OIL & GAS: A federal appeals court rejects environmentalists’ challenge of a proposed Wyoming oil and gas field, clearing the way for a company to drill up to 3,500 wells in sage grouse habitat and a pronghorn migration path. (WyoFile)
ALSO:
• Private equity investors buy up oil and gas companies operating on federal lands in the West, raising advocates’ concerns of increasing bankruptcies and abandoned and orphaned wells. (High Country News)
• A government watchdog finds the federal Bureau of Land Management is failing to fully track and monitor oil and gas wells at risk of becoming orphaned or abandoned. (E&E News, subscription)
• New Mexico advocates urge Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to ban oil and gas drilling within one mile of schools. (news release)
• Wyoming advocates push back against a 17-mile natural gas pipeline being constructed through sage grouse habitat. (Wyoming Public Radio)
• California’s energy commission votes to delay shuttering three natural gas power plants in the southern part of the state so they can be used during emergencies. (Associated Press)
CLIMATE:
• A United Nations climate expert and the clothing company Patagonia seek to join environmentalists’ legal challenge of the Willow drilling project in Alaska. (Alaska Public Media)
• Experts say climate change has exacerbated conditions contributing to Hawaii wildfires that have killed 36 people and destroyed hundreds of structures so far. (Associated Press)
• Attorneys general from five Western states urge the U.S. EPA to implement its proposed rule regulating power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions.
(news release)
NUCLEAR:
• Environmental and Indigenous advocates gear up to fight a potential uranium mining resurgence in Western states. (Bloomberg, subscription)
• The U.S. Energy Department awards $2 million to Idaho researchers to study consent-based siting for interim spent nuclear fuel storage. (news release)
• The developers of a proposed advanced nuclear reactor in Wyoming partner with an Ohio company to develop highly enriched uranium fuel for the facility. (Wyoming Public Radio)
SOLAR:
• An Alaska tribe, city and school district partner on a 50 kW solar array aimed at reducing reliance on diesel generation. (KUAC)
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom praises Six Flags’ plan to power an amusement park with on-site solar. (Los Angeles Magazine)
GRID:
• A program to bring electricity to rural Navajo Nation communities has connected 159 homes to the grid this year, according to tribal officials. (KUNM)
• Heavy winds fan wildfires and topple utility lines in Hawaii, leaving more than 12,000 customers without power. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: San Diego’s port breaks ground on a microgrid and charging station for an all-electric tugboat. (WorkBoat)
DIVESTMENT: A northern California county votes to support state legislation that would divest public employee retirement funds from fossil fuel interests. (Times-Standard)
HYDROGEN: California Gov. Gavin Newsom orders state agencies to develop a strategy for establishing a strategy for “building a robust hydrogen market.” (news release)
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