COAL:
• The Biden administration allocates $725 million, including $36 million to Western states and the Navajo Nation, to clean up abandoned coal mines. (Associated Press)
• Coal mining paved the way for suburban development in the grasslands near Boulder, Colorado, a century ago, where an abandoned coal mine fire may have sparked last year’s fire that destroyed 1,000 homes. (High Country News)
UTILITIES:
• California utilities contribute millions of dollars to a group claiming to represent low-income residents that’s pushing to cut utilities’ net metering payments to rooftop solar customers. (Inside Climate News)
• A California court begins hearings on criminal charges against Pacific Gas & Electric for its role in sparking the 2019 Kincaid Fire. (Press Democrat)
GEOTHERMAL: A federal appeals court allows construction to proceed on a Nevada geothermal project that a lower court had blocked while a lawsuit proceeded. (E&E News, subscription)
OIL & GAS:
• A government watchdog group finds Western states stand to gain billions of dollars each year if the U.S. Interior Department increases federal oil and gas royalty rates as proposed. (Grist)
• U.S. lawmakers look to includes $403 million to address water contamination blamed on the Navy’s Red Hill fuel storage facility in Hawaii in a federal spending bill. (Associated Press)
• Rising oil prices spur producers to step up drilling in northeastern Colorado and Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. (Reuters)
SOLAR: A California irrigation district plans to use a $20 million state grant to install solar panels over canals to generate power and reduce evaporation. (Modesto Bee)
HYDROPOWER: A northern California water district plans to install hydroelectricity turbines in irrigation canals to provide power to the local grid. (CBS13)
CLEAN ENERGY: Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduces a bill that would require 80% of the Railbelt region’s electricity to come from renewable sources, including large hydropower, by 2040. (Anchorage Daily News)
CLIMATE: A lawsuit from Montana children targeting the state’s energy policies’ contributions to climate change is set to go to trial early next year. (Montana State News Bureau)
BIOFUELS: Kinder Morgan plans to build the nation’s first renewable diesel pipeline hub in southern California. (S&P Global)
MICROGRIDS: A northern California U.S. Coast Guard facility begins construction on a solar-powered microgrid with 11.6 MWh battery storage. (North Bay Business Journal)
TRANSPORTATION:
• California officials explore ways to extend the life of electric vehicle batteries and safely recycle them when they are no longer useful. (KCRW)
• An electric vehicle company sponsors dozens of charging station installations in California national parks. (National Parks Traveler)
HYDROGEN: New Mexico lawmakers again table a recently revived bill that would incentivize state hydrogen hubs amid Indigenous and environmental protests. (Albuquerque Journal)
COMMENTARY: A former oil and gas lawyer says a Wyoming plan to reimburse oil and gas companies to offset proposed federal royalty rate increases would be an accounting nightmare and hurt school and government funding. (WyoFile)