Excellent road, rail and air transportation networks have helped in achieving this distinction. The city is also a regional center for the energy industry and a wide range of agriculturally related businesses. A multimillion dollar crop of sugar beets is processed each year. Two oil refineries here and one in nearby Laurel make the Billings area the oilrefining capitol of the northern Rockies. Coal is a vast natural resource.
Water is plentiful and of excellent quality.
This wealth of longterm energy sources has resulted in utility rates that are among the lowest in the nation. In addition to its role as a trade, service and energy center, Billings is the medical and educational center for the region. The city's medical community provides the most advanced health care services in a fourstate area. Two modern and fullyequipped hospitals, sixteen clinics and hundreds of physicians offer every major medical specialty and a complete range of surgical services and emergency care. Our elementary and secondary schools are a source of real civic pride.