OIL & GAS: A conservation group sues the U.S. Interior Department over 32 Trump-era oil and gas leases in Utah, alleging it did not assess archaeology and nature impacts, including in nearby Bears Ears National Monument. (Reuters) 

ALSO:
• An investigation finds California’s opaque approval process for underground injection wells means the state is likely underreporting the number of new wells, which pose a risk to groundwater. (Capital & Main)
• Carlsbad, New Mexico residents fight back against the proliferation of oil and gas development in the Permian Basin, citing health and environmental concerns. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• Federal regulators order Hilcorp to replace an aging, 7-mile-long pipeline that sprung a leak last week in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. (Anchorage Daily News)

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COAL:
• Montana’s Senate passes a bill designed to save the Colstrip Power Plant and shield NorthWestern Energy from financial losses. (Billings Gazette)
• A Wyoming legislative committee considers studying a potential land swap with the federal government as a way to buffer the state’s coal, oil and gas industries from the impact of new federal policies. (WyoFile)

WIND:
• Avista Corp., the owner of the Colstrip Power Plant, is considering adding 300 megawatts of wind power over the next seven years. (Montana Standard) 
• A Wyoming county accepts an application for a wind project, opening a public comment and review period. (Wyoming News Exchange)

HYDROPOWER: A near-to-below normal water supply in the Columbia River Basin is expected to decrease hydropower generation in the Pacific Northwest this summer, particularly in Oregon. (U.S. Energy Information Administration)

EFFICIENCY: A Nevada bill would raise the bar for utility energy efficiency programs, including doubling funding for programs serving low-income and historically disadvantaged communities. (Nevada Independent)

GRID: A federal judge weighs requiring PG&E to consider local tree hazards in public safety power shutoff decisions, which could sharply increase the number of planned outages. (Microgrid Knowledge)

SOLAR:
• An Albuquerque solar entrepreneur is New Mexico’s first billionaire on Forbes’ annual list of the world’s richest people. (Las Cruces Sun News)
• A Colorado city council votes to use city reserves to match a state grant to install solar panels on a wastewater treatment facility. (Steamboat Pilot & Today)
• A California county recently approved a 4 MW solar project that will incorporate livestock grazing and a pollinator meadow. (Mad River Union)
• California’s Santa Rosa Cahuilla Tribe recently celebrated completion of  a 1 MW solar array, the state’s first low-income community solar project. (Valley News)

MINING: Anti-mining activists say Nevada’s Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribal Council voted to cancel an engagement agreement with a lithium mining company, citing cultural and environmental threats. (Sierra Nevada Ally)

COMMENTARY:
• A Washington state cap-and-trade bill won’t do enough to stop pollution that disproportionately affects Black and brown residents, an editor writes. (The Stranger)
• A conservationist says a Montana bill aiming to save the Colstrip Power Plant is “the worst abuse of power in terms of corporate cronyism.” (Montana Standard)

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.).