COAL: A Colorado Springs power plant will stop burning coal this week and shift to natural gas until its closure at the end of next year. (Colorado Public Radio)

UTILITIES:
• New Mexico environmental and civic groups seek an investigation into the state attorney general’s alleged conflicts of interest relating to the proposed merger of Public Service Company of New Mexico and Avangrid. (Capital & Main)
• The leader of a group opposing the PNM and Avangrid merger hopes to end New Mexico’s role as an “energy colony.” (Searchlight New Mexico)

GRID: Oregon’s energy department launches an examination of the risks and benefits of requiring utilities to join a regional transmission organization. (RTO Insider, subscription) 

HYDROGEN: Southwest Gas Holdings will partner with Arizona and Nevada universities to test blending hydrogen with natural gas, with a goal to eventually produce the hydrogen with solar power. (S&P Global) 

SOLAR: Consolidated Edison brings Nevada’s largest DC-coupled solar-battery system online in the northern part of the state. (Northern Nevada Business Weekly)

OIL & GAS:
• An Australian company’s exploration well likely has tapped into a 1.6 billion barrel oil reservoir on Alaska’s North Slope. (Anchorage Daily News)
• Portland, Oregon, officials are expected to decide next week whether to allow a major oil storage and shipping terminal to continue operating in the city, testing its 2019 ban on fossil fuel infrastructure expansions. (OPB)
• Progressive Congressional Democrats plan to use the reconciliation process to halt drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reform the oil and gas leasing program and strengthen environmental reviews, according to internal documents. (E&E News)
• A Denver refinery with a history of air pollution violations activates an online emissions monitoring system. (Colorado Sun)
• U.S. Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh visits an abandoned oil and gas well in New Mexico to highlight the $4.7 billion for orphaned well cleanup in the infrastructure bill. (NM Political Report)

BIOFUELS:
• An Oregon ski resort plans to build a biomass power plant fired with wood cleared from nearby forests for wildfire prevention. (KTVZ)
• Wyoming’s U.S. senators call on the EPA to lower biofuel mandates to protect small refineries and reduce gasoline prices. (Casper Star-Tribune)
• An industry-led study finds that a proposal to capture carbon emissions from two California ethanol plants and sequester it underground in nearby saline formations is feasible. (WorldOil)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A California lawmaker proposes the creation of a governor-appointed state electric vehicle czar to expedite electric vehicle deployment. (San Francisco Chronicle)

LITHIUM: A federal judge today will consider environmental and tribal groups’ request to halt preliminary construction work on the Thacker Pass lithium mine proposed for northern Nevada. (NPR) 

NUCLEAR: Pacific Gas & Electric explores repurposing the Diablo Canyon Power Plant site after its 2025 closure, with an RV campsite, housing and an offshore wind installation raised as possibilities. (KCBX)

CLIMATE:
• Residents and tourists flee smoke-blanketed Lake Tahoe as the Caldor Fire approaches the lakeside communities. (Los Angeles Times)
• Harvard University researchers establish a link between wildfire smoke and COVID-19 cases and deaths in California, Oregon and Washington. (Palo Alto Online)

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Jonathan P. Thompson

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.