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Legislators and Private Sector Leaders Discuss Regional Issues at PNWER 2010 Economic Leadership Forum
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Arctic Caucus
Image of Arctic Caucus Participants
Members of the Arctic Caucus learning Inupiat dancing at the evening community reception.
Last week, the Arctic Caucus held its first Leadership Forum in Barrow, AK, the northern most community on the United States.  The North Slope Boroughwelcomed over 40 PNWER delegates from around the region to discuss issues around infrastructure development in the North.  Presenters included the Deputy Commander of NORAD, Col. Todd Balfe,  Incoming president of the Alyeska Pipeline, Adm. Tom Barrett and the co-chair of the PNWER Telecom working group, Don Pumphrey from Northwest Tel. 

This meeting overlapped with the Alaska Legislature's Northern Waters task force's public hearing, allowing participants to hear a wide range of views on Arctic development from local citizen's and organizations.  The Caucus took up a number of action items, including supporting higher level federal involvement in the Arctic Council, the further development of a ship tracking system useful for commerce as well as search and rescue, and other issues.  The next Arctic Caucus meeting will be held in the Northwest Territories this coming spring or summer.  For further details on the Leadership forum, including links to presentations, programs and other information, go to: http://www.pnwer.org/WorkingGroups/ArcticCaucus.aspx

PNWER would like to give special recognition to NWTel, the Canadian Consulate-Anchorage, the Government of the Northwest Territories, the State of Alaska and the North Slope Borough for their support of the first Arctic Caucus Leadership Forum. 
PNWER Capitol Visits
The PNWER Executive Board membership will be visiting with legislators from each jurisdiction. We are in the process of scheduling our visits. During each visit we will hold a pizza luncheon for all legislators. We hope you can join us! Formal invitation to follow.

Capitol Visit Schedule:

January 18 to 19 - Olympia, WA
January 20 to 21 - Boise, ID
January 24 to 26 - Helena, MT

February (TBC) - Salem, OR

We are still in the process of scheduling the remainder of our visits for 2011.
4th Annual Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies Workshop
Puget Sound Area Public and Private Sector Stakeho
lders Gather to DiscussSupply Chain Resilience and Emergency Communications

The Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies Workshop held November 4th, 2010 in
John Madden addresses participants at lunch
Alaska Director of Homeland Security, John Madden, addressed delegates during lunch, stressing the importance of working with the private sector to ensure all citizen needs are being met during a disaster
Seattle WA was a outstanding success. Developed in cooperation with public, private and non-profit stakeholders the workshop addressed the importance of supply chain resilience to manufacturing and the broader business community.  Stakeholders from several infrastructure sectors were provided the opportunity to learn about regional initiatives in critical infrastructure protection and resiliency. Topics included, coordination of Regional Critical Manufacturing and Supply Chain Resilience; Private Sector Resilience; and Emergency Communications and Information Sharing. Over 130 Participants, representing private, non-profit, and public sectors throughout Region 6 attended the Workshop, as well as representatives from outside the region.  John Madden, Director of Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management provided an informative luncheon keynote on the relationship between Alaska and Washington as it relates to supply chains.  Ken Murphy, Regional Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Administration and former Oregon State Emergency Management Director also addressed the workshop participants on the important role that the public and private collaboration plays in disaster recovery. Many workshop participants acknowledge the benefit of the session, and emphatically recommended that further workshops of this type occur in the future.

 Learn more about the PNWER Center for Regional Disaster Resilience by visiting our website
www.regionalresilience.org
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The PNWER 2010 Economic Leadership Forum, held November 17-19, 2010 in Stevenson, Washington gave over 100 participants from throughout the Region, the opportunity to meet at Skamania Lodge to discuss issues in Transportation, Innovation, and regional energy planning with the regulatory agencies--building upon Action Items from the 2010 Annual Summit in Calgary, Alberta.
Mike Schauffler - 2010 Winter Meeting
Rep. Mike Schauffler (OR) discusses the impact of the US Midterm Elections with fellow panelist Rep. Jim Jacks (WA)

We gratefully thank all our participants and sponsors who helped make the session such a success. We'd also like to extend thanks to our keynote speakers Canadian Consul General Denis Stevens, Sharon Banks of Cascade Sierra Solutions, Sen. Jim Kastama (WA), Lyle Stewart, MLA (SK). We would also like to extend our appreciation to US Consul General Phil Chicola, Hon. Barry Penner, Rep. Mike Schaufler, and Rep. Jim Jacks for a lively discussion on the regional impacts of the US 2010 Midterm Elections, and what is happening in British Columbia.
Energy
Cross Border Regional Regulatory Coordination
Legislative Energy Chairs and representatives from Public Utilities Commissions from throughout the region joined for a full day session at the Skamania Lodge to discuss how state and provincial regulatory agencies are coordinating regionally to address the challenges of the regional grid system, including the cost of integration of renewables, balancing, firming and capacity of renewables (cost allocation).

Legislative Energy Chairs from many of the states and provinces were present, and the dialogue included a discussion of how do we maximize the economic potential of renewable resources in the region, and how do we assist our regulatory agencies to provide better renewable capacity integration across the region.

There was a sense that there could be better communication with legislative bodies about the planning that is going on to increase regional capacity, and that engaging principal energy legislators in a single venue would be advantageous.  In the technology area, an identified need was greater coordination between R&D and implementation of new technologies, such as smart grid technologies.  Better integration of variable resources and smart grid back up,storage technologies was also cited as needed.

A goal identified for the 2011 Annual Summit in Portland, Oregon was bringing in California Energy Coordinators to discuss their future energy needs, and how these will impact the PNWER region.

Innovation
Developing a Regional Innovation Strategy
Sen. Kastama
Sen. Jim Kastama (WA) addresses delegates at breakfast

The final day of the Economic Leadership Forum was devoted to innovation. Sen. Jim Kastamaopened the day by discussing the challenges and necessity for an effective regional innovation strategy, and that in this economy, we must invest in a future of innovation.

The panel featured Egils Milburg, Executive Director of the Washington Economic Development Commission,  Dr. Steven VanAusdle, President of Walla Walla College, David Kenney, President of Oregon BEST, and William Mounts, President of P/E Limited.

In the session, participants discussed identifying best practices for enhanced regional collaboration. Session contributors encouraged PNWER to look at specific regional clusters for regional collaboration, and to begin by mapping a 'Clean Energy Technology' cluster and our innovation assets between all the member states and provinces in the region.

The conversation will continue at the 2011 Annual Summit in Portland, Oregon.  


Transportation
Regional High Speed Rail and Green Highways
The transportation session addressed two different topics throughout their day and a half session. 
Petra Tordovich WM2010
Petra Todorovich of the Regional Plan Association gives participants insight into the national perspective on high speed rail. 
Participants discussed how to mix public and private funding for rail infrastructure improvements.  In the afternoon, a panel addressed greening our highways, looking at a case study of the I-5 corridor. It was especially useful for participants to talk over common issues with the House Transportation Chairs from both Oregon and Washington.

Session participants identified a need to further examine opportunities for governance in the Cascade Corridor. At the suggestion of participants,  PNWER will draft a letter to the Governor of Washington encouraging the state to go after the returned federal high-speed rail dollars before the end of the year, in addition to a letter to Secretary Ray LaHood  to ask that the already allocated funds be released to the States before the end of the year, so that these projects, and the jobs they create, can go forward in an expedited manner.

For the 2011 Summit, PNWER will continue the discussion on public/private partnerships for bolstering the future of transportation in the region.
2011 Annual Summit
Portland Skyline
Portland, Oregon
July 19-22, 2011
Save the date! The PNWER 21st Annual Summit will be held in Portland, Oregon this coming July 19-22. The city of Portland is excited to host this "Toast to Innovation."

Session topics will include the future of Northwest Communities, Tourism, High-Speed Transportation, gaining an edge for the Pacific Northwest in Regional and Global trade markets, and much more.

For additional information, please visit
www.pnwer.org/2011AnnualSummit.aspx
PNWER Gratefully Thanks our 2010 Economic Leadership Forum Sponsors

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