CLIMATE: A federal judge sides with California over the Trump’s administration’s challenge to the state’s cap and trade program. (The Hill)

ALSO: A new poll suggests Colorado voters support aggressive action on climate change. (Colorado Springs Gazette)

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CALIFORNIA:
• PG&E is reportedly making significant efforts to improve safety as the next wildfire season nears. (New York Times)
• Critics are questioning if California’s new Wildfire Safety Division will manage to prevent more utility power line fires. (San Francisco Chronicle) 

COAL: Colorado’s newest coal plant was supposed to retire in 2070, but now it appears unlikely to survive beyond 2030. (Big Pivots/Vail Daily)

SOLAR: New “potentially game-changing” solar technology appears to be working as planned at a New Mexico recycling center. (Albuquerque Journal)

OIL & GAS:
• Chevron announces a $5 billion deal to purchase an energy company that will  expand the oil giant’s presence in Colorado’s Denver-Julesburg Basin and the Permian Basin. (CNBC)
• The Permian Basin now has 124 oil and gas rigs in operation, down from 316 one year ago. (Houston Chronicle)
• A survey of oil companies across a region that includes Colorado, Wyoming and northern New Mexico finds that roughly one third could not survive more than a year on their current revenue level. (Tulsa World)

POLITICS:
• Republican Wyoming Senator John Barrasso wants the Department of Energy to open a satellite office in the state. (news release)
• Supporters of Montana U.S. District Judge Brian Morris, who halted construction on the Keystone XL pipeline, is fair and equitable and simply applied federal laws. (Montana Standard)

PUBLIC LANDS: The Bureau of Land Management is facing criticism for its upcoming planned oil and gas lease auction of 80,000 acres of public land in Utah. (Deseret News)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Durango, Colorado-based energy and resource conservation company has secured a state contract for electric vehicle education, outreach and support for the seventh consecutive year. (Durango Herald)

COMMENTARY:
• A California journalist says energy costs are a significant contributor to the state’s high rate of functional poverty. (Cal Matters)
• A Los Angeles Times editorial says “the world cannot afford to backslide on environmental protections.”

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.).