In the Rockies today, a port expansion project is approved in B.C., and Alberta's premier discusses the "bitumen bubble's" effect on the province's budget.
The Port Metro Vancouver has approved an expansion project that will allow an additional 10 million tons of metallurgical coal used to make steel to be exported from British Columbia to overseas markets.
On Thursday, Alberta Premier Alison Redford warned Albertans that budget cuts are in the offing, and she blamed a growing gap between the price Alberta sells its oil and the North American benchmark for the $6-million loss in revenue.
Moving south of the border into the United States, Wyoming wildlife officials said the state's dual classification of wolves is working to keep the wolf population in control, a federal appeals court declines to revisit a ruling by a 3-judge panel on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's decision to withdraw 77 energy leases in Utah, and bad air continues to plague counties in Northern Utah.
Also in the news, Colorado U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter is expected to introduce a bill next week that is a companion to the gun-control legislation introduced into the U.S. Senate by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday.