PUBLIC LANDS: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon in a letter to the Interior Department requests that the state be exempt from President Biden’s moratorium on new federal oil and gas leases and drilling. (Casper Star-Tribune)

ALSO: The Bureau of Land Management’s approval of a Nevada lithium mine was done without allowing the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe to comment, which is raising concerns about the project from tribal citizens now aware of it. (High Country News)

EQUITY: Advocates cite numerous failings in the judicial system that put Indigenous women at increased risk of sexual assault and abduction by transient workers on pipelines and other resource extraction projects. (Vice)

UTILITIES:
• Experts say power outages in California and Texas show how utilities face problems from extreme natural disasters driven by climate change, and may be “woefully unprepared.” (New York Times)
• A New Mexico bill aiming to recover lost investments and save ratepayers money when utilities close power plants advances a state senate committee. (Associated Press)
• About 15,000 homes and businesses in Oregon’s hardest-hit areas could experience extended power outages into next week, Portland General Electric’s CEO says. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• A Southern California city withdraws from Orange County’s newly-created renewable energy agency and its community choice aggregation program. (Voice of OC)

CLIMATE:
• Environmental advocates are criticizing Oregon’s plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions for excluding the state’s entire electricity sector, including natural gas power plants. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• A University of Utah economics professor says delaying transitioning from fossil fuels will adversely impact U.S. companies and new opportunities for clean energy jobs. (KUTV)

COAL:
• A number of Western environmental law cases are among those the U.S. Supreme Court will be or could soon be reviewing. (E&E News)
• Bankrupt Montana coal operator Lighthouse Resources reaches a collective bargaining agreement with union miners allowing the company to terminate the workers’ pension plan. (E&E News, subscription)
• The closure of the Navajo Generating Station in 2019 resulted in a $40 million loss in property tax revenue for an Arizona county. (Associated Press)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A Hawaii bill that would issue a tax on cars retailing for more than $60,000 and use the resulting funds to deploy electric vehicle charging stations advances out of a House committee. (Hawaii Public Radio)
• A proposed Washington bill would replace the current flat fee for fully electric cars with a mandatory two cents per mile road usage charge for electric cars and plug-in hybrids effective July 2026. (KUOW)
• A Colorado town unveils its first electric vehicle charging station, which can complete a full charge in under six hours. (Durango Herald)

HYDROGEN: Hawaii State Senator Glenn Wakai advocates for hydrogen fuel, saying the state needs legislation that specifies hydrogen as a fuel that can be charged for before taking on the challenges of production. (Hawaii Public Radio)

STORAGE: A Southern California Edison official says a 400 MWh standalone battery energy storage system is key to boosting grid reliability this coming summer. (Utility Dive)

COMMENTARY:
• A Yale professor says oil and gas drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would release even more greenhouse gas. (Yale Environment 360)
• Two energy advocates say a proposed Utah bill that would increase electric and hybrid vehicle registration fees is misguided and will not help improve the state’s air quality. (Utah Policy)

Lisa is a Lenape and Nanticoke Native American freelance journalist, editor and writer currently based in the U.K. She has more than two decades’ experience working in corporate communications and print and digital media. She compiles the Western Energy News daily email digest. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple University; her specializations include data journalism and visualization. She is a member of the Native American Journalists Association, Investigative Reporters & Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, and the National Union of Journalists (U.K.).