GRID: California grid operators declare a stage-two emergency after a huge wildfire takes out the Oregon-California intertie — which carries 4,800 megawatts of hydropower to California — just as extreme heat drives up power demand. (Oregonian)

ALSO:
• Severe monsoonal storms in Arizona damage grid infrastructure, knocking out power to 60,000 Phoenix-area homes and businesses. (Arizona Republic)
• As Las Vegas matches its all-time record high of 117 F, Nevada grid operators ask residents to conserve power to relieve grid strain. (Las Vegas Review-Journal) 

CLIMATE:
• Death Valley matches an all-time high temperature record of 130°F as extreme heat grips the West. (New York Times)
• Amid warnings of an impending climate crisis, a California city begins developing a sustainability plan. (Voice of OC)
• The operators of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline install ground-cooling systems to prevent further damage from melting permafrost. (Inside Climate News)

OIL & GAS:
• California regulators deny 21 drilling permits as the state looks to phase out hydraulic fracturing. (Associated Press)
• Wyoming allocates $15 million in federal COVID-relief funds to 216 oil and gas projects around the state. (Casper Star-Tribune)
• An international lobbying firm pushes a rural New Mexico county’s pro-oil and gas stances in Santa Fe and Washington, D.C., while also giving industry access to local officials. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Fort Collins, Colorado, deploys 200 e-bikes and 400 e-scooters around the city to lure residents out of their cars. (KUNC)
• A Washington county sheriff’s department adds an electric patrol car to its fleet. (HeraldNet)

LITHIUM: Stellantis, the world’s fourth largest automaker, becomes the second company, after GM, to agree to acquire lithium from a proposed extraction facility near the Salton Sea in California. (Reuters)

UTILITIES: A Southern California community energy firm reduces the amount of renewable energy it provides to cut costs. (Desert Sun)

GEOTHERMAL: Researchers in rural Utah complete wells to pump water underground and use the earth’s heat to produce geothermal power. (KUER)

NUCLEAR: The Biden administration signals it will remove uranium from its critical mineral list and reverse a Trump administration policy to fast-track uranium mining permits. (E&E News, subscription)

COMMENTARY:
• A New Mexico geologist urges regulators to end “nuclear injustice” in the state by denying two proposed spent nuclear fuel storage facilities. (Albuquerque Journal)
• A Navajo community organizer says a 200-megawatt solar facility proposed by the tribal government will not benefit the community where it would be located. (Navajo Times)
• A California columnist says the effort to rework the state’s rooftop solar incentives is motivated by utility profits, not ratepayers’ best interests. (Coast News)
• A former mayor of Butte, Montana, urges the community to take a “leadership role in green energy” by approving a proposed utility-scale solar project. (Montana Standard)

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.