Alberta's deregulation crisis sounds familiar to Montanans. Electricity rates more than doubled for ratepayers, business and industry in energy-rich Alberta, a story familiar to Montanans. A primer on the past Legislature's energy developments. Editor's notes In the Rockies today , a combination of stories yields a glimpse at the Bush administration's vision for the West's public lands. Forget the prior directive to manage forests mainly for the benefit of the entire ecosystem and put social and economic costs equally back into the equation.
Critics say it's pandering to the timber industry while proponents call it a more balanced approach.
Vice President Dick Cheney set the tone for energy policy in a speech to the Associated Press in Toronto, saying the nation needs to vastly accelerate oil and gas development. Prior stories have made the point that the administration will likely be thwarted in the Arctic and will push its agenda in the Rockies, where 40 percent of the expected gas reserves are beneath national parks, monuments or wilderness. Alberta likes its newfound wealth. In Beyond the region , a related story says companies are ready to start bidding for leases in Washington's newly created Hanford Reach National Monument. And while programs to wean American farmers off government supports are failing, Canada's push toward factory farms is choking its waterways and fouling its air.