WIND: Wyoming counties typically dependent on extractive industries are reaping the financial benefits of new wind energy projects. (High Country News)

CLIMATE: While Colorado is off track to meet emissions cuts required by a 2019 law, state regulators still do not have a consensus on how to move forward. (Colorado Newsline)

COAL:
• Utah has joined a lawsuit opposing a California city’s rejection of a coal export terminal. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• A watchdog group is opposing renewal of state permits for a Wyoming coal mine as $50 million in royalty payments remain unsettled. (Wyoming News Exchange)

OIL & GAS:
• Utah conservation groups are prepared to fight a new Trump Administration rule change that frees companies from being penalized if birds are accidentally killed from business activities including oil spills. (Utah Public Radio)
• Two environmental groups threaten to sue an Oregon oil export terminal over construction work that is taking place without a permit. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

TRANSPORTATION:
• A Utah transportation official says the state is looking at a mileage tax and congestion pricing to help offset declining gasoline tax revenue in the state. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Berkeley, California is considering banning the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2027, but the city’s mayor and other officials don’t think the proposal is realistic. (San Francisco Chronicle)

SOLAR: Work will begin this spring on 14 solar arrays in coal communities in Colorado’s Yampa Valley, with help from a $2.1 million state grant. (Steamboat Pilot & Today, Energy News Network archive)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Apple is reportedly set to agree to a partnership deal for autonomous electric cars by March and begin production around 2024, according to a South Korea media report. (Reuters)
• California-based electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors is reportedly in talks to go public. (Bloomberg)

UTILITIES:
• California regulators are expected to rule this week on a dispute between a San Diego utility and a community choice provider that is accusing the utility of manipulating rates to prevent competition. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Xcel Energy faces opposition over a plan to increase its New Mexico power rates 9.2% at a time where utility bills are already high. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• Central Washington electrical utilities are on high alert for signs of bootleg bitcoin mines, including suspiciously high power bills and 24-hour exhaust fans. (Wenatchee World)

RENEWABLES:
• Advocates say Utah can offset lost revenue from fossil fuel leasing by taking advantage of the potential for clean energy development on public land. (Deseret News)
• New Mexico’s land office announces the winners of auctions for two new renewable energy projects in the state. (KRQE)

COMMENTARY: An Alaska-based conservation biologist says the The Trump administration’s rush to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was a humiliating act of desperation. (Anchorage Press)

Lisa is a Lenape and Nanticoke Native American freelance journalist, editor and writer currently based in the U.K. She has more than two decades’ experience working in corporate communications and print and digital media. She compiles the Western Energy News daily email digest. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple University; her specializations include data journalism and visualization. She is a member of the Native American Journalists Association, Investigative Reporters & Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, and the National Union of Journalists (U.K.).