OIL & GAS: Boulder County, Colorado officials unanimously approve stricter oil and gas development regulations requiring future well pads to be set back at least 2,500 feet from any home, school or child care facility. (Longmont Times-Call)

ALSO: The Bureau of Land Management’s oil and gas drilling lease auction in California, its first in the state in eight years, only nets $46,000. (Courthouse News Service, Reuters)

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CLIMATE: Environmentalists are critical of Jeff Bezos’ $10 billion clean energy and climate fund, accusing the Amazon CEO of “greenwashing.” (E&E News, subscription)

CLEAN ENERGY: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is among a coalition of 25 governors calling on Congress to pass a stimulus package that boosts clean energy job growth. (The Verge)

GRID:
• A new Southern California Edison white paper indicates that the underlying design and architecture of the grid has not evolved at the same pace as technology advancements in software and hardware. (Solar Industry Magazine)
• A Puget Sound Energy official says the utility is gathering data to determine how energy is flowing across the grid. (Bellevue Reporter)

SOLAR:
• A Hawaii observatory installs a new solar power system that will produce 259.1 MWh of energy annually, reducing the facility’s need for electricity as well as carbon emissions. (Big Island News)
• A San Diego school begins construction on an 800 KWh solar power project expected to save nearly half a million dollars in annual energy costs. (Solar Builder Magazine)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A new report outlines how Washington could transition most of its 56,000 state vehicle fleet to electric by 2035. (E&E News)
• The California startup behind an electrical vehicle that gets substantial power via solar panels instead of electric charging says the first batch has sold out in 24 hours. (The Independent)
• A Colorado developer and manufacturer of electric engines and transmissions that replace gas-powered powertrains on buses and commercial trucks plans to go public. (Loveland Reporter-Herald)

UTILITIES:
• A new Colorado law provides an additional $5 million to a fund that helps low income residents with paying their utility bills. (Colorado Newsline)
• A new exploration of PG&E’s settlement with wildfire victims finds that it came about due to a multidisciplinary, project-managed approach. (Financial Times)
• A PG&E official says its saw-equipped helicopters are a fast, efficient way to clear trees threatening rural power transmission lines and reduce storm-caused outages. (Santa Rosa Press-Democrat)

STORAGE: A California automotive and energy storage company opens a new battery production line that will manufacture the company’s battery packs featuring next-generation cells. (Green Car Congress)

COMMENTARY: A California editorial board says the Paris Agreement, while an important step, doesn’t go far enough, and governments must work to end the extraction of fossil fuels. (Los Angeles Times)

Lisa Ellwood

Lisa is a Lenape and Nanticoke Native American freelance journalist, editor and writer currently based in the U.K. She has more than two decades’ experience working in corporate communications and print and digital media. She compiles the Western Energy News daily email digest. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple University; her specializations include data journalism and visualization. She is a member of the Native American Journalists Association, Investigative Reporters & Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, and the National Union of Journalists (U.K.).