POLLUTION: Colorado regulators say they will continue enforcing laws aiming to prevent greenhouse and toxic gas emissions and water pollution during the coronavirus crisis. (Colorado Independent)

ALSO: Coronavirus patients in areas with high levels of air pollution are far more likely to die than those in cleaner parts of the country, a study finds. (New York Times)

***YOUR AD HERE: Webinar? Job posting? Virtual event? Every day, Energy News Network email digests reach thousands of highly engaged professionals. Click here for more information on how to get your promotion to our audience.***

PIPELINES: The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline says construction began in Montana last weekend, as tribal and community advocates warn that worker camps could spread coronavirus. (Associated Press)

CALIFORNIA: The 11 remaining members of the wildfire victims’ committee involved in PG&E’s bankruptcy have rejected the utility’s $13.5 billion settlement, as lawyers for victims doubt the utility will be able to pay the full amount. (New York Times, Associated Press)

COAL: New data shows that Wyoming’s coal production continued to fall in the first three months of 2020, 10.8 million tons less than this time last year. (Casper Star-Tribune)

MICROGRIDS: PG&E’s new wildfire strategy includes making an existing natural gas-fired plant capable of functioning as a microgrid. (Microgrid Knowledge)

OIL & GAS:
• Environmentalists and oil industry experts disagree about the impact of the coronavirus crisis on flaring in the Permian Basin. (Houston Chronicle)
• New Mexico announces an “emergency” rulemaking process to allow wells to be shut down without losing leases on public lands. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• Wyoming’s legislature is looking at options for a virtual special session, concerned about the state’s revenue streams, notably decreased oil and gas prices and production. (Sheridan Press)

TECHNOLOGY: Tesla revealed its untested ventilator prototype made with car parts on YouTube over the weekend. (Washington Post)

UTILITIES:
• Utility energy efficiency programs in Washington and Colorado are suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Utility Dive)
• A Washington utility is offering several programs to help customers facing hardship during the coronavirus pandemic. (Spokesman-Review)

RENEWABLES: Analysts break down California’s new handbook on its renewables incentive program, simplifying it to aid the understanding of solar and storage developers. (PV Magazine)

BIOFUELS: Researchers at Berkeley Lab set out strategies showing how biofuels can achieve cost parity with conventional petroleum fuels. (news release)

COMMENTARY:
• The president & CEO of the Colorado Solar and Storage Association offers suggestions to keep the clean energy market going with little or no cost to taxpayers. (Utility Dive)
• A Wyoming journalist and former miner says “state leadership is going to have to realize it cannot succeed in saving the coal industry.” (Livingston Enterprise)

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.).