Regional Economic Development

"These new projects will result in the infusion of roughly $15 billion in capital investment in the Western states and create 7,000 permanent jobs and more than 25,000 person-years of construction and manufacturing employment."

In a nation whose urban needs influence federal policy and whose rural policy is dominated by agriculture, rural areas that have urban-style woes can fall through the cracks. "There is no rural policy for the kind of rural we are."

The coastal West is moving into the Interior West, as mobile knowledge workers head for places with good schools, nearby fishing streams, and plenty of people like us.

Both presidential candidates promise to bring broadband to rural America. But…they have different approaches.

Regionalism is key

Worrying about outdated or ineffective federal regulations?

The American economy is in serious long-term trouble. There is not a moment to spare on old ideas like stages of economic growth, or ideas about industrial clusters that have no secret sauce of commercial application.

Whether we like it or not, America is in the midst of revolutionary economic changes that are crushing the middle class.

“This report provides a rich analysis which will help us forge ahead in creating more economic dynamism, more effective social policies and an expansion of everyone’s freedom and opportunities.”
–William H. Draper III, former administrator of the United Nations Development Programme

If the top five planned transmission projects in the Pacific Northwest are not built, the region will lose out on $55-85 billion in economic activity and up to 60,000 jobs annually over the next 25 years