HYDROGEN:
• New Mexico Democratic lawmakers kill a last ditch, scaled-back hydrogen booster bill opposed by environmentalists because the fuel would be produced from methane. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
• A California startup plans to build a facility to convert agricultural waste into hydrogen transportation fuel and capture and sequester the carbon dioxide emissions. (MIT Technology Review)
CLIMATE: Researchers find climate change is largely responsible for the last two decades being the Southwest’s driest in 1,200 years. (New York Times)
STORAGE: A malfunction partially shuts down a northern California 400 MW battery storage facility — the world’s largest — for the second time in five months. (KSBW)
COAL:
• Wyoming is among the possible locations mentioned by U.S. Department of Energy officials for a planned federal test facility to extract critical minerals from coal combustion waste. (CNN)
• New Mexico lawmakers reject a bill aimed at extending the life of a coal plant in the northwest part of the state by two years after its 2022 retirement date. (Farmington Daily Times)
OIL & GAS:
• Hawaii Congress members introduce federal legislation that would force the U.S. Navy to halt operations, drain tanks and eventually shut down its leak-plagued Red Hill fuel storage facility. (Associated Press)
• The first group of families displaced by water contamination blamed on the Red Hill fuel facility are cleared to return home. (Honolulu Civil Beat)
• California oil and gas operators prepare to fight state and local drilling bans and heightened restrictions on development. (Los Angeles Business Journal)
• The U.S. Department of Energy funds Colorado researchers’ work to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas compressor station engines. (news release)
• Federal analysts predict Permian Basin oil production will hit a new record high next month of 5.2 million barrels per day. (Reuters)
• Permian Basin oil and gas operators step up efforts to recycle and reuse produced wastewater to avoid underground injection-caused environmental problems and earthquakes. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
UTILITIES: An Alaska utility proposes capturing methane from a Kenai Peninsula landfill to fuel a 1.6 MW power plant. (KDLL)
CLEAN ENERGY: A poll finds residents of Pueblo County, Colorado, prefer wind and solar over nuclear power to replace generation when the Comanche coal plant closes in 2034. (KOAA)
TRANSPORTATION:
• Washington state lawmakers consider a proposal to offer $7,500 rebates on electric vehicle purchases and $1,000 for e-bikes. (Seattle Times)
• New Mexico’s Public Regulation Commission chairman opposes a bid by state lawmakers to remove transportation regulation from the agency’s duties. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
SOLAR: A Montana county commission votes to establish a program allowing commercial property owners to repay the cost of renewable energy upgrades through their property taxes. (Missoula Current)
WIND: The U.S. Department of Energy funds a Hawaii company to develop offshore wind turbine anchoring methods. (Roswell Daily Record)
COMMENTARY: A New Mexico lawmaker says the state must diversify the economy and wean its budget off outsized oil and gas revenues while the industry is booming. (Albuquerque Journal)