UTILITIES: California regulators are poised to fine Southern California Gas $10 million for using ratepayer money to campaign against clean energy measures, including natural gas hookup bans. (Los Angeles Times)

ALSO:
• Colorado regulators consider how to implement a legislative order to incorporate environmental justice into rulemaking. (Colorado Politics)  
• New Mexico lawmakers advance a bill creating an energy efficiency grant program targeted at low-income residents. (news release)

COAL:
• Wyoming and U.S. EPA officials say they are close to reaching a deal to keep the out-of-compliance Jim Bridger coal power plant running, possibly by converting it to natural gas. (E&E News)
• Oakland, California, officials say they are on the verge of approving a settlement preventing construction of a coal shipping terminal in the city. (East Bay Times)

OIL & GAS:
• The Biden administration seeks public input on a court-ordered environmental review of the proposed ConocoPhillips Willow oil and gas project in Alaska. (Inside Climate News)
• New Mexico regulators complete a four-month, taxpayer-funded cleanup of a 420,000-gallon oil and wastewater spill from an illegal oil and gas water facility in the Permian Basin. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• A California water board says irrigating food crops with oil and gas wastewater is safe, but experts say the conclusion is based on a faulty study. (Inside Climate News)   
• Wyoming lawmakers propose reimbursing fossil fuel companies with state mineral severance taxes to offset proposed increases in federal royalty rates. (WyoFile)  

WIND: Washington state environmentalists are divided over wind power projects proposed for critical shrub-steppe wildlife habitat. (Crosscut)  

SOLAR:
• A California startup develops software using virtual net metering to expedite rooftop solar deployment on rental properties. (Canary Media)
• An Oregon developer proposes a 150 MW solar plus storage project on 2,631 acres of private land in eastern Washington. (Construction Review)

STORAGE: A California conservation group opposes the San Vicente pumped hydropower energy storage project proposed for a southern California nature preserve. (CBS8)

NUCLEAR: New Mexico environmentalists, oil and gas companies and victims of historic nuclear bomb tests oppose a plan to build a spent reactor fuel storage facility in the state’s southeastern corner. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

CARBON CAPTURE: New Mexico fossil fuel industry officials say state carbon capture proposals are necessary to fight climate change, but environmentalists argue they will perpetuate oil, gas and coal production. (Albuquerque Journal)

BIOFUELS: Hawaii’s Supreme Court rejects a biomass energy plant developer’s bid to delay regulators’ hearings on the proposal. (Hawaii Tribune-Herald)

TRANSPORTATION: Environmentalists oppose an Australian company’s plan to mine manganese, used in electric vehicle batteries, in southern Arizona’s Patagonia Mountains. (Arizona Republic)  

HYDROGEN: A New Mexico lawmaker reintroduces a bill that would incentivize building hydrogen production hubs after a similar bill was tabled last month. (NM Political Report) 

COMMENTARY: A California editorial board says state regulators must overhaul a tabled proposal to slash net metering rates and abandon the planned grid participation fee for rooftop solar users.  (Los Angeles Times)

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.