ELECTRIFICATION: A coastal Washington city votes to require electric space and water heating in all new commercial structures and residential buildings over three stories, but still allows gas hookups for cooking. (Cascadia Daily)

ALSO:
• The U.S. Department of Energy urges a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the city of Berkeley’s natural gas hookup ban. (E&E News, subscription)
• A Los Angeles city council member proposes requiring newly constructed buildings to be carbon neutral and all electric. (California Globe) 

OIL & GAS:
• Southeastern Utah counties revive a proposal to build a highway through the remote Book Cliffs to open the area to oil-rich tar sands and rare earth mineral development. (Times-Independent)
• A Colorado city bans the use of PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” in oil and gas hydraulic fracturing fluids. (Broomfield Enterprise)
• A California lawmaker introduces a bill that would end offshore oil and gas drilling and existing production along the state’s coast by 2024. (Los Angeles Times)
• New Mexico oil and gas regulators say they have “painfully insufficient” funding to oversee the oil and gas industry and steer the state toward climate targets. (Capital & Main)

CLIMATE: California researchers find federal regulators vastly undervalue the warming potential of methane in relation to carbon dioxide, downplaying the importance of cutting those emissions. (Inside Climate News)

COAL: Dozens of conservation and Indigenous groups nationwide plan to sue the U.S. EPA, saying the agency has failed to enforce regional haze rules and reduce coal power plant pollution. (KNAU)

UTILITIES: Hawaiian Electric says 38.4% of its electricity came from renewable energy sources last year, a fourfold increase from a decade ago. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

SOLAR: A Montana county considers establishing a program that would provide residents financing for rooftop solar and efficient heating and cooling systems. (Missoulian)

HYDROPOWER:
• An energy developer proposes a 1,000 MW pumped hydropower storage project at a California reservoir where a similar proposal was denied last year. (Hydro Review)
• Rocky Mountain Power studies the feasibility of constructing two pumped hydropower storage projects in eastern Wyoming. (Casper Star-Tribune)

HYDROGEN: New Mexico lawmakers continue to debate bills to grow the hydrogen industry, with Navajo Nation officials supporting and environmentalists opposing them. (Albuquerque Journal)

TRANSPORTATION: Plug-in electric vehicle and hybrid sales accounted for 12.8% of California’s auto market last year, up from 8.1% in 2020. (Inside EVs)

NUCLEAR: California startup Oklo partners with a national laboratory to develop advanced nuclear power plant fuel recycling technology. (World Nuclear News) 

GREEN METALS: California lawmakers consider a bill that would ban seabed mining, a method proposed for extracting minerals used in batteries and other clean energy technology. (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

COMMENTARY: A Colorado energy journalist says the state’s utilities must join regional transmission organizations to reduce emissions while maintaining reliability and reducing costs. (Big Pivots)

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.