UTILITIES: SoCalGas agrees to pay $1.8 billion to settle litigation stemming from the 2016 Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility blowout, the largest methane leak in U.S. history. (Los Angeles Times)

ALSO: The Bonneville Power Administration’s draft 2021 power plan calls for more renewable energy development and less energy conservation than previous plans. (OPB)  

SOLAR:
• A Los Angeles developer proposes building a 530 MW solar project on 2,300 acres of private land in Kern County, California. (PV Magazine)
• Los Angeles will allocate $30 million to deploy solar plus storage installations on municipal buildings and facilities in its next budget. (City News Service)

WIND: A Danish wind power developer partners with natural gas processor and distributor Williams to explore building a wind-powered hydrogen or synthetic natural gas plant in Wyoming. (Recharge News)  

HYDROPOWER: Four fish-harming hydroelectric dams on the Pacific Northwest’s Klamath River are set to be removed in 2023 and 2024, but that may come too late to save the river’s drought-addled salmon. (Yale Environment 360)

GEOTHERMAL: Two Republican U.S. Congress members from Idaho introduce legislation to streamline permitting for geothermal projects on federal land. (E&E News, subscription)

OIL & GAS:
• The operator of the Rockies Express natural gas pipeline plans to become the first U.S. company to measure and certify the environmental impact of a natural gas pipeline. (Reuters)
• New Mexico regulators clash with the oil and gas industry over the cost of complying with the state’s proposed ozone pollution rules. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• An Oklahoma oil and gas company agrees to pay $6.15 million over allegations it underpayed and underreported royalties on federal natural gas leases in Wyoming and New Mexico. (Associated Press) 

CLIMATE:
• Hawaii’s attorney general files a brief supporting city and county lawsuits alleging fossil fuel companies misled the public about their products’ climate-harming effects. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)
• A Stanford University and NPR analysis of satellite imagery finds smoke from this summer’s Western wildfires degraded air quality across the nation. (KCRW)
• A wildfire in Colorado’s Summit County prompts evacuations following an almost blaze-free summer for the state. (Denver Post)
• Insurers hired private firefighting crews this summer to defend clients’ homes from California megafires. (San Francisco Chronicle)

COMMENTARY:
• U.S. House members from California and Oregon call for an end to $20.5 billion in subsidies and tax credits state and federal governments give to the fossil fuel industry each year. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• A Salt Lake City doctor says a carbon tax is the most effective tool to cut climate warming carbon emissions at the necessary speed and scale. (Deseret News)

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.