’18
● Rep. Cathy Dahlquist ’12 ● Nikkole Hughes ’15 (staff) ● Rep. Shelly Short ’10
● Sen. Jerome Delvin ’10 ● Rep. Jim Jacks ’10 ● Rep. Vandana Slatter ’17
● Todd Donovan ’21 (councilmember) ● Rep. Shelley Kloba ’17 ● Rep. Norma Smith ’13
● Debbie Driver ’14 (staff) ● Mayor Pete Kmet ’19 ● Randy Smith ’19
● Rep. Mary Dye ’18 ● Ben Kostick ’17 (commissioner) ● Rep. Mike Steele ’17
● Rep. Deb Eddy ’10 ● Rep. Patty Kuderer ’16 ● Sen. Dean Takko ’16
● Sen. David Frockt ’12 ● Rep. Chad Magendanz ’14 ● Rep. Gael Tarleton ’13
● Rep. Keith Goehner ’21 ● Rep. Terry Nealey ’12 ● Rep. Dave Upthegrove ’12
● Matthew Germer ’18 (staff) ● Jillian Nordstrom ’17 (staff) ● Jasmine Vasavada ’13 (staff)
● Rep. David Hackney '23 ● Sen. Linda Evans Parlette ’12 ● Kathy Vaughn ’15 (commissioner)
● Jeff Hall ’21 (commissioner) ● Lisa Parshley ’ 19 (councilmember)
● Rep. Mark Harmsworth ’15 ● Sen. Kevin Ranker ’10

18
PNWER Pizza Lunch - Today! JLOB 302
Join us for a pizza lunch meet and greet to learn more about PNWER and the collaborative
work we are doing for the region!
Who you’ll meet:
● MLA Rick Glumac | B.C.
● Rep. Cindy Ryu | WA
● MLA Chantelle de Jonge | AB
● MLA Garth Rowswell | AB
● Matt Morrison, PNWER CEO
● Brandon Hardenbrook, PNWER COO

When: Wed. Jan 17 11:45 am - 1pm
Where: JLOB 302
19

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