Economic Freedom of North America, From the Fraser Institute:
The link between economic freedom and prosperity is clear: provinces that support low taxation, limited government, and flexible labour markets benefit from greater economic growth. Our new report ranks Alberta No. 1 and Saskatchewan third in economic freedom among all Canadian provinces and US states. Canadian provinces make up four of the top 10 jurisdictions, with Newfoundland and Labrador and British Columbia coming in ninth and 10th, respectively.
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Friday Highlights from Consumer Energy Alliance:
A Texas judge who issued a temporary restraining order on construction of a portion of the Keystone XL pipeline has dissolved the action. A new hearing has been set on Dec. 19 in a Nacogdoches County court to hear the claims by Michael Bishop, who argued that the resource that TransCanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP) is transporting from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries doesn’t meet the federal standards for crude. TransCanada will also present its counterclaim to prevent Bishop from interfering with the company’s easement rights.
 
Support for regulation of hydraulic fracturing has increased in the past three months, a sign that the gas-drilling practice is facing greater public scrutiny. A Bloomberg National Poll found that 66 percent of Americans want more government oversight of the process, known as fracking, in which water, chemicals and sand are shot underground to free gas trapped in rock. That’s an increase from 56 percent in a September poll. The poll found 18 percent favored less regulation, down from 29 percent three months ago.
 
As many states reap the benefits of fracking, others increasingly are lining up against it. Led by New York, seven Atlantic states this week threatened to sue the Environmental Protection Agency, seeking harsher air quality rules on the oil and gas industry and its most effective drilling method. For all of its virtues, which include setting the U.S. on a path toward energy independence, fracking continues to meet stiff resistance, particularly as it moves north from Pennsylvania.
 
Politico Pro: EPA expected to release soot standard
EPA faces a court deadline Friday to finalize a highly anticipated new air quality standard for soot, and scuttlebutt says the agency is getting what it wants. Numerous sources say EPA is expected to announce it’s setting the standard for fine particulate matter — also called PM2.5 — at 12 micrograms per cubic meter, down from the current standard of 15 micrograms per cubic meter. EPA originally sent a standard of 12 to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review this summer, before administration pressure led the agency to release a proposed a rule with a range of 12 to 13 micrograms per cubic meter, according to documents later released by the agency.
 
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries expressed concern over the fragile state of the global economy during their most recent meeting in Vienna. Ministers there said there was uncertainty moving forward to 2013 in the oil markets in large part because of a lack of "clear vision on the economic front." Though the U.S. economy was described as robust, and the Eurozone seen as bottoming out, OPEC revised its economic growth forecast for this year from 3.1 percent to 3.0 percent. Though oil demand is expected to revive because of expected economic growth in 2013, the cartel said it was keeping production ceilings in place because of a projected increase in non-OPEC supply.

Crews on Friday are resuming work on an oil well about nine miles west of Parshall that has been spraying an oily mist into the air. The Forum reports that officials expect to have the problem contained Friday morning. North Dakota Department of Health environmental geologist Kris Roberts says the well did not pose any danger to public health and there is no need for evacuations.