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OIL & GAS: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has stopped the approval of new fracking in the state pending an independent scientific review as the state toughens its drilling oversight. (Los Angeles Times)
ALSO:
• Newsom also aims to speed up the timeline for closing the Aliso Canyon natural gas facility. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Colorado’s oil and gas commission declines Weld County’s offer to combine resources on an air quality and emissions study for oil and gas drilling. (Greeley Tribune)
• New Mexico politicians are critical of Democrat presidential candidates’ proposed oil and gas bans. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• Environmental groups and neighborhood councils are urging Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to not proceed with building a gas plant in Utah. (Los Angeles Times)
• New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham met with energy companies recently amid an overhaul of methane regulations and new requirements for cleaner sources of electricity. (Associated Press)
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CALIFORNIA:
• PG&E is struggling to find a way out of bankruptcy, caught between needing to settle with wildfire victims, creditors and increasing calls for a state takeover. (New York Times)
• PG&E is reportedly close to a $1.7 billion settlement with California regulators to cover penalties for failing to properly maintain equipment that caused wildfires in 2017. (Bloomberg)
• PG&E wildfire victims say the utility’s $11 billion pact with property insurers is getting in the way of a settlement. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)
• PG&E says it has found numerous suspicious California wildfire claims, including one for a 500-pound emerald worth $280 million supposedly destroyed in a fire last year. (Bloomberg)
• Experts say photos of several hooks on a PG&E transmission line that sparked the destructive and deadly Camp Fire last year show significant long-term wear readily evident during any detailed inspection. (NBC Bay Area)
UTILITIES:
• Standard & Poor’s has downgraded Tri-State Generation and Transmission’s credit rating from A to A-, citing imminent departure of one Colorado member and the push by two others for a proposed exit fee. (Denver Post)
• Oregon’s legislatively mandated community solar program is on shaky ground because of a decision by state regulators effectively shrinking subsidies that would have been borne by utility ratepayers. (Portland Business Journal, subscription)
OVERSIGHT: A legislative audit of Utah’s Division of Oil, Gas and Mining found it “alarming” that regulators are not carrying out state-mandated oversight of nearly 200 drilling operators. (Deseret News)
TRANSPORTATION: California electric vehicle owners will pay more for charging after PG&E raised off-peak costs by 25%, with the period now running from midnight to 3pm. (Forbes)
NUCLEAR: New Mexico legislators say there is “not much benefit” to Holtec building one of the world’s largest nuclear waste storage facilities in the state. (New Mexico Political Report)
SOLAR:
• A new analysis explores the Department of Energy’s formal request for information on methods to allow concentrated solar power to commercially deploy as cost-competitive energy storage, citing California projects. (Utility Dive)
• A new 1.2 MW solar facility is the largest in Alaska. (Anchorage Daily News)
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CLEAN ENERGY: The California Energy Commission launched a new $11 million program to help accelerate the commercialization of clean energy technologies. (Green Car Congress)
COMMENTARY:
• An M.I.T. professor says California’s San Onofre nuclear plant is a Chernobyl waiting to happen (Los Angeles Times)
• A columnist says other states will have to follow California’s lead in building electric vehicle charging points if electrification is going to work. (The Truth About Cars)