ELECTRIFICATION: Seattle’s city council approves a proposal to ban natural gas in new large multifamily and commercial buildings. (Seattle Times)

COAL: Wyoming lawmakers reject bill amendments that would have withheld funding for the state’s consumer advocacy agency unless it prohibited coal-fired power plant closures until July 2035. (Oil City News, Casper Star-Tribune)

TRANSPORTATION: A proposed Washington state bill would set mandatory emissions reduction targets for ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft. (Crosscut)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Utah lawmakers advance a bill that would increase electric and hybrid vehicle registration fees. (Salt Lake City Tribune)
• A Seattle-based environmental group is pushing Washington lawmakers to pass a bill requiring all cars registered in the state to be electric starting in 2030. (My Northwest)
• A Texas utility files a plan with New Mexico regulators that would incentivize charging electric vehicles during off-peak hours. (Clean Technica)

OIL & GAS:
• California U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman is set to introduce two bills that would protect the West Coast and the Arctic from new offshore oil and gas drilling. (Mendocino Voice)
• A Wall Street trader says major oil companies promoting green initiatives “is mostly horseshit and P.R. propaganda.” (Vanity Fair)

GRID:
• The Southwest Power Pool yesterday expanded its wholesale market to include utilities in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, part of a broader movement to regionalize energy grids. (Greentech Media)
• California’s utility regulator orders improvements to its Integration Capacity Analysis, aiming to determine how best to integrate solar energy resources on the grid. (PV Magazine)
• Environmental groups raise concerns that efforts to shore up the state’s grid this summer will lead to more contracts for natural gas capacity. (Utility Dive)

STORAGE: Siemens Energy is selected to engineer and construct a customized battery energy storage system for a 720 MW gas-fired California power plant. (Power Engineering International)

UTILITIES:
• California’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear a lawsuit in April that alleges utility ratepayers have been left to shoulder the financial burden for wildfires caused by the state’s three largest utilities. (California Globe)
• Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon appoints the existing secretary and chief legal counsel of the state’s utility regulator as its new head. (Casper Star-Tribune)

WIND: A Hawaii wind farm operator agrees to pay $250,000 to research the environmental impact of their turbines on endangered species after the deaths of petrels and hoary bats. (Associated Press)

COMMENTARY:
• Alaska Gov. Mike Dunlevy advocates for a pipeline that would bring North Slope natural gas to the state’s road system. (Anchorage Daily News)
• A Nevada state lawmaker says the federal government needs to take “bolder, stronger steps” in transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy. (Las Vegas Sun)
• A business leader says California needs to start looking for ways to replace the gasoline tax as electric vehicles become the norm. (CalMatters)

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.).