GRID: California’s grid operator asks the Biden administration to allow natural gas power plants to run without pollution restrictions for 60 days to reduce grid strain. (Reuters)

ALSO: Hawaii embarks on a program allowing two-way integration of residential solar-plus-storage systems into the grid to modulate electricity supply and demand. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, subscription) 

COAL:
• A federal judge strikes down an Obama-era rule that closed a loophole allowing coal companies to reduce royalties for mining on public lands, but keeps an oil and gas-related rule intact. (E&E News)
• Colorado and Wyoming energy communities explore non-fuel uses for coal to prop up regional economies as the industry declines. (Grand Junction Sentinel).
• New Mexico regulators wrap up a hearing on Public Service Company of New Mexico’s proposal to turn over its share of a coal power plant to a Navajo Nation-backed company. (Santa Fe New Mexican) 

OIL & GAS:
• The House Natural Resources Committee passes a bill that would halt oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, raise royalties on public land drilling and levy royalties on flared or vented methane. (Reuters)
• New Mexico environmentalists and the oil and gas industry debate the proposed federal endangered species listing of the lesser prairie chicken. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

CLIMATE: California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Nevada set all-time summer heat records in 2021, according to federal data. (Los Angeles Times) 

SOLAR: The federal Bureau of Land Management begins the bidding process to lease 4,800 acres in Utah for solar development. (news release)

GEOTHERMAL: Construction begins on a 30 MW geothermal power project in Mammoth Lakes, California. (news release)

HYDROGEN: Chevron is poised to acquire a stake in a Utah project that would produce green hydrogen and store it in underground salt caverns to create a “Western Energy Hub.” (Power Magazine)

WIND: California’s senate passes a bill directing state agencies to set offshore wind production goals and to create a plan to deploy large-scale wind power by 2045. (news release)

BIOFUELS: Colorado’s Supreme Court allows a biogas producer’s $100 million lawsuit against state regulators to proceed. (Colorado Sun)

TRANSPORTATION: Xcel Energy introduces a program to expedite electric vehicle deployment in Colorado, which includes incentives for low-income customers. (Colorado Public Radio)

COMMENTARY:
• Colorado county leaders say the state’s strongest-in-the-nation methane emissions rules have spawned a thriving methane mitigation industry. (Colorado Sun)
• The CEO of a New Mexico rural cooperative that left its generation & transmission association five years ago says distribution cooperatives “need to serve their members’ energy goals, not the financial objectives of their G&T providers.” (Utility Dive)
• Converting Oregon’s heavy trucks, busses and vans to cleaner power sources would cut climate pollution and improve the state’s air quality, an environmental advocate says. (Portland 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.