CLIMATE: The recent Northwest heat wave would have been impossible without the effects of climate change, according to a new study by a global team of scientists. (Reuters)

ALSO:
• Drought covers 93% of the Western United States for the first time in at least a century. (E&E News, subscription)
• A major Utah city votes next week on whether to join a statewide program requiring it to get 100% of its power from renewable sources by 2030. (Standard-Examiner)

ELECTRIFICATION: A federal judge rejects a lawsuit by a California restaurant union challenging Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation natural gas ban. (Berkeleyside)

GRID:
• California regulators launch “the mother of all proceedings” to create a framework to better integrate solar, storage, electric vehicles and other distributed resources into the grid. (Utility Dive)
• California grid operators tell residents to expect calls to conserve electricity during peak demand times every time the Southwest heats up this summer. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Residents of a Nevada county raise concerns about how the proposed GreenLink transmission line — and the raft of solar proposals it has spurred — will affect recreation and tourism. (Pahrump Valley Times)

UTILITIES:
• Public Service Company of New Mexico claims state regulators violated its First Amendment rights by ordering it to draw up a new energy storage agreement with Facebook. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
• Washington state regulators extend a moratorium on utility disconnections for nonpayment until Sept. 30. (Spokesman-Review) 

GEOTHERMAL: The Bureau of Land Management opens public comment on a proposal to lease 83,000 acres of land in Nevada for geothermal power. (news release)

OIL & GAS:
• New Mexico oil and gas regulators issue the first fines for violations in a decade and plug 49 abandoned wells, the most in one year since at least 2016. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
• New Mexico groups call on President Joe Biden to honor campaign promises to end oil and gas subsidies. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

NUCLEAR: An advanced nuclear reactor proposed for Wyoming faces opposition from environmentalists as well as conservatives who are skeptical of climate change. (USA Today)

WIND: A Wyoming county approves a 52-turbine wind facility, advancing it to the state for further consideration. (Oil City News)

SOLAR:
• The nation’s first city-owned solar facility dedicated to powering low-income neighborhoods goes online in Colorado. (news release)
• A Jewish temple in Oregon installs a solar array to power the building and to enable it to be a community refuge during power outages. (Salem Reporter)
• A new solar-plus-storage facility in New Mexico will power a college campus and serve as a training lab for students. (KRQE)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A California county air pollution board plans to install 235 electric vehicle chargers in and around San Luis Obispo. (KSBY)
• Faster and more widespread adoption of electric vehicles in Hawaii could cut emissions 93% by 2050, according to a new study. (news release)

HYDROPOWER: The U.S. Department of Energy allocates $27 million to wave power research to be conducted at a new Oregon wave energy testing facility. (CNBC)

COMMENTARY: A Nevada activist says the Thacker Pass lithium mine will only exacerbate the human-caused crises the planet faces. (Sierra Nevada Ally)

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.