UTILITIES: Arizona regulators scrutinize Salt River Project’s proposed natural gas plant expansion near a historically Black town, with an attorney for the community labeling the project “environmental racism.” (Utility Dive)  

ALSO: Public Service Company of New Mexico plans to survey power lines with helicopters to assess wildfire hazard. (NM Political Report)

OIL & GAS:
• New Mexico regulators fine five oil and gas operators a total of $275,000 for failing to report methane emissions. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• ConocoPhillips officials say a methane leak at one of its Alaska drilling facilities is from a shallow gas zone, not the oil-producing formation.
(Reuters)

HYDROPOWER:
• Federal officials consider reducing water releases from Lake Powell to prevent levels from dropping below the minimum needed for generating hydropower. (E&E News, subscription)
• A dry winter has left California reservoirs below historical levels, spurring predictions of diminished hydropower generation this summer. (Associated Press)

GRID:
• The U.S. Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on a high-voltage transmission line proposed for central Arizona that would carry power from a utility-scale solar facility. (news release)
• An Idaho county seeks federal funding to construct a solar- and wind-powered microgrid to provide electricity to critical facilities during power outages. (Idaho Mountain Express) 

SOLAR:
• Hawaii’s Supreme Court upholds regulators’ approval of a utility’s agreement to purchase power from a 15 MW solar facility proposed near a Maui subdivision. (Maui News)
• California’s Stanford University acquires 100% of its power from renewable sources after bringing an 88 MW solar facility online. (PV Magazine)
• California researchers find subsidies for low- to middle-income households increase rooftop solar adoption. (news release)
• A New Mexico county’s citizens’ zoning commission greenlights a community solar project proposed for private, rural land. (Roswell Daily Record)

COAL:
• Canada coal mine pollution sends selenium levels soaring in fish from a Montana lake as state officials review new thresholds for the toxic material. (Daily Inter Lake)
• Northern California’s Humboldt Bay harbor commission votes to prohibit coal storage on the property and support offshore wind development instead. (Eureka Times-Standard)  
• Regulators say Public Service Company of New Mexico does not need approval to continue running a coal power plant beyond its scheduled June 2022 retirement date. (The Paper)

TRANSPORTATION:
• A study finds rural Oregon farmland solar systems could charge more than 600,000 electric vehicles per year. (Nature) 
• Democratic California lawmakers propose sending $400 rebates to state taxpayers to offset high gasoline prices. (Los Angeles Times) 

CLIMATE: An Oregon county’s officials say it can only meet its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by rapidly scaling and deploying advanced transportation technology and infrastructure. (Register-Guard)

CARBON CAPTURE: Colorado researchers develop a method to electrochemically capture carbon emissions and transform them into useful materials. (AZO Materials)

NUCLEAR:
• U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming introduces a bill that would ban imports of Russian uranium. (The Hill)
• A global mining firm’s officials say they have found a significant uranium deposit in Wyoming’s Red Desert. (Cowboy State Daily)

Jonathan hails from southwestern Colorado and has been writing about the land, cultures, and communities of the Western United States for more than two decades. He compiles the Western Energy News digest. He is the author of three books, a contributing editor at High Country News, and the editor of the Land Desk, an e-newsletter that provides coverage and context on issues critical to the West.