Royal Dutch Shell will sell almost all of its production assets in Canada’s oil sands in a $7.25 billion deal that cuts debt and reduces involvement in one of the most environmentally damaging forms of fossil-fuel extraction.

VICTORIA, British Columbia – British Columbia on Wednesday approved the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline from the Alberta oil sands that would allow oil exports to Asia. British Columbia Premier Christy Clark announced the conditions her government placed on the project have been met with a deal that will help fund environmental protection projects. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave federal government approval late last year.

A phased return of more than 80,000 residents of the fire-damaged oil sands city Fort McMurray will begin Wednesday as planned, Alberta’s premier announced Tuesday.

Alberta officials on Saturday lifted mandatory evacuation orders in some areas north of Fort McMurray, where a raging wildfire has forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 people and the closure of oil sands operations.

More than 80,000 residents who fled Canada’s main oil sands town because of a massive wildfire could return home starting on June 1 if conditions are deemed to be safe, officials said Wednesday.

Canadian officials said Tuesday they are taking a second look at their plan to allow people to return home to Fort McMurray after a raging wildfire spread north toward oil sands plants.

Hundreds of workers at several small oil camps north of Canada’s main oil sands city were ordered to evacuate on Monday due to a quickly spreading wildfire, and a precautionary evacuation is under way for several thousand more workers in the area.

BOISE – Interstate 90 through Coeur d’Alene could be closed for brief periods to allow megaloads of oil field equipment to pass through on their way to Canada. The Idaho Transportation Department is inviting the public to a meeting Thursday in Coeur d’Alene to discuss widening an on-ramp and brief, temporary closures of I-90 at Sherman Avenue that would be required to accommodate the three megaloads.

SYRINGA, Idaho — A Native American tribe and a conservation group have filed a joint suit in federal court to halt a massive shipment of oil field equipment that was traveling late Thursday through a federally protected river corridor in North Idaho.

A plan to move massive shipments of oil field equipment along a winding, scenic northern Idaho highway has sparked rock-throwing protests as Native Americans and environmentalists continue to try to block the megaload’s route to Canada.

Imperial Oil approved an expansion for its processing plant under construction in the Kearl Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada. The move raises the possibility of additional megaloads on north central Idaho’s roads, even though many of the details of the project are still being hammered out.

HELENA – An ExxonMobil subsidiary has stepped back from plans to haul oversized oil refinery equipment to Canada along scenic two-lane highways in Idaho and Montana. Imperial Oil has applied to the Montana Department of Transportation for permits to transport about 300 smaller versions of the so-called megaloads to Alberta via Interstates 90 and 15, transportation officials said Friday. That application would include all of the modules destined for the Kearl oil sands project, Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser said.

Officials in Latah County say at least four people were arrested as they protested the movement of a so-called megaload through the city of Moscow.

BOISE – What if giant loads of oil field equipment didn’t have to enter the United States to get from Asia to the Alberta oil sands project in Canada, and what if avoiding the U.S. actually cost less? That’s the prospect being floated by a railroad company that owns a Canadian seaport. It’s adding a new wrinkle to the debate over equipment transports to the third-largest proven crude oil reserve in the world, where dozens of companies are rushing to develop an oil resource that’s eclipsed only by those of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Dick Harwood says he’s very concerned about commerce in Idaho. Linwood Laughy says he’s very concerned about the same thing.