Western Energy News

State report questions impact of California’s clean-car incentives

By

ELECTRIC CARS: A state auditor’s report says California’s pollution agency doesn’t have enough data to support claimed emissions reductions from its electric vehicle rebate program. (San Francisco Chronicle)

ALSO: Electric car startup Lucid Motors raises $4 billion in a merger that will support expansion of its Arizona factory. (CNN Business)

PUBLIC LANDS:
• Interior Secretary nominee Deb Haaland addresses criticism from Senate Republicans about drilling restrictions on public lands in her second day of confirmation hearings. (Washington Post)
• Former Democratic senators Tom and Mark Udall say characterizations of Haaland as a “radical” are “motivated by something other than her record.” (The Hill)
• Alaska Rep. Don Young urges fellow Republicans to support Haaland’s confirmation: “She will listen to you.” (Anchorage Daily News)
• Native American leaders around the country praise Haaland’s historic nomination, which they say could open opportunities for greater representation. (Associated Press)

UTILITIES:
• California regulators say more than $1 billion in utility bills remain unpaid, with one commissioner calling the situation “extraordinarily frightening.” (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Xcel Energy is expected to release an updated resource plan today outlining its plans for further emissions reductions in Colorado.

Western Energy News

Arizona utility to pay $24 million for overcharging customers

By

UTILITIES: Arizona’s largest utility agrees to pay $24 million to roughly 225,000 ratepayers for overcharging after the utility’s online calculation tool gave incorrect recommendations on cheapest available plans. (Associated Press) 

OIL & GAS:
• The EPA orders two oil and gas companies to pay $1.9 million for oil and produced water spills to Wyoming surface waters. (Wyoming Tribune)
• A San Francisco-based activist investment firm calls for Exxon to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. (Bloomberg)

GRID:
• Though California, Oregon, and Texas have taken different approaches to energy, all three states have a “shared dilemma” from extreme weather events that crashed their power grids. (Politico, KGW)
• Utility and grid experts say Arizona is unlikely to have a widespread electric grid failure even with an extended period of extreme heat.

Western Energy News

Haaland’s confirmation would be a pivotal moment for Western tribes

By

PUBLIC LANDS: Some Republican Senators say President Biden’s Interior Secretary-designate Deb Haaland, whose confirmation hearing begins tomorrow, is unlikely to secure their support due to her opposition to fracking and stance on other issues. (Bloomberg)

ALSO: Indigenous leaders hope that Haaland, who would be the first Native American cabinet secretary, will give tribal governments a stronger voice in energy siting decisions. (Associated Press)

GRID:
• Oregon is among states with more power outages than Texas as of yesterday morning, and nearly 39,000 of the state’s electricity ratepayers remain without power, with service restoration expected to take up to seven days. (KTRK, Associated Press)
• Oregon regulators have warned that weaknesses in PacifiCorp’s vegetation management program have left the utility vulnerable to outages. (Oregonian)
• Colorado’s grid isn’t immune to some of the extreme weather difficulties facing Texas, but has access to backup power supplied by a regional grid.

Western Energy News

Wyoming seeks exemption from federal oil and gas lease moratorium

By

PUBLIC LANDS: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon in a letter to the Interior Department requests that the state be exempt from President Biden’s moratorium on new federal oil and gas leases and drilling. (Casper Star-Tribune)

ALSO: The Bureau of Land Management’s approval of a Nevada lithium mine was done without allowing the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe to comment, which is raising concerns about the project from tribal citizens now aware of it. (High Country News)

EQUITY: Advocates cite numerous failings in the judicial system that put Indigenous women at increased risk of sexual assault and abduction by transient workers on pipelines and other resource extraction projects. (Vice)

UTILITIES:
• Experts say power outages in California and Texas show how utilities face problems from extreme natural disasters driven by climate change, and may be “woefully unprepared.” (New York Times)
• A New Mexico bill aiming to recover lost investments and save ratepayers money when utilities close power plants advances a state senate committee. (Associated Press)
• About 15,000 homes and businesses in Oregon’s hardest-hit areas could experience extended power outages into next week, Portland General Electric’s CEO says.

Western Energy News

California bill would ban fracking by 2027

By

OIL & GAS: California lawmakers introduce a bill that would ban fracking and other methods of oil extraction in the state by 2027 and require wells to be set back from homes and other public places. (San Francisco Chronicle)

ALSO: A group of herring fishermen file a class action lawsuit against Chevron over a San Francisco Bay oil spill. (Courthouse News)

PUBLIC LANDS:
• The Biden administration is appealing a federal judge’s ruling requiring further analysis of oil and gas lease sales in Utah’s Uinta Basin. (E&E News, subscription)
• House Democrats’ public lands package includes conservation bills aiming to protect Colorado and California wilderness as well as  legislation that would permanently protect the Grand Canyon area from uranium mining. (E&E News, KNAU)
• The Interior Department is expected to postpone today the Trump administration’s decision to allow mining on 10 million acres of Alaska tracts.