GRID: Utility officials and climate advocates say billions of dollars’ worth of new high-voltage power lines are needed for the Northwest to meet clean energy targets, but regional transmission plans are nonexistent or inadequate. (Sightline)

ALSO:  
• Storms across southern California topple utility poles, leaving nearly 5,000 customers without power. (Calexico Chronicle)
• Intense rain, wind and hail storms in Arizona damage utility equipment, leaving more than 13,000 Phoenix-area customers without power. (Associated Press) 

WIND: An Alaska Native corporation considers expanding its 11-turbine wind power facility near Anchorage and tripling its power output. (Anchorage Daily News)

POLITICS:
• A clean energy advocacy group donates more than $1 million to Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s reelection campaign. (E&E News) 
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom splits from his party and traditional environmental allies by opposing a ballot measure that would tax the wealthy to fund electric vehicle incentives. (Associated Press)  
• Political observers say a race for two positions on Arizona’s utility regulatory board could determine how quickly the state transitions to clean energy. (E&E News) 

HYDROPOWER: A Northwest inter-tribal fish commission urges state and federal lawmakers to remove some hydroelectric dams and refrain from using others to store wind- and solar-generated power if doing so would harm fish. (Columbian)

SOLAR:
• A California county is slated to consider a citizens’ group appeal asking it to overturn its September approval of a solar project proposed for 12 acres of private land. (Independent)
• California regulators advance a proposed ocean desalination plant on the southern coast that would rely on solar to provide 15% of the facility’s 27,000 MWh annual power use. (Orange County Register)
• A solar-plus-battery storage installation recently completed at a New Mexico public school is expected to save its district $3.5 million in utility costs over 25 years. (KRQE)

TRANSPORTATION: Nevada regulators begin considering the adoption of California’s Clean Cars II emissions standards that would ban sales of gasoline-powered cars by 2035. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

CLIMATE JUSTICE: Portland, Oregon’s city council considers ways to streamline and strengthen a clean energy fund flush with revenues after auditors found operational shortcomings. (OPB)

PUBLIC LANDS: Uranium and lithium companies have staked more than 1,000 mining claims on federal lands in southeastern Utah over the past year. (Land Desk)

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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.