OIL & GAS: Seattle’s gas supplier helped orchestrate a sophisticated “wall of opposition” to a city council plan to ban future gas hookups in new buildings — part of a broader industry pattern of fighting climate action. (The Guardian)

ALSO:
• The Trump administration is under pressure to complete its Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas lease sale before Inauguration Day. (Washington Post)
• Washington joins other states in challenging a Trump administration rule allowing the transport of liquefied natural gas by rail. (Spokesman-Review)

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CARBON: Wyoming senators John Barrasso and Mike Enzi hold a field hearing on carbon capture and sequestration in the heart of the state’s coal country. (Casper Star-Tribune)

COAL: Wyoming regulators question a utility’s plan to close some of its coal-fired power plants early, despite evidence that shutting them down will reduce electricity costs. (E&E News, subscription) 

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Tesla asks owners of its electric vehicles to “help relieve heat wave stress on the grid” by reducing Supercharging and home charging. (Mashable)

STORAGE: Nine new battery projects totaling almost 2 gigawatts and up to 7.8 gigawatt-hours of grid storage will target three California coastal cities to provide dispatchable capacity. (Greentech Media)

UTILITIES:
• Nevada Energy’s CEO says when it comes to “load management events” — blackouts — the utility is at the mercy of RC West, which oversees Western power grid operators. (Las Vegas Review Journal)
• Montana regulators want to hear from NorthWestern Energy on the impact of the coronavirus on its rate structuring pilot program. (Montana Public Radio)
• Boulder, Colorado’s city council votes to place its 20-year franchise agreement with Xcel Energy on the November ballot. (Boulder Daily Camera)

WIND: A California wind energy trade group says the state needs to increase its investment in renewables, including wind, to diversify its generation mix beyond solar, storage and gas. (reNEWS) 

CALIFORNIA: A PG&E worker clearing utility infrastructure to assist northern California wildfire crews is the first confirmed death associated with the massive LNU Lighting Complex fire. (Los Angeles Times)

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NUCLEAR: More public hearings are scheduled about a proposed temporary nuclear waste storage facility in southeast New Mexico. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

COMMENTARY:
• A California assemblymember says the state should reclassify hydropower, its most affordable and reliable clean power, as renewable energy. (Cal Matters)
• An energy efficiency expert says California needs to regulate its building energy policies in keeping with its housing affordability, public health, and climate goals. (GreenBiz)
• The chairman of Nevada’s Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe says a proposed hydropower project will waste water, further jeopardize endangered species, and harm the sanctity of the lake for tribal members. (Reno Gazette Journal)

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.).