diff --git a/api_gateway.tf b/api_gateway.tf
index e7e7574..5871571 100644
--- a/api_gateway.tf
+++ b/api_gateway.tf
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 provider "aws" {
-  region = "us-west-2"
 }
 
 provider "aws" {
diff --git a/backend.tf b/backend.tf
index 47bc7db..7b715c7 100644
--- a/backend.tf
+++ b/backend.tf
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 # create an S3 bucket to store the state file in
 resource "aws_s3_bucket" "terraform-state-storage-s3" {
   bucket = "wca-terraform-state"
-  region = "us-west-2"
 
   versioning {
     # enable with caution, makes deleting S3 buckets tricky