STORAGE: Arizona Public Service activates grid-scale battery installations at nine solar facilities, helping the utility meet record high power demand during the ongoing heat wave. (Arizona Republic, subscription)

UTILITIES: Pacific Gas & Electric ends its $2.5 billion tree-trimming program, saying there are more effective ways to mitigate wildfire hazard such as undergrounding utility lines. (CBS Sacramento)

OIL & GAS:
• California advocates propose a ballot initiative that would require health and safety buffer zones around oil and gas wells and counter an oil industry attempt to overturn a similar setback law. (Los Angeles Times)   
• Wyoming economists attribute stronger than expected oil and gas tax revenues to a winter cold snap that increased natural gas demand and prices. (WyoFile)
• New Mexico regulators receive $1.1 million in federal funding for pipeline and natural gas storage facility inspections and regulation enforcement. (NM Political Report)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Zero-emissions vehicles make up 25% of all new car sales in California for the first time during the second quarter of this year. (E&E News, subscription)
• A class-action lawsuit in California accuses Tesla of falsely advertising vehicle driving ranges. (Reuters)
• A southern California city plans to launch an electric bicycle lending program aimed at building interest in zero-emissions mobility. (Los Angeles Times)
• An Oregon nonprofit plans to launch a low-cost electric vehicle rental program in low-income Las Vegas neighborhoods. (KVVU)

EFFICIENCY: California officials say a new method of measuring the value of and incentivizing efficiency investments has helped reduce grid strain. (Canary Media)

CLEAN ENERGY: A Washington state college receives $1 million in federal funding to develop a clean energy center. (Oregon Business)

CLIMATE: A timber company looks to terminate a forest carbon-offset program in southern Oregon after a 2021 wildfire destroyed much of the project’s trees. (OPB)

SOLAR: Advocates urge a court to overturn a northern California county’s approval of a proposed solar facility, saying it violates open space preservation ordinances. (The Independent)

WIND: California regulators extend the public input period on a proposed offshore wind marine terminal in Humboldt Bay. (Times-Standard)

CRITICAL MINERALS:
• Federal regulators issue a source material license to a proposed rare earth elements processing plant in Wyoming. (news release)
• A Permian Basin drilling firm works to extract lithium from oil and gas wastewater. (Bloomberg Law, subscription)

NUCLEAR: A consortium of municipal utilities applies for a federal permit to begin preliminary construction work on a proposed small modular nuclear reactor facility in Idaho. (news release)

COMMENTARY: A Nevada physician says withdrawing the state from a national climate alliance will result in more pollution and stifle the burgeoning clean energy economy. (Nevada Independent)

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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.