WIND:
• The Biden administration announces plans to identify and lease out several offshore wind sites along the nation’s coast by 2025, including near California and Oregon, to produce 30,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030. (New York Times)
• Federal agency documents suggest the Biden administration plans to choose and lease an offshore wind site along Oregon’s southern coast by the end of next year. (Willamette Week)  

OIL & GAS:
• Millions of Californians live within several hundred feet of harmful pollutant-emitting oil and gas wells and associated infrastructure, a phenomenon disproportionately affecting low-income communities and people of color. (Capital & Main) 
• A satellite detects a large cloud of methane emanating from oil and gas equipment in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin. (Bloomberg)
• A California appeals court strikes down a 2016 Monterey County ballot initiative banning new oil and gas wells and phasing out waste fluid disposal because it is preempted by state regulations. (news release)   
• New Mexico regulators fine Enterprise Field Services $90,000 for failing to report a fire and condensate spill at a Permian Basin facility. (news release)
• Colorado’s oil and gas drilling activity remains at pre-pandemic levels even though commodity prices are at multi-year highs. (Denver Business Journal) 

COAL: A U.S. District Court judge blocks a Montana law intended to prevent the owners of Colstrip coal power plant from shuttering the plant in 2025. (Montana Standard)

UTILITIES: Pacific Gas & Electric responds to customer complaints by working to reduce the number of safety-related power outages, cut down on the number of people affected and restore power faster. (KCRA)

TRANSPORTATION:
• The Port of Los Angeles will operate 24/7 to free up supply chain jams due to shipping congestion, which increases air pollution and may have contributed to southern California’s offshore oil spill. (Associated Press)
• Advocates say electric vehicles won’t catch on in the rural West without a major buildout of charging infrastructure. (Deseret News)

LITHIUM: An effort to extract lithium from brine beneath California’s Salton Sea could yield a sustainable source for the battery material, create needed jobs in the region and improve the economics of geothermal power production. (Canary Media) 

PUBLIC LANDS: Indigenous and environmental groups urge the Biden administration to end fossil fuel leasing, mining and drilling on public lands. (E&E News, subscription) 

MICROGRIDS: A Utah startup attempts to achieve carbon-neutral bitcoin mining with solar-plus-storage powered microgrids. (Utah Business)

CLIMATE: Phoenix, Arizona’s city council adopts a plan to cut emissions 50% by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. (news release) 

COMMENTARY: Members of a commission charged with planning lithium recovery in California’s Imperial Valley say the inclusive process will ensure development benefits the region’s communities. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

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.