CLIMATE: San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria proposes overhauling the city’s climate plan, including by phasing out natural gas in existing buildings and eliminating a flawed greenhouse gas-reduction tracking system in favor of targeting net zero emissions by 2035. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

ALSO:
• A University of Arizona study verifies the main driver of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions and the current rate and magnitude of warming is the greatest in the last 24,000 years. (news release)
• The recently passed federal infrastructure bill includes $216 million for tribal climate resilience, adaptation and community relocation planning. (E&E News, subscription)
• Environmental advocates and building industry officials face off over a California city’s proposal to ban natural gas hookups in all new construction. (Pasadena Now)

COAL:
• Utah lawmakers pass a bill stripping Intermountain Power Agency of its exemptions to open meeting laws, apparently to punish it for its plans to convert a huge coal power plant to natural gas and hydrogen. (Salt Lake Tribune)  
• A New Mexico county passes an ordinance requiring Public Service Company of New Mexico to demolish a coal plant upon its permanent closure slated for next year. (NM Political Report) 

SOLAR:
• Denver’s city council allocates $26 million to construct solar facilities on city-owned buildings and parcels, with 30% of the electricity going to low-income households. (Denver Gazette)
• A Washington state utility partners with a public school district to launch a community solar project available for customer subscription. (news release) 

GRID:
• An intense windstorm in Washington state topples utility poles and other equipment, leaving as many as 64,000 residents without power. (Seattle Times)
• Mylar balloons collide with power lines in southern California, taking out power for 3,500 residents. (City News Service)

STORAGE:
• A pumped hydropower storage project proposed for the shores of the Columbia River in Washington state would generate as much power as a nearby nuclear reactor but faces opposition from the Yakama Indian Nation and environmental groups. (Crosscut)
• A California battery and graphene manufacturer plans to construct a 1 million square foot campus in northern Nevada. (Reno Gazette-Journal) 

OIL & GAS:
• New Mexico regulators explore options for repurposing oil and gas production wastewater and using it in other industries. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• Hawaii sues the state’s largest oil refiner for alleged nonpayment of tens of millions of dollars in taxes. (Honolulu Civil Beat)

BIOFUELS:
• Southwest Gas opens a manure-to-methane biogas facility at a dairy in Arizona. (news release)
• A U.S. House Democrat from California pushes a bill that would make biogas- or biomass-fueled power plants eligible for renewable fuel tax credits. (E&E News, subscription)  

COMMENTARY: A climate scientist worries climate change-caused drought and extreme heat will cause Arizona towns to “blink out like dead holiday lightbulbs on a Christmas Saguaro,” because the state’s oil industry-allied politicians ignored the problem. (The Hill)

Jonathan hails from southwestern Colorado and has been writing about the land, cultures, and communities of the Western United States for more than two decades. He compiles the Western Energy News digest. He is the author of three books, a contributing editor at High Country News, and the editor of the Land Desk, an e-newsletter that provides coverage and context on issues critical to the West.