CRITICAL MINERALS: Lithium Americas sues opponents of its proposed Thacker Pass mine in Nevada, alleging protestors hampered work on the facility by blocking roads and vandalizing equipment. (Nevada Independent)
ALSO: Conservationists ask a federal judge to halt copper, zinc and manganese exploration projects in southern Arizona, saying they would damage riparian areas and deplete water sources. (news release)
HYDROPOWER:
• Despite being touted as clean energy, hydropower reservoirs are responsible for millions of tons of carbon emissions each year, a study finds. (Inside Climate News)
• Navajo Nation chapters urge federal regulators to reject three proposed pumped hydropower storage projects on northern Arizona’s Black Mesa, a historic coal-mining region. (news release)
UTILITIES:
• Colorado residents and businesses hit Xcel Energy with another lawsuit over its role in sparking the 2021 Marshall Fire near Boulder. (CPR)
• Oregon wineries sue PacifiCorp over smoke-damage from 2020 wildfires believed to be sparked by the utility’s equipment. (Bloomberg)
• NorthWestern Energy asks Montana regulators to allow it to sell $1.75 billion in securities to help pay for aging infrastructure upgrades. (Billings Gazette)
CLIMATE:
• A Colorado researcher and her colleagues find natural gas’ climate-warming potential can rival coal’s when methane leaks are taken into account. (NPR)
• A report finds Oregon’s largest natural gas provider is not on track to meet state climate goals even though it has attempted to increase its use of biogas. (OPB)
AVIATION: A firm breaks ground in Washington state on a commercial-scale facility using captured carbon to produce aviation fuel. (Carbon Herald)
SOLAR:
• Construction is underway on three shared solar projects in Hawaii with 9 MW of capacity that will be available for purchase by low- and moderate-income households. (Big Island Now)
• New Mexico’s Supreme Court orders a private landowner to allow the public — including a solar facility developer — to travel on a road across their property. (news release)
WIND: Brushfires force Portland General Electric to take a Washington state wind facility temporarily offline. (Portland Business Journal, subscription)
COAL: Wyoming officials spar with conservationists in a U.S. House committee hearing on an Obama-era moratorium on federal thermal coal leasing. (Wyoming Public Radio)
TRANSITION: A modular home manufacturer partners with the Navajo Nation to build housing units for the tribe at its facility on the site of a defunct coal plant on Navajo land in northern Arizona. (news release)
GRID:
• Utility regulators from five Western states call for the establishment of an independent transmission organization that would cover the entire region. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• California grid operators say the heat wave gripping the state likely will not prompt Flex Alerts, or calls for voluntary power conservation. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
NUCLEAR: A former executive of the company proposing an interim nuclear reactor fuel depository in southeastern New Mexico files a lawsuit accusing the firm of making false and misleading statements to investors. (Source NM)
COMMENTARY: A retired Wyoming coal miner calls on industry executives to spend profits on restoring mined lands and protecting workers and communities rather than on stock buybacks. (Casper Star-Tribune)
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