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)