OIL & GAS: The Biden administration says it will appeal a court’s June injunction on its oil and gas leasing pause, but also will proceed with leasing “in a manner that takes into account the program’s many deficiencies.” (Reuters)

ALSO:
• Activists say oil and gas development threatens dark skies and cultural resources at a remote national monument in southeastern Utah. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Santa Barbara County, California, releases an environmental impact report on ExxonMobil’s plan to resume offshore drilling and truck oil along Highway 101. (news release)  
• A natural gas pipeline explosion in Arizona killed two people and critically injured another. (Arizona Republic)

CLIMATE:
• Federal officials declare a first-ever shortage on the drought-addled Colorado River after Lake Mead drops to all-time low levels, triggering water cutbacks for Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico. (New York Times)
• Colorado officials draft a rule requiring state and local governments to consider, measure and potentially offset the climate-warming effects of proposed transportation projects. (Colorado Public Radio)
• Wyoming’s energy regulators unveil an all-of-the-above strategy embracing fossil fuels and renewables to reach net-zero carbon emissions. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)

UTILITIES:
• Pacific Gas & Electric workers inspected equipment near where the Fly Fire started but failed to note a tree that toppled into a power line, possibly igniting the blaze two weeks later. (San Francisco Chronicle)  
• An independent analysis finds Arizona’s mandate to achieve 100% clean energy by 2050 could increase ratepayers’ utility bills by as much as $60 per month, but renewable energy advocates say advances in technology could reduce that amount. (Utility Dive)

TRANSITION:
• Hawaii’s geography and lack of coal or natural gas deposits have helped accelerate the state’s transition from fossil fuels to renewables. (Canary Media)
• U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s visit to New Mexico this week will focus on the state’s push for more renewable energy and workforce opportunities for communities reliant on a soon-to-retire coal-fired power plant. (Associated Press)

NUCLEAR:
• The Havasupai Tribe faces legal hurdles in its fight to stop a uranium mine proposed on federal land near Grand Canyon National Park that the tribe considers sacred. (Arizona Republic)
• Oregon-based NuScale Power and Xcel Energy sign an agreement to explore the feasibility of the Colorado utility operating NuScale’s small modular reactor plants. (news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A California school district adds six electric school buses to its fleet. (news release)

COMMENTARY:
• A former Arizona utility regulator says Tucson Electric Power’s transmission tariff proposal would threaten the state’s renewable energy development efforts. (Arizona Daily Star)
• A former energy regulator urges Wyoming to seize on the opportunity offered by the Biden administration’s review of the federal oil and gas leasing program “to benefit us in the new energy economy.”  (WyoFile)

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.