OIL & GAS: Harvard researchers find that older people living close to or downwind from oil and gas wells are at a higher risk of premature death due to airborne contaminant exposure. (Inside Climate News)

ALSO:
• Indigenous and environmental advocates urge the federal Bureau of Land Management to ban oil well flaring and venting of associated gasses. (E&E News, subscription)
• An environmental group sues the federal government over last year’s southern California offshore oil spill, saying agencies failed to protect endangered wildlife by underestimating the potential of such accidents. (Los Angeles Times)
• Washington state regulators fine BP $100,000 for two 2020 gasoline pipeline spills. (KGMI)
• A New Mexico lawmaker proposes a climate resiliency fund that would help wean the state off its oil and gas dependence. (NM Political Report)
• The U.S. Navy says it will release a full investigation into water contamination that affected Hawaii residents living near its massive fuel storage facility after initially releasing only a summary of the report. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

HYDROGEN:
• New Mexico lawmakers table a bill establishing hydrogen production hubs around the state after environmentalists speak out against using natural gas to produce the fuel. (NM Political Report)
• A media outlet ties a policy paper supporting the New Mexico hydrogen hub bill to an oil and gas well servicing company in the northwest corner of the state. (Capital & Main)

GRID: A southern California city considers spending up to $260 million to upgrade an aging natural gas power plant to provide backup when the power grid goes down. (Los Angeles Times)  

CLEAN ENERGY: Leaders of three Washington counties with pending solar and wind projects support a state bill that would pause wind and solar project permitting. (Tri-City Herald) 

HYDROPOWER: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs boosts their ownership in an Oregon hydroelectric dam to generate revenue and to allow them more say in mitigating harm to salmon. (Madras Pioneer)

UTILITIES: More than 700,000 San Diego Gas & Electric residential customers will be switched to a community choice energy program in the coming months. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

LITHIUM: A rift over transgender rights divides the environmental and Indigenous campaign to halt development of the proposed Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada. (E&E News)

BIOFUELS: An environmental group accuses Oregon’s largest dairy of violating its air quality permit while seeking carbon credits for piping manure-derived methane fuel to California. (OPB)

NUCLEAR: New Mexico lawmakers consider prohibiting high-level spent nuclear reactor fuel storage in the state. (Carlsbad Current-Argus) 

TRANSPORTATION: A California transit agency plans to install a 1.5 MW solar-powered microgrid to charge its 45 electric buses. (PV Magazine)

 

Jonathan hails from southwestern Colorado and has been writing about the land, cultures, and communities of the Western United States for more than two decades. He compiles the Western Energy News digest. He is the author of three books, a contributing editor at High Country News, and the editor of the Land Desk, an e-newsletter that provides coverage and context on issues critical to the West.