A new Web portal unveiled this week aims to help college students study and find jobs in the alternative energy field. Developed by the state Commerce Department and the University System, Montana Green Campus offers a host of options to students an...

BILLINGS Financial ripples from the multibillion-dollar oil-sands industry in the Canadian province of Alberta are already being felt in Montana, but few businesses will benefit from the development as directly as Berry Y&V Fabricators in Billings....

Summer's warnings about soaring home heating costs predicted for this winter may have been a false alarm. Current projections by Northwestern Energy are that natural gas prices may be up a bit over last year, but electricity costs may be a little lower, said spokeswoman Claudia Rapkoch. To make the situation even sweeter, the federal government is helping low-income households by pledging emergency funding to bail consumers out of what was widely predicted to be a critical...

Two federal agencies - one a manager of wildlife habitat, the other of high-voltage power lines - are teaming up to study the impact of wind development in six states, including Montana. Public meetings are planned next week in North Dakota, South Dakota and Billings. A growing number of wind projects is driving the joint environmental study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Western Area Power Administration, said Randy Wilkerson, a Lakewood, Colo.-based...

BILLINGS A rural Texas utility has filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s suspension of a major loan initiative for coal-fired power plants across the country. In March, the Rural Utilities Service announced it was suspending in...