CLIMATE: A Hawaii county files a lawsuit against 20 oil companies seeking compensation for the rising costs of climate change, including the threat of sea level rise. (InsideClimate News)

ALSO:
• New research shows “fire weather” days in California with high temperatures, low humidity, and high wind speeds will rise 40% by 2065 and double by the end of the century. (ProPublica)
• A California lawmaker says the state has a “moral imperative” to ensure energy security and address climate change. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

OIL & GAS:
• A Harvard study finds increased levels of radiation downwind from fracking sites, with less impact in states like New Mexico that have lower levels of naturally occurring radioactive materials. (Reuters)
• A federal judge approves the reorganization plan of California’s largest oil and natural gas producer, making it possible for the company to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy three months early. (Desert Sun)
• Colorado oil and gas regulators postpone the start of changing state rules protecting wildlife from oil and gas development to November 10. (Denver Business Journal)

COAL: Wyoming regulators say the socioeconomic impacts of coal-fired power plant retirements should not be included in utility resource planning. (Utility Dive)

PUBLIC LANDS:
• Analysts say the court ruling that William Perry Pendley illegally served as head of the Bureau of Land Management could threaten major oil and gas initiatives. (E&E News, subscription)
• Pendley in an interview says he will respect the court order saying he illegally served as acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, but continues to insist that he has not been “ousted” from his role. (The Hill)

CLEAN ENERGY: Nearly $12 million in federal clean energy loans from the 2009 stimulus have gone unspent in Nevada, with the state writing off the debt as unrecoverable. (Nevada Independent)

TECHNOLOGY:
• Officials in Butte, Montana are considering a proposal to convert toxic water from the Berkeley Pit to renewable hydrogen. (Missoula Current)
• A Portland suburb is the first city in the country to install a system that captures waste energy from municipal water infrastructure. (KGW)

SOLAR: A proposed solar mural in Jackson Hole, Wyoming is part of a project to build support for renewable energy. (Jackson Hole News & Guide)

COMMENTARY:
• An official with a California energy nonprofit says a fast-responding demand response is what the state needs to respond in real time to extreme events like blackouts. (Utility Dive)
• An American Petroleum Institute official says Californians depend on fracking for affordable and reliable energy as well as jobs. (RealClearEnergy)
• A Nevada conservationist says oil leasing on public lands is threatening the state’s outdoor recreation activities. (Reno Gazette Journal)

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.).