CLIMATE: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis releases a draft climate plan calling for an 80% drop in emissions from electricity generation and for most cars in the state to be electric by midcentury. (Denver Post)

PUBLIC LANDS:
• Interior Secretary David Bernhardt will lead the Bureau of Land Management after interim director William Perry Pendley was removed by a court order. (The Hill)
• The director of the U.S. Geological Survey has reportedly blocked the release of the agency’s scientists’ findings for months on the impact of oil and gas drilling on Alaska polar bears. (Washington Post)
• California lawmakers want new oil and gas development on federal land to be barred as part of the state’s final 2021 spending bill. (E&E News, subscription)
• Conservationists ease up on challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s plan for National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska oil and gas development. (E&E News, subscription)

CALIFORNIA:
• PG&E says there is no indication that its equipment sparked a Northern California wildfire, and Nevada City undergrounding projects have been delayed due to high costs. (San Francisco Chronicle, Union of Grass Valley)
• California’s grid operator says solar energy output in the state has decreased by as much as around 20% due to thick layers of wildfire ash and smoke over the past few days. (KQED)
• Californians are asked to conserve electricity this afternoon and evening in a bid to avoid rolling blackouts amidst a forecasted triple-digit heatwave. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY: Former presidential candidate Tom Steyer believes focusing on clean energy jobs will help California’s economic recovery during the pandemic. (Desert Sun)

COAL: A Wyoming economist says the FTC’s decision to block a proposed merger between Arch Resources Inc and Peabody Energy puts the state’s miners and taxpayers at increased risk. (WyoFile) 

OIL & GAS:
• The governors of Texas and New Mexico praise the oil industry as an economic driver at an industry conference. (Midland Reporter-Telegram)
• New Mexico’s oil and gas industry supported 134,000 jobs and added $16.6 billion to the state’s economy in 2018, according to a new report. (KRWG)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicles are likely to be California’s top manufacturing export this year, according to a climate and energy researcher. (Forbes)

UTILITIES: A Colorado city’s voters will decide the future of its franchise with Black Hills Energy in November. (Pueblo Chieftain)

WIND: A team of University of Wyoming researchers are studying the airflow turbulence produced by wind turbines, hoping to arrange wind farms more efficiently to minimize such impacts. (Wyoming Public Media)

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.).