CLIMATE: A new National Renewable Energy Laboratory report finds that Los Angeles can achieve 98% clean energy by 2030 and 100% by 2035, without planned power outages or economic disruptions. (Los Angeles Times)

OIL & GAS:
• Advocates are skeptical about Southern California Gas’s pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045, with one calling it an “empty pledge” to distract from the company’s obstruction of electrification efforts. (Utility Dive; E&E News, subscription)
• Oregon energy officials say 2.5 million pounds of radioactive fracking waste illegally dumped in a hazardous waste landfill can stay where it is. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• The EPA announces a Texas oil company has agreed to pay a $115,000 fine for spilling nearly 20,000 gallons of wastewater and crude oil in Wyoming three years ago. (Associated Press)

COAL: The latest proposed Montana bill to bail out the coal-fired Colstrip Power Plant could cost NorthWestern Energy ratepayers as much as $1.9 billion, according to the state’s utilities regulators. (Ravalli Republic)

PUBLIC LANDS:
• Fourteen states sue the Biden administration for halting new drilling leases on public lands — a coalition of 13 states including Alaska, Montana, and Utah; and Wyoming in a separate lawsuit. (Reuters, Gillette News Record)
• Western environmentalists and conservation groups say the oil and gas industry is exaggerating the impact of President Biden’s moratorium on federal leasing. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• The House Natural Resources subcommittee splits along party lines over conservation goals for public lands at its first hearing for this year. (Arizona Mirror)
• Utah residents continue to be divided over what the boundaries should be for the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. (St. George Spectrum & Daily News)

NUCLEAR: Environmental groups disagree on whether or not nuclear power is necessary to make up the energy that would be lost from removing four Lower Snake River dams. (Utah Public Radio) 

SOLAR: A Bill Gates-backed clean energy startup is to deploy its concentrated solar technology of artificial intelligence and an array of 40,000 computer-controlled mirrors at California’s largest open pit mine. (CNN)

UTILITIES: San Diego Gas & Electric ratepayers using natural gas are set for a $17.87 reduction on next month’s bill thanks to California’s annual Climate Credit. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

HYDROGEN: California’s Energy Commision awards almost $4 million to a railway company to develop a hydrogen fuel cell switching locomotive. (Ajot)

TRANSMISSION: Xcel Energy representatives meet with officials of a northeastern Colorado county to discuss a proposed transmission expansion project of 560 miles of 345 kV lines. (Akron News-Reporter)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A University of Utah engineering professor says new technologies could create an electric vehicle battery that could be fully charged in just over 10 minutes. (news release)

COMMENTARY:
• A California high school student explains why a state bill that would require corporations to measure and disclose their carbon emissions comes at the right time. (San Francisco Examiner)
• A Colorado housing advocate says all-electric homes are unaffordable for marginalized, low-income buyers. (Colorado Politics)

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.).