OIL & GAS: An investigation finds that oil companies have for decades profited from inland spills linked to a controversial fracking technique by recovering and refining the oil. (ProPublica/Desert Sun) 

ALSO:
• Colorado’s oil and gas industry sends a letter to Gov. Jared Polis on proposed 2,000-foot setbacks, saying it would undermine the industry’s economic recovery. (Denver Post)
• A New Mexico Representative says the state’s oil and gas industry is stabilizing  as the economy gradually reopens, but at a significantly reduced level of activity. (Albuquerque Journal)

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CLIMATE:
• Climate change is emerging as a ballot issue in Colorado’s elections, with former Gov. John Hickenlooper favored to win the state’s senate race. (InsideClimate News)
• Rural California Republican lawmakers side with President Trump in dismissing climate change as a primary cause of the state’s wildfires. (Washington Post)

COAL:
• Hawaiian Electric files proposals for eight renewable energy projects that will allow the utility to retire the state’s last coal plant. (Daily Energy Insider)
• Critics say a federal report promoting carbon capture technology to save Wyoming’s coal industry is misleading. (Casper Star-Tribune)
• Montana’s coal production is down 21% through the first seven months of this year due to declining consumption during the coronavirus pandemic. (Billings Gazette)
• Rural Utah lawmakers are upset that the Intermountain Power Plant is increasingly using coal from Colorado. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• A Wyoming coal technology company nearing commercialization signs a memorandum of understanding with a neighboring company. (Wyoming Public Media)

CALIFORNIA:
• Many of the solutions that could help resolve California’s power problems face political opposition at the state and federal level. (Bloomberg)
• Residents of a Northern California city file a lawsuit aiming to stop PG&E’s plan to cut more than 260 trees as part of its wildfire mitigation efforts. (Union of Grass Valley)
• PG&E is constructing microgrids in two Northern California communities. (Mountain Democrat)

NUCLEAR: Utah lawmakers want more details on a small modular reactor plant before more cities and special service districts withdraw from additional financial investment. (Deseret News)

RENEWABLE ENERGY: Four Southwest Colorado projects and businesses are awarded more than $177,000 in federal grants to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. (Durango Herald)

GRID: Solar and energy storage experts say a reimagined and restructured power grid focused on distributed energy would help Western communities keep the power on. (S&P Global)

COMMENTARY:
• A California lawmaker says the working poor and middle-class should not subsidize the state’s solar mandates for those who can afford to buy and install such a system. (CalMatters)
• A California editorial board says Gov. Gavin Newsom needs to do more about climate change than just tweet about it. (Sacramento Bee)
• A Utah professor says a proposed advanced nuclear project is “a distraction we can’t afford.” (Deseret News)

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.).