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CALIFORNIA: California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejects PG&E’s restructuring plan to compensate wildfire victims and exit bankruptcy, saying it does not position it to “provide safe, reliable, and affordable service.” (Sacramento Bee)
ALSO: PG&E is looking for companies to install microgrids near 20 of its substations that could keep power flowing even when transmission lines are shut off due to wildfire risk. (Microgrid Knowledge)
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OIL & GAS:
• A village on Alaska’s North Slope is caught between the comfort of a new oil boom and a future with increased greenhouse gas emissions. (Washington Post)
• Boulder County, Colorado, residents are looking for ways to extend the county’s moratorium on fracking. (Longmont Times-Call)
• ConocoPhillips sues its former senior drilling and wells planner and several co-conspirators in Alaska for allegedly embezzling nearly $7.3 million. (Alaska Public Media)
SOLAR:
• As California celebrates 1 million solar roofs, experts say a battle over the extent to which solar will be generated atop homes and businesses is set to heat up in the coming months. (Solar Power World, San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Solar energy is helping to fill the economic hole left by rural Colorado’s dying coal industry, providing jobs to children of coal miners. (High Country News)
• An industry born on residential rooftops is rapidly expanding to open tracts of land and raising concerns in some communities. (E&E News)
• Elon Musk says Tesla’s solar energy and storage business will grow quicker than its electric vehicle business despite heavy customer criticism and a shareholder lawsuit. (CNBC)
UTILITIES:
• An out-of-service transmission line is costing Alaska utility customers between $30,000 and $50,000 per day in additional power costs. (Anchorage Daily News)
• Wyoming regulators approve a settlement allowing Black Hills Energy to consolidate base rates and tariffs as well as increase rates. (Wyoming Tribune Eagle)
• Las Cruces Utilities advises homeowners that natural gas costs less than propane. (Las Cruces Sun News)
WASTE-TO-ENERGY: A new $700 million project aims to transform waste from Utah hog farms into renewable natural gas. (Deseret News)
GRID: The Bureau of Land Management for Montana and the Dakotas issues a new policy aimed at limiting fire risk from power lines on federal land. (KOTA)
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Southern California Tesla rental service is cited in an informal study aiming to evaluate how much electric vehicle batteries degrade with real-world use. (Quartz)
COMMENTARY:
• A Montana editorial board says state regulators should be very wary of NorthWestern Energy’s plan to buy a larger share in Colstrip for $1. (Bozeman Daily Chronicle)
• A think tank fellow says California consumers deserve better than PG&E and the state should give serious consideration to competitive electricity markets. (Orange County Register)
• An oil and gas drilling trade and lobbying group official says there is no need for a ban on fracking in Nevada as it has been done safely in the state for decades. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)