In the Rockies today, the focus is on energy.
A new report from Harvard moves Montana up the ranks in its wind potential, putting the Big Sky State on par with Kansas, and second only to Texas in wind potential.
The Harvard study also said that unlike winds in other states, Montana's winds blow strong during the day, when demand for power is highest, complements hydroelectric power better, and seasonal disparities in wind supply are somewhat lesser in Montana.
Like other previous studies, the Harvard study acknowledged the Big Sky State's lack of transmission capacity as an obstacle in wind-energy development, a concern that applies across the West, according to a new report issued by the law firm Holland & Hart.
That report says the West's untapped renewable-energy resources will stay that way unless states work together with the federal government to get transmission lines sited and built.
On the fossil fuel side of energy, environmental groups are protesting expansion plans of coal mines in Wyoming's Powder River Basin because 14 percent of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions come from power plants that burn Wyoming coal.
And an Environmental Protection Agency investigation found chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, a drilling method used to bust natural gas out of rock formations, in three drinking water wells near Pavilion, Wyo.
