PG&E: A year after a fund was established to compensate Pacific Gas & Electric-sparked wildfire victims, most have not been paid, and the fund’s value is falling along with the utility’s stocks as the Dixie Fire continues to rage. (Wall Street Journal)

ALSO:
• A federal investigation finds PG&E’s faulty software delayed the response to a 2019 San Francisco gas line fire that caused $10 million in damage. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• After the utility’s equipment sparked a deadly fire in 2018, PG&E planned this year to bury the power line now suspected of sparking the still-burning Dixie Fire. (Los Angeles Times) 

OIL & GAS:
• Kern County will sue California Gov. Gavin Newsom after state regulators rejected 77 hydraulic fracturing permit applications over the last month. (Bakersfield Californian)
• Noble Energy, a Chevron subsidiary, agrees to pay a $1 million penalty for oil spills at its Colorado facilities that violated the Clean Water Act. (KDVR)
• Data connect recent West Texas earthquakes with reinjecting oil and gas wastewater underground in New Mexico’s Permian Basin. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• A Colorado oil and gas company will pay a $1.3 million penalty for drilling on federal land without a permit or lease. (E&E News, subscription)

CLIMATE:
• Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declares a heat state of emergency as this summer’s second round of triple-digit temperatures grips the state. (Portland Tribune)
• A 160,000-acre wildfire burning in Eastern Montana threatens hundreds of homes and two communities. (KPVI) 

COAL: Owners of the Colstrip coal-fired power plant in Montana ask a federal judge to stop the enforcement of a state law  intended to keep the plant from being retired. (Montana Public Radio)

ELECTRIFICATION: Environmentalists go to court to stop an initiative that would prohibit Spokane, Washington, from banning natural gas hookups in new construction. (Spokesman-Review)

TRANSPORTATION:
• California allocates $82 million to local transportation projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide expanded bus and rail service to disadvantaged communities. (Escalon Times)
•A small Idaho city considers requiring all new houses to be equipped with electric vehicle charging outlets. (Idaho Mountain Express)

SOLAR: Construction begins on a 35-acre solar facility near Aspen, Colorado, that nearby residents had opposed over concerns about its visual impact. (Aspen Times)

WIND: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland tours potential offshore wind sites at Humboldt Bay, California. (news release)

COMMENTARY:
• A Wyoming activist says an advanced nuclear reactor planned for the state shouldn’t be built until the state institutes a procedure for safe, permanent storage of the waste. (Casper Star-Tribune)
• The latest “sobering” international climate report should prod leaders to transform electricity grids, develop better transportation systems and end deforestation, an editorial board writes. (Yakima Herald)

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Jonathan P. Thompson

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.